Census data shows big growth in Queens
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Queens’ population grew by 7.8 percent over the past decade, according to 2020 Census data. The borough is now home to over 2.4 million people. Photo via Wikimedia Commons
By Rachel Vick and Jacob Kaye
After a landmark effort to ensure a complete count in the 2020 Census, the results are in and Queens is up.
The World’s Borough grew by 7.8 percent in the past decade, according to early data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. With 2,405,464 people in Queens, the borough is the second most populous in the city.
Only Brooklyn grew more in the past decade.
The data was released in an effort to aid states in their attempt to draw new electoral district lines, a process that began in New York last month.
The Independent Redistricting Commission, the body tasked with drawing the lines, began a listening tour in July and heard feedback from over 100 Queens residents who mostly said the old lines divided communities and weakened political power for Queens residents of color throughout the borough.
Ivan Garcia, national political director for Make the Road, said that the lines drawn after the 2010 Census did not evenly distribute populations or represent communities — a wrong that “must be fixed in the next map.”
“This process should center the needs of the community, not political parties,” Garcia said. “In an ideal world a benefit is any growth anywhere should see fair representation, that the representation would reflect the increase.”
“We already saw in the last state senate map that Queens, and in reality all of New York City, got disproportionately low representation,” he added. “One of the challenges is what we’ve seen time and again of politics as usual.”
Queens residents will have another chance to provide comments on redistricting after the committee completes and submits a first draft to the state legislature.
The commission will release their first draft Sept. 15.
Queens, which saw significant change in its population, could potentially see that change reflected in its electoral maps.
The borough has around a dozen Assembly Districts that have fewer people than the average district, meaning the lines will be redrawn to include more people, according to maps provided by the CUNY Graduate Center.
The Asian population in Queens grew by 29 percent and is heavily represented throughout northwest, central and eastern Queens.
According to the data, the borough is 25.8 percent white, 16.8 percent Black, 27.5 percent Asian, 10.1 percent two or more races, 1.3 percent American Indian or Alaskan Native and 0.1 percent Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.
Around 27 percent of 2020 Census respondents in Queens said they were Hispanic or Latino.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards celebrated the borough’s growth in both population and diversity.
“The large jump in our borough’s population underscores what we in Queens have known for a long time; that Queens truly is a fantastic place to live and raise a family,” Richards said in a statement. “My heartfelt appreciation goes to all of the 2.4 million people who make Queens their home, including the more than one million people who have come here from across the globe to build new lives in ‘The World’s Borough.’”
New York City as a whole also experienced a decade of growth and remains the city with the largest population in the country.
The growth was echoed across metro areas in the U.S., which grew by 9 percent in the past decade. Around 86 percent of all people in the country live in a metropolitan area.
However, New York City’s growth wasn’t consistent across the state.
Steve Romalewski, the director of CUNY Mapping Service, said that though the state will be down one congressional seat, it will most likely be lost from a region upstate. Districts in New York City and Long Island are juggling the need to meet state averages within a small margin of error and balanced populations.
“Because of tremendous population growth in New York City, pressure will be downstate in terms of how district lines will be drawn,” Romalewski said. “Where the lines are redrawn and how that turns out is the question.”
Romalewski said that “the real issue is making sure districts are drawn fairly and that they reflect the communities” but with the additional public awareness this year and changes to both the requirements and redistricting process “there's hope.”
The Independent Redistricting Commission, which is made up of four Democratic and four Republican appointed members, is scheduled to submit its final maps to the State Legislature by January 2022.
New Yorkers will vote on a ballot measure that includes redistricting reform in November. If the measure passes, the commission’s timeline will be moved up and it will be required to submit the final draft to the legislature earlier in the month of January than it is currently scheduled to.
