The New York region continues to be by far the leading metropolitan gateway for legal immigrants admitted into the United States.

[6] The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States.

[16] The city has a long tradition of attracting international immigration and Americans seeking careers in certain sectors.

[23] Manhattan's population density is 74,781 people per square mile (28,872/km2), highest of any county in the United States.

The eleven nations constituting the largest sources of modern immigration to New York City are the Dominican Republic, China, Jamaica, Guyana, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Russia and El Salvador.

[31] Among young adults in New York who work full-time, women now earn more money than men — approximately $5,000 more in 2005.

[32] New York City's borough of Manhattan is the highest nominal income county in the United States.

In 2006 the average weekly wage in Manhattan was $1,453, the highest and fastest growing among the largest counties in the United States.

About 33% of rental units fall under rent stabilization, according to which increases are adjudicated periodically by city agencies.

[37] Some critics point to New York City's strict zoning and other regulations as partial causes for the housing shortage, but during the city's decline in population from the 1960s through the 1980s, a large number of apartment buildings suffered suspected arson fires or were abandoned by their owners.

Once the population trend was reversed, with rising prospects for rentals and sales, new construction has resumed, but generally for purchasers in higher income brackets.

New York will maintain this position for the foreseeable future, although there are varying forecasts on how much the population will increase.

In addition, the Mayor claims, the census showed improbably high amounts of vacant housing in vital neighborhoods such as Jackson Heights, Queens.

[56] Throughout its history, New York City has been a principal port of entry for immigration to the United States.

Newer immigrants are from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.

[57] The ten largest sources of foreign-born individuals in the city as of 2011[update] were the Dominican Republic, China, Mexico, Guyana, Jamaica, Ecuador, Haiti, India, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, and El Salvador.

[58][59] Queens has the largest Asian American and Andean populations in the United States, and is also the most ethnically and linguistically diverse urban area in the world.

[70] Asian Americans in New York City, according to the 2010 census, number more than one million, greater than the combined totals of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

[74] As of 2023, illegal Chinese immigration to New York City, especially to Queens and its Flushing Chinatown, has accelerated,[75] and a significant new wave of Chinese Uyghur Muslims is fleeing religious persecution in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Province and seeking religious freedom in New York.

Central Asians, primarily Uzbek Americans, are a rapidly growing segment of the city's non-Hispanic White population.

[78] New York is also home to the highest Jewish population of any city in the world, numbering 960,000 in 2023, more than Tel Aviv and Jerusalem combined.

[80] Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana, Peru, and Brazil, are the top source countries from South America for immigrants to the New York City region; the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean; Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa from Africa; and El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala in Central America.

[81] Amidst a resurgence of Puerto Rican migration to New York City, this population had increased to approximately 1.5 million in the metropolitan area as of 2016[update].

The Church of God in Christ is one of the largest predominantly Black Pentecostal denominations in the area.

The American Orthodox Catholic Church (initially led by Aftimios Ofiesh) was founded in New York City in 1927.

[98] The first wave of Jewish migration to New York City occurred the 1650s, consisting of Sephardic Jews from Recife who originally sought refuge in Dutch Brazil following the Spanish Inquisition, and later fled to New York after Portugal retook Recife.

A large portion of the population suburbanized after World War II,[94] as a part of the larger trend of White flight.

[citation needed] Still, the 1970s saw the arrival of Jews migrating to New York City from the USSR, Syria, and Iran.

770 Eastern Parkway is the headquarters of the international Chabad Lubavitch movement, and is considered an icon, while Congregation Emanu-El of New York in Manhattan is the largest Reform synagogue in the world.

[104][105] Following these three largest religious groups in New York City are Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, and a variety of other religions.