The population of the New York Jewish community has grown nearly 10 percent since the previous study in 2002, according to a UJA-Federation of New York’s Jewish Community Study of New York: 2011.
More than 1.5 million Jews now live in the eight-county New York area, a total that surpasses the combined Jewish populations of the metropolitan areas of Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
In the five boroughs of New York City, the Jewish population rose to 1,086,000, with 316,000 on Long Island and 136,000 in Westchester.
UJA-Federation’s study also finds that the recent growth in Jewish population largely results from increased birthrates and longevity, rather than from immigration that previously drove the rise in the area’s Jewish population.
Increases were also measured at both ends of the age spectrum, including the number of Jewish children and young adults under the age of 25 (which now totals 498,000) and the number of Jewish seniors, particularly those ages 75 and over (198,000).
The New York Jewish community is highly diverse, according to the study. Of the 1.5 million Jewish people in the New York Jewish community, nearly half a million are Orthodox, 216,000 live in Russian-speaking households, and about 12 percent of all Jewish households are biracial or nonwhite.
The study also explores the changing nature of Jewish identity and engagement.
Nondenominational Jews and Jews with no religion now make up a third of all Jewish households in the New York area.
More than half of all Jews feel that being Jewish is very important.
And less-engaged Jews are relatively engaged in Jewish activities that one can perform independently of institutions.
The full study can be found here.
