In the wake of stricter federal immigration and border policies, there has been a steep decrease in newcomers from other countries making their home in New York City, according to new census data released Thursday.
The drop-off in migration from abroad was the largest in the country and — along with more New Yorkers leaving for other places — halted the recent growth of the city’s population and blunted its post-pandemic recovery.
New York City had 8.58 million residents in July 2025, or 12,200 fewer residents than the year before, according to the new estimates. That was well below its peak of nearly 8.8 million residents reached in early 2020.
New York has long relied on a steady influx of new residents from abroad to replace those who leave.
The new estimates cover the 12 months before July 2025, a period that saw a national decline in immigration that started with tighter border policies under the Biden administration and continued with the Trump administration’s crackdown.
The city gained 66,000 residents from international migration, which is primarily made up of new immigrants, but also includes U.S. citizens who move to the city from another country. That’s 70 percent less than the gains from abroad just one year before, when 220,000 international arrivals added to the population, the most the city has seen in decades.
“If we don’t have a healthy stream of international migration, the city’s population will start to falter,” said John Mollenkopf, a professor of political science at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. “It won’t happen right away, it will be gradual, but it will happen.”
Many immigrants are younger and willing to work in entry-level jobs that others won’t take. They often help care for children and, as the city’s population ages, for the growing needs of older people. “They’re just vital to the resilience of the city,” Mr. Mollenkopf said.
Overall, international migration added about 544,100 people to the city’s population since the pandemic started in 2020, including many who crossed the southern border of the United States and started over in the city’s shelters.
New York City planning officials said that the drop in newcomers from other countries reflected a retreat from recent historical highs to more typical levels experienced before the pandemic.
Around the country, many large urban counties also saw sharp declines in international migration, though none as substantial as in New York City. Four of the city’s five boroughs (all but Staten Island) were among the top 10 counties with the largest decline in the number of new international residents.
In New York, the number of births and deaths remained relatively stable, with about 36,100 more births than deaths in the new estimates.
But that increase was eclipsed by the number of New Yorkers leaving the city for other parts of the country, a long-term trend that accelerated during the pandemic, when the city lost 330,000 more people to other parts of the country than it gained in new arrivals.
Since then, the exodus has slowed, but nearly 114,000 more residents left than moved in, up from a loss of nearly 94,000 in 2024. This includes many who have been pushed out by the city’s high cost of living and a shortage of affordable housing.
The city’s three largest boroughs each saw declines in their populations, led by Queens, with 8,900 fewer residents; Brooklyn, with 4,700 fewer residents; and Manhattan, with 650 fewer residents. However, Staten Island gained 1,700 residents, and the Bronx gained 280 residents.
Queens and Brooklyn, which each have large communities of foreign-born residents, saw particularly large decreases in new residents. In the 2024 estimates, international migration added about 75,000 new residents to Queens and nearly 59,000 to Brooklyn. Together, the two boroughs gained only about 38,000 residents from abroad last year.
The new census figures came alongside revisions to prior estimates since 2020, as is typical when new estimates are released. The revisions show that New York City’s population in July 2024 was higher than previously thought, 8.6 million. The updated numbers also show that the city’s post-pandemic recovery began with growth of about 71,000 in the year ending in July 2023.
Those changes largely have to do with efforts to revamp the Census Bureau’s process for estimating international migration, which is notoriously difficult to quantify.
Those changes resulted in immigration counts being raised in some prior years. The new estimates represent the second year in a row that census officials revised their immigration methodology. Separately, city officials had also successfully challenged some earlier estimates, saying immigrants in shelters had been undercounted.
Joe Marvilli, a spokesman for the Department of City Planning, said the revised estimates “provide a more accurate picture of New York City’s recent population trends, including stronger growth in the years following the pandemic than previously reflected.”
Winnie Hu is a Times reporter covering the people and neighborhoods of New York City.
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