“We all have a million anecdotes of what typifies New Yorkers,” says the Director of the population division of the Department of City Planning, Joseph Salvo. I can’t help but agree with him, especially after glancing at the statistics from his talk with Macaulay Students a couple of weeks ago. There is such a complex amalgamation of cultures in New York- packed into NYC alone, that no single anecdote could possibly represent a “New Yorker”.

 

So I started to think about where I’m from, asking what typifies someone from Westchester County?  The results, according to Census Data, were not wholly surprising. Irvington, New York: 2.77 square miles, 87.1 % White, and a median household income of $123,226. Clearly it’s not so difficult to deduce the identity of a typical “Westchesterite”.  While these statistics are not representative of my town’s entire population, they do not fail to show its unfortunate lack of diversity—and the location of a large portion of the unpopular “1%”. Manhattan of course has its fair share of wealthy elites, yet its overall diversity is truly unparalleled by New York’s surrounding counties. With a 37.2% Foreign-born population in 2010, NYC is harboring immigrants from all over the world who contribute to the growing identity of the elusive “New Yorker”.

 

Sources:

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/nyregion/02experience.html?_r=0