Brownsville Neighborhood Profile

Neighborhood Indicators

Demographics

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2021
Population
Born in New York State		59.7%	60.1%	62.7%	52.8%
Disabled population			10.5%	11.7%	14.4%
Foreign-born population	23.6%	28.3%	28.8%	25.6%	35.9%
Population	116,790	116,936	115,433	128,369	123,956
Population aged 65+	7.2%	9.1%	9.4%	12.5%	15.1%
Households
Households with children under 18 years old	51.7%	45.1%	45.1%	30.5%	25.4%
Single-person households		27.8%	26.5%	36.7%	33.6%
Race and Ethnicity
Percent Asian	0.6%	0.3%	0.4%	0.9%	1.7%
Percent Black	75.9%	77.3%	74.0%	68.4%	65.9%
Percent Hispanic	20.4%	20.3%	24.6%	25.6%	20.9%
Percent white	0.7%	0.8%	0.4%	3.8%	2.8%
Racial diversity index	0.38	0.36	0.39	0.47	0.52
Income and Poverty
Income diversity ratio		6.8	6.0	6.8	6.2
Median household income (2022$)	$37,320	$32,290	$33,780	$34,950	$40,620
Median household income, homeowners (2022$)		$78,640	$80,610	$82,070	$80,380
Median household income, renters (2022$)		$23,460	$26,220	$29,470	$33,820
Poverty rate	42.6%	38.7%	39.8%	34.3%	28.8%
Poverty rate, population aged 65+		39.5%	25.4%	33.9%	23.6%
Poverty rate, population under 18 years old		51.7%	53.4%	47.4%	38.3%
Labor Market
Labor force participation rate		51.2%	54.1%	54.5%	56.2%
Population aged 25+ without a high school diploma		33.0%	27.7%	23.9%	15.1%
Unemployment rate	22.30%	13.10%	15.58%	7.62%	18.02%

Housing Market and Conditions

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2021	2022
Housing Stock
Homeownership rate	16.8%	21.6%	17.5%	17.7%	21.4%
Housing units		44,350	45,117	55,188	50,473
Rental vacancy rate			5.3%	3.9%	2.5%
Serious housing code violations (per 1,000 privately owned rental units)		136.4	143.7	175.9	156.3	164.1
Severe crowding rate (% of renter households)			2.0%	1.6%	2.1%
Total housing code violations (per 1,000 privately owned rental units)		572.5	473.1	641.1	613.4	578.3
Finance - Distress
Notices of foreclosure rate (per 1,000 1-4 family and condo properties)	21.4	41.0	59.7	26.9	15.3	20.1
Notices of foreclosure, all residential properties	154	255	371	178	95	131
Notices of foreclosure, initial, 1-4 family and condo properties	92	193	198	65	20	46
Notices of foreclosure, repeat, 1-4 family and condo properties	11	34	145	90	69	71
Pre-foreclosure notice rate (per 1,000 1-4 family and condo properties)				99.7	41.8	96.4
Pre-foreclosure notices, 1-4 family and condo properties				575	243	561
Properties entering REO, 1-4 family	23	13	14
Finance - Lending
FHA/VA-backed home purchase loans (% of home purchase loans)		1.4%	83.2%	33.8%	34.0%
Higher-cost home purchase loans (% of home purchase loans)		57.2%	0.8%	17.6%	5.2%
Higher-cost refinance loans (% of refinance loans)		49.9%	7.7%	5.7%	1.3%
Home purchase loan rate (per 1,000 properties)		74.6	13.5	14.6	19.6
Home purchase loans in LMI tracts (% of home purchase loans)		94.9%	15.4%	88.0%	88.5%
Home purchase loans to LMI borrowers (% of home purchase loans)		4.3%	96.2%	7.2%	7.9%
Refinance loan rate (per 1,000 properties)		99.0	10.7	21.5	39.2
Sales - Volume
Sales volume, 1 family building	35	69	19	29	21	51
Sales volume, 2-4 family building	220	451	103	105	73	118
Sales volume, 5+ family building	28	40	19	13	7	8
Sales volume, condominium	1	7	12	18	19	24
Sales volume, all property types	284	567	153	165	120	201
Sales - Median Prices
Median sales price per unit, 1 family building (2022$)	$254,910	$505,890	$366,970	$528,740	$577,730	$540,000
Median sales price per unit, 2-4 family building (2022$)	$161,440	$299,790	$164,820	$408,820	$387,860	$387,250
Median sales price per unit, 5+ family building (2022$)	$56,220	$135,970	$84,100	$183,970	$265,260	$234,900
Median sales price per unit, condominium (2022$)	$142,680	$252,950	$419,760	$551,900	$546,430	$491,360
Sales - Housing Price Index
Index of housing price appreciation, 1 family building	100.0	220.0	183.3	286.5	349.7	298.9
Index of housing price appreciation, 2-4 family building	100.0	231.5	149.0	336.9	379.2	387.1
Index of housing price appreciation, 5+ family building	100.0	279.8	144.1	380.8	208.6	625.6
Index of housing price appreciation, condominium	100.0	54.9	33.2	85.6	87.4
Index of housing price appreciation, all property types	100.0	234.2	147.4	332.6	363.0	379.8
Subsidized Housing
Total number of subsidized properties (properties)						583
HUD Financing or Insurance (properties)						13
HUD Financing or Insurance (units)						831
HUD Project-based Rental Assistance Program (properties)						31
HUD Project-based Rental Assistance Program (units)						2,707
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (properties)						119
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (units)						4,712
Public Housing (properties)						48
Public Housing (units)						8,613
Mitchell-Lama (properties)						13
Mitchell-Lama (units)						1,486
421-a Tax Exemption (properties)						32
421-a Tax Exemption (units)						547
420-c Tax Exemption (properties)						116
420-c Tax Exemption (units)						3,700
NYC Housing Production Programs and Zoning Incentives or Requirements (properties)						212
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2023 and 2028 (properties)						50
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2023 and 2028 (units)						1,559
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2029 and 2038 (properties)						37
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2029 and 2038 (units)						2,003
Eligible to expire from housing programs in 2039 and later (properties)						57
Eligible to expire from housing programs in 2039 and later (units)						3,492

