Brooklyn

Brooklyn (Kings County) is the most populous borough, with 2,736,074 residents at the 2020 census, just short of its 1950 peak; the NYU Furman Center estimates 2,617,631 for 2024. It had about 1,111,000 homes in 2023, 30% of the city's housing stock, and a net rental vacancy rate of about 1.27%.

Key figures for 2024 (NYU Furman Center, incomes and rents in 2025 dollars):

• Foreign-born residents: 35.7%
• Median household income: $83,770
• Homeownership rate: 29.1%
• Households with children under 18: 25.1%
• Mean commute to work: 41.7 minutes

Brooklyn is a borough of many distinct neighborhoods, from dense areas close to Manhattan to the beaches of Coney Island on the Atlantic shore. Incomes and rents differ sharply between areas: the Furman Center's figures for Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, for example, show a median household income of about $188,730 in 2024, more than twice the borough median.

The MTA's station list shows 18 subway routes with stations in Brooklyn: the 2, 3, 4 and 5, and the A, B, C, D, F, G, J, L, M, N, Q, R and Z, plus shuttles. The G line connects Brooklyn and Queens without passing through Manhattan. Travel times to Manhattan depend heavily on which line is closest; the borough's average commute was 41.7 minutes in 2024.

Brooklyn is mostly a renters' borough. In 2024 the median rent paid by all renters was $1,900, and households that had recently moved paid a median of $2,650. Median rents were about $1,780 for studios and one-bedrooms and $1,990 for two- and three-bedroom homes. 28.1% of renter households were severely rent-burdened.

A quarter of households have children under 18. Children attend their zoned public school from kindergarten to grade 8, and families apply for free 3-K and Pre-K seats through MySchools. Large green spaces include Prospect Park (about 526 acres), Marine Park (about 800 acres), Coney Island Beach and Boardwalk and Dyker Beach Park.