New York City remains home to the largest Jewish population in the country, according to a new, wide-ranging survey — though its numbers may be declining somewhat, and Jewish identities are shifting.
Close to a million Jews live in the five boroughs, with more than 400,000 more in Westchester and Long Island.
The Orthodox population has remained steady while the number of unaffiliated Jews has spiked. More than a third of Jewish households make more than $150,000 per year — though more than 80% of Jewish children in poverty are haredi Orthodox. Almost half say they are liberal or very liberal — though most Orthodox Jews say they are politically conservative.
The survey, published by the UJA-Federation of New York on Thursday, is the communal group’s first Jewish population survey since 2011. Taken in the first half of 2023 with a margin of error of 1.5%, the survey covers data ranging from Jews’ level of education to their ritual observance and household income in each of the five boroughs of New York City, as well as Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties. It did not measure attitudes toward Israel.
The survey found that New York City is home to 960,000 Jews, with 412,000 more in the three suburban counties. Those numbers reflect a decline from 2011, when the survey counted 1.54 million Jews, including more than 1 million in the five boroughs. It’s also a slight decrease from surveys in 2002 and 1991, which each counted roughly 1.4 million Jews in the eight-county area. (The survey noted that the studies used different methodologies, making direct comparisons difficult.)
