The Lower East Side
The most crowded place on earth, and who came after.
Half a million people, 1910
More than half a million people lived in these few square kilometers. Seven in ten had roots in the Russian Empire or Austria-Hungary, most of them Jewish.
Emptying out, 1950
As families moved to Brooklyn and the Bronx, the population fell by more than half, to about 210,000.
Loisaida, 1970
By 1970 Puerto Ricans, about 39,000, were the largest group. The neighborhood east of Avenue A became Loisaida.
Today
Today Chinese New Yorkers, about 34,000, are the largest group, alongside newcomers of every origin drawn by the area's new towers.
Where New York Came From: a map of NYC immigration and ancestry, 1910 to today