The languages of New York

Yiddish, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Haitian Creole: where New Yorkers spoke them at home, from 1970 to today.

A city of mother tongues, 1970

In 1970 the census asked New Yorkers what language they had grown up speaking. Almost half named one other than English: Spanish (16%), Italian (9%), Yiddish (7%) and German (4%) led the list. Each area is colored by its most common language after English.

Italian, 1970

About 650,000 New Yorkers had grown up speaking Italian. In Bensonhurst it was about two in five residents, in Gravesend a third. By 2010 fewer than 100,000 still spoke it at home.

Yiddish, 1970

More than half a million New Yorkers named Yiddish as their mother tongue, spread across southern Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. In Brighton Beach it was 43% of residents. Twenty years later about 92,000 still spoke it at home, above all in Borough Park and Williamsburg.

Spanish, 1990

In 1970 the largest Spanish-speaking neighborhoods were Puerto Rican: Longwood, Mott Haven and East Harlem. By 1990 Washington Heights, now largely Dominican, had the most speakers, about 86,000, or 63% of residents. Bushwick and Fordham followed.

Spanish today

About 1.8 million New Yorkers speak Spanish at home, more than one in five. The most live in Washington Heights, Fordham, Jackson Heights and Kingsbridge, where over half of residents speak it.

Chinese today

In 1990 about 211,000 New Yorkers spoke Chinese at home, the largest numbers in and around Manhattan's Chinatown. Today it is about 490,000. Flushing has the most, about 77,000, two in five residents, followed by Bensonhurst and Borough Park.

Russian and other Slavic languages, today

In 1970 Greenpoint, the heart of Polish Brooklyn, had the most speakers of Slavic languages. Today it is Brighton Beach, where 57% of residents, about 31,000 people, speak Russian or another Slavic language at home. Sheepshead Bay is close behind.

French and Haitian Creole, today

This is the heart of Haitian New York: in East Flatbush, Flatbush and Canarsie, between one in nine and one in six residents speak French or Haitian Creole at home. The census counts the two languages together.

Your neighborhood's languages

Today almost half of New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home. Click any neighborhood to see its languages census by census, or type a language into the search to put it on the map.

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