How many people live in ?

Updated annually
In 2025, there were 20 million people living in New York. That makes New York the fourth-most populous state, home to 5.9% of people living in the US.

20M

population of New York (2025)

5.9%

New York share of the US population (2025)
The population of New York was about 2.7 times higher than it was in 1900. Between 2024 and 2025, the population of New York grew by about 1,000 people.

About 20 million people lived in New York in 2025. That's about 2.7 times more than in 1900.

Annual population estimates

What are New York's age demographics?

About 3.75 million New York residents were aged 65 and older in 2024. That represents 18.9% of the state’s population compared with 18% in the US overall.
Another 3.98 million New York residents, or 20.1% of the state’s population, were aged under 18. For comparison, children account for 21.6% of the US population.

A higher share of New York's population is is 65 and older than the US overall.

Population share by age group (2024)

What are New York's racial and ethnic demographics?

A state’s population may have racial and ethnic differences compared with the US overall. These figures reflect how people identified their race alone (not in combination with other races), and separate Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, following Census Bureau reporting standards.
Non-Hispanic Black or African American residents make up 14.2% of New York’s population, higher than the national share of 12.6%. New York also has a larger share of people identifying as non-Hispanic Asian (9.8%) than the US overall (6.5%).
In contrast, New York’s non-Hispanic two or more races population accounted for 2%, below the 2.5% share nationwide. The non-Hispanic white population makes up 52.9% of the state, compared with 57.5% nationally.

A lower share of New York's population is is non-Hispanic white than the US overall.

Population share by race and ethnicity (2024)

What are New York's most populous counties?

In 2024, six out of 62 counties accounted for over half of New York's population:
  • Kings County, 2.62 million (13.1% of the population)
  • Queens County, 2.32 million (11.6%)
  • New York County, 1.66 million (8.3%)
  • Suffolk County, 1.54 million (7.7%)
  • Nassau County, 1.39 million (7%)
  • Bronx County, 1.38 million (6.9%)

In 2024, Kings County was the most populous county in New York.

Population estimates

What are New York's most populous cities?

The largest city in New York is New York with about 8.48 million residents in 2024.

Cities and counties in New York ranked by population

Cities and counties in New York ranked by population
1.

New York

8,478,072
2.

Buffalo 

276,617
3.

Yonkers 

211,040
4.

Rochester 

207,282
5.

Syracuse 

146,097
6.

Albany 

101,317
7.

New Rochelle

85,512
8.

Mount Vernon

71,999
9.

Schenectady 

69,495
10.

Utica 

63,660

Keep exploring

Methodology

USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.

The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.

Page sources

USAFacts endeavors to share the most up-to-date information available. We sourced the data on this page directly from government agencies; however, the intervals at which agencies publish updated data vary.