Hispanic, Asian populations grew on Long Island from 2022-2023, Census Bureau data shows

Hispanics on Long Island continued their population growth between 2022 and 2023, mirroring a national trend, while the smaller Asian population grew at a faster rate, according to estimates publicly released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Meanwhile, the non-Hispanic white population, both locally and nationally, continued to drop, according to the bureau's Vintage 2023 Population Estimates. Whites, though, remain the largest racial or ethnic group, followed by Hispanics, who can be of any race, the Census Bureau said.

According to the bureau, the population of Hispanics nationally grew to just over 65 million, an increase of 1.16 million people, or 1.8%, between 2022 and 2023.

“This growth significantly contributed to the nation's total population gain of 1.64 million in 2023,” the bureau said in a statement.

On Long Island, the Hispanic population rose 1.1%, growing by an estimated 6,871 people between July 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023, for a total population in Nassau and Suffolk counties of 610,696, according to a Newsday analysis of the census data. 

Long Island's estimated total population in 2023 was 2,904,885, a decrease of 8,383 from the prior year, according to the estimates.

However, the non-Hispanic Asian population on Long Island posted larger percentage and numerical increases. The Asian population's 2023 estimate was 252,957, up 10,761, or 4.4%, from the year before, according to Newsday's analysis.

Lawrence Levy, executive dean of Hofstra University's National Center for Suburban Studies, has not reviewed the latest census data, but based on his center's studies of Long Island populations, said he expected “that the increase in Asian residents has accelerated … possibly beyond that of Latinos.

“The demographics of the two groups are different. The economic levels of Asian groups are probably higher than Latinos, based on the communities where they are clustering, and the cost of living in those places,” citing upscale communities such as Great Neck and Jericho.

"I think that the word is out among upscale Asian communities that Long Island is a friendly place in the communities where they are living, [it has] great schools and other opportunities,” such as being near “major knowledge-based businesses like Brookhaven National Lab and Stony Brook University.”

Levy said Latinos also continued to be attracted to Long Island “for much the same reason: work opportunities, good schools and relatively affordable housing in communities where Latinos appear to be clustered. The cost of housing in Brentwood or Central Islip, which are heavily Latino, is a lot less than Great Neck or Jericho, where you're seeing a surge in Asians.”

But nationally, the Census Bureau said Hispanics were powering the nation's gain in population. The bureau said the Hispanic population accounted for “just under 71% of the overall growth of the United States population.” Nationally, Asians saw a 2.3% growth, or 466,193, for a total population in 2023 estimated at 20,685,425.

“The Hispanic population is expanding at a substantially faster rate than the non-Hispanic population, primarily due to natural increase, that is, more births than deaths,” Kristie S. Wilder, a demographer with the Census Bureau's population division, said in a statement.

“The annual increase of 1.8% was in sharp contrast to the 0.2% increase in the non-Hispanic population, whose growth is tempered by a decline among non-Hispanic whites, the largest demographic within the non-Hispanic category and the only one to experience a population loss,” she added.

Wilder said she couldn't analyze the “components of change,” such as births and deaths, by race or ethnicity at the state level. She said at the national level for Hispanics, the trend is showing the increase is powered by “natural increase” — more births than deaths — with “international migration as a secondary factor.”

The bureau noted that the states with the largest Hispanic populations were California, with an estimated 15,760,437; Texas, 12,135,690; Florida, 6,197,465; and New York, 3,873,130. However, the bureau said Texas, Florida and California had the largest numeric increases in Hispanics between 2022 and 2023, adding New York was the only state to experience an overall drop in the Hispanic population, at 0.1% or a loss of 3,375 people. 

Wilder, in an interview with Newsday, noted that New York overall “has been experiencing a steady year-over-year decline” in population, citing in particular “negative domestic migration,” with people moving out of the state. She said New York's total estimated population loss between 2022 and 2023 was 102,000.

“The Hispanic population wasn't the only population to experience a decline in New York,” Wilder said. “The Black population in New York dropped 1.2% and the non-Hispanic white population dropped by 0.9%.” She said the Hispanic population in the state “had the smallest drop.”

Jan Vink, a researcher with Cornell University's Program on Applied Demographics, said in an email that it was “very likely that the Hispanic population in New York also has a positive natural increase and the [non-Hispanic] white population, a negative natural increase.” He said the Hispanic population was “much younger and it is expected that they have higher … birth rates” and lower death rates.

On Long Island, the non-Hispanic white population declined 1.6%, going from 1,738,325 in 2022 to 1,709,773, a drop of 28,552, according to Newsday's analysis. The non-Hispanic Black population rose 0.7%, or 1,849, to 281,016.

The non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native population posted a 64-person increase, or 1.3%, for a total estimated population of 5,105 in 2023; among non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islanders, the increase was 4.5%, or 47 people, for a total population estimate of 1,090; and among non-Hispanics of two or more races, the increase was 1.3%, or 577 people, for an estimated total population of 44,248.