Brooklyn Flight: Brooklynites Fleeing Borough, Census Data Shows

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – Brooklynites are fleeing the borough in droves, with more than 10,000 packing up and re-locating to cities such as Dallas, Phoenix and Houston, latest census figures show.

Brooklyn saw 13,555 people leave in just one year with a population drop from 2,596,385 in July 2017 to 2,582,830 in July 2018, according to new 2018 estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The mass exodus was seen in almost every borough across New York City, which lost 39,523 residents last year. Queens shrank by 17,959 residents, Manhattan dropped by 1,079 and The Bronx by 7,593. Only Staten Island bucked the trend, growing by 663.

Data suggests that the New Yorkers are pointing their wagons west, said Sandra Johnson, a demographer in the Census Bureau’s Population Division.

Texas counties claimed four out of the top 10 spots for population growth with the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington region gaining 131,767 new residents in 2018. Phoenix, Arizona saw a 2% increase in population with 96,268 new locals.

“Metro areas not among the most populous are ranked in the top 10 for population growth,” Johnson explained. “This trend is consistent with the overall growth we are seeing in the south and the west.”

Just over 55 percent of all U.S. counties had a population gain from 2017 to 2018. And while nearly 56 percent of U.S. counties had a natural increase in population in 2018, that figure was down from the previous year.

According to the Census, the top 10 most populous counties for 2018 are:

Los Angeles County, California
Cook County, Illinois
Harris County, Texas
Maricopa County, Arizona
San Diego County, California
Orange County, California
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Dallas County, Texas
Kings County, New York
Riverside County, California

The top 10 counties for numeric growth between 2017 to 2018 are:

Maricopa County, Arizona
Clark County, Nevada
Harris County, Texas
Collin County, Texas
Riverside County, California
King County, Washington
Orange County, Florida
Tarrant County, Texas
Bexar County, Texas
Hillsborough County, Florida

The top 10 most populous metropolitan areas in 2018 are:

New York-Newark-Jersey City
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell
Boston-Cambridge-Newton

The top 10 metropolitan areas for numeric growth between 2017 and 2018 are:

Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue
Austin-Round Rock
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria