US News

BIG APPLE COMING TO ITS CENSUS

The Big Apple grew a bit bigger last year with the city’s population inching up by 23,960 – modest growth that still managed to buck the downward trend among cities in the Northeast, according to the latest estimates from the US Census Bureau.

“New York City is continuing to grow unlike any other major city in the Northeast. It’s not runaway growth and its not growth that rivals Nevada or Phoenix, but the amazing thing is that it is growing,” said Cornell University professor Warren Brown.

New York City’s population reached 8,274,527 last year, an increase of 0.3 percent over 2006.

Since the last Census in 2000, the city’s population has grown by 265,873.

The latest year-to-year estimates by the Census Bureau show the largest population gain in Manhattan, which grew 0.51 percent by adding 8,237 new residents last year bringing the borough to 1,620,867.

Brooklyn remains the city’s most populous borough with 2,528,050 people in 2007, an increase of 5003, or 0.2 percent. Queens remains second largest, growing 0.25 percent or by 5,677 to bring its population to 2,270,338.

Every borough grew last year. The Bronx with 2,306 more residents pushing it to 1,373,659, an increase of 0.17 percent. Staten Island swelled by 5.7 percent to 481,613 with an additional 2,737 people.