Brooklyn is an enormous coastal borough (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of New York. With a population of 2,736,074 people and 804 associated neighborhoods, Brooklyn is the largest community in New York. Brooklyn has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic boroughs. Brooklyn home prices are not only among the most expensive in New York, but Brooklyn real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.Brooklyn is a decidedly white-collar borough, with fully 86.46% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Brooklyn is a borough of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Brooklyn who work in management occupations (11.17%), office and administrative support (10.20%), and sales jobs (7.63%). Of important note, Brooklyn is also a borough of artists. Brooklyn has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Brooklyn’s character. Also of interest is that Brooklyn has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 17.02% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Brooklyn is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities. In Brooklyn, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 40.30 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit. In addition, the borough is also quite pedestrian-friendly, because many neighborhoods are very dense and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot. One of the benefits of being a big city like Brooklyn is having a public transportation system, but in Brooklyn the transit system is the mode of choice for lots of people getting to and from work every day. You will find many people using the subway for their daily commute, even though other transportation options exist. If you ask these commuters, many will tell you that not having to drive in the snarl of big city traffic is one of main reasons for leaving the car at home, or even not owning a car at all. With so many people taking the subway Brooklyn benefits from a reduction in air pollution and traffic.The education level of Brooklyn ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Brooklyn, 41.33% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree. The per capita income in Brooklyn in 2022 was $46,057, which is upper middle income relative to New York and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $184,228 for a family of four. However, Brooklyn contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Brooklyn is an extremely ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Brooklyn home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Brooklyn residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Brooklyn also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 18.89% of the borough’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Brooklyn include Italian, Irish, Jamaican, German, and Haitian. Foreign born people are also an important part of Brooklyn's cultural character, accounting for 35.24% of the borough’s population. The most common language spoken in Brooklyn is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
