Where New Yorkers spoke Yiddish, 1970

Census by census, the share of New Yorkers who spoke Yiddish at home in every part of the city, with the neighborhoods that had the most speakers.

1970

Whole city: 7%

1. Sheepshead Bay: 26,850 (24%)
2. Brighton Beach: 24,130 (43%)
3. Borough Park: 23,990 (20%)
4. Midwood: 23,820 (28%)
5. East Flatbush: 21,550 (17%)

1990

Whole city: 1%

1. Borough Park: 21,750 (20%)
2. Williamsburg: 12,470 (15%)
3. Midwood: 6,230 (8%)
4. Brighton Beach: 4,550 (9%)
5. Sheepshead Bay: 3,590 (4%)

2010

Whole city: 1%

1. Borough Park: 31,670 (24%)
2. Williamsburg: 20,240 (21%)
3. Bedford-Stuyvesant: 7,940 (5%)
4. Midwood: 3,540 (4%)
5. Navy Yard: 3,390 (55%)

Today

Whole city: 2%

1. Borough Park: 49,020 (37%)
2. Williamsburg: 20,480 (18%)
3. Bedford-Stuyvesant: 17,110 (9%)
4. Navy Yard: 3,900 (52%)
5. Clinton Hill: 3,750 (11%)

1970: mother tongue. From 1990: language spoken at home by people 5 and over. Source: US census, IPUMS NHGIS. Today's figure counts Yiddish together with German.

The languages of New York · Where New York Came From: a map of NYC immigration and ancestry, 1910 to today