Since 2010, Growth Here Has Been Predominantly Asian, Not White
Hunters Point South and Long Island City nearly quadrupled in population over 14 years. Census data shows most of that growth came from Asian residents, while both the White and Hispanic shares of the population fell.
The population of Hunters Point South and Long Island City’s residential core grew from 7,681 people in 2010 to 30,148 in 2024, according to Census Bureau estimates. Nearly four times as many people live here now as did at the start of the decade.
In raw numbers, the Asian population here grew more than eightfold, from about 1,246 residents in 2010 to about 10,246 in 2024. That is a faster and larger increase than any other group tracked by the Census Bureau’s race and ethnicity data, including White residents, whose population roughly tripled over the same period, in line with the neighborhood’s overall growth rate.
The Hispanic population grew far more slowly. In 2010, Hispanic residents made up 16.7 percent of the population. By 2024, that share had fallen to 9.4 percent, nearly a halving. In absolute terms, the Hispanic population grew only modestly, from about 1,282 residents to about 2,829, even as the neighborhood around it nearly quadrupled in size.
The Black population here has stayed small throughout the period, moving from about 331 residents in 2010 to about 835 in 2024, never exceeding about 5 percent of the total population in any year measured.
A Growth Story, Not A Replacement Story
The numbers complicate a simple narrative: if new development here were simply replacing existing Hispanic or Black residents with new White residents, the White share of the population would be rising, not falling. Instead, both the White and Hispanic shares of the population declined over the same 14 years, while the Asian share rose enough to become the fastest-growing group by a wide margin.
HPS BY THE NUMBERS
GROWTH & WHO LIVES HERE
HOUSING
GETTING AROUND
- Why more people WFH than drive
- Who actually drives to work
- Same Population, Falling Crash Rate
- Stay away from this intersection
INCOME & EDUCATION
Newer towers in Hunters Point South, Queens West, and Court Square added units at scale, and demand for those units has skewed toward buyers and renters who are disproportionately Asian, based on who has actually moved in. At the same time, the small existing pre-boom population, which the Census Bureau counted as majority White with a meaningful Hispanic share, has grown far more slowly than the neighborhood around it, meaning its share of the total population has shrunk even where its raw numbers held steady or grew modestly.
The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey cannot say why people moved, only who did. Distinguishing between existing residents leaving, existing residents staying while new arrivals reshape the numbers around them, or some combination of both would require more granular data than five-year population estimates can provide.
This data does not show displacement.
The population here did not grow because Asian residents replaced White or Hispanic residents in existing housing. It grew because the housing stock itself grew, by more than 13,000 units over the same period, a pace this series has covered separately. Most of the growth documented here happened in units that did not exist ten years ago. The demand that filled those units, and the boba shops, banh mi counters, and Asian grocers that have opened along Vernon Boulevard and Center Boulevard to serve it, is a downstream effect of that construction, not a sign that anyone already living here was pushed out.
Randy Plemel
Publisher
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The founder and publisher of the Hunters Point Ledger, a newsletter covering Hunters Point South and Long Island City. He serves on Queens Community Board 2, and all views are his own.