Land Use and Development

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2021	2022
Density
Population density (1,000 persons per square mile)		45.1	44.6	49.6	47.9
Development
Units authorized by new residential building permits	34	0	403	683	357	987
Units issued new certificates of occupancy	92	313	310	112	842	661

Neighborhood Services and Conditions

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2021	2022
Commute
Car-free commute (% of commuters)	73.1%		76.7%	78.7%	74.5%
Mean travel time to work (minutes)	48.1		43.4	47.2	47.0
Crime and Incarceration
Serious crime rate (per 1,000 residents)		23.9	23.3	16.8	16.0	18.9
Serious crime rate, property (per 1,000 residents)		10.6	10.3	6.7	7.0	8.0
Serious crime rate, violent (per 1,000 residents)		13.3	13.0	10.0	9.0	10.9
Schools
Students performing at grade level in English language arts, 4th grade				28.8%		28.0%
Students performing at grade level in math, 4th grade				25.5%		19.4%

Renters

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2021	2022
Median Rent
Median rent, 2- and 3-bedrooms (2022$)			$1,070	$1,220	$1,310
Median rent, all (2022$)	$850	$870	$1,080	$1,240	$1,100
Median rent, recent movers (2022$)			$1,270	$1,450	$1,440
Median rent, studios and 1-bedrooms (2022$)			$780	$840	$900
Change in collected rent (2019-2020)					0.1%
Affordability
Rental units affordable at 30% AMI (% of recently available units)			28.9%	24.3%
Rental units affordable at 80% AMI (% of recently available units)			86.4%	75.7%
Rental units affordable at 120% AMI (% of recently available units)			100.0%	99.0%
Rent Burden
Moderately rent-burdened households		25.1%	22.8%	24.2%	28.6%
Moderately rent-burdened households, low income			27.6%	28.3%	29.6%
Moderately rent-burdened households, moderate income			5.5%	9.5%	8.4%
Severely rent-burdened households	29.6%		32.2%	37.7%	36.0%
Severely rent-burdened households, low income			39.0%	45.7%	42.2%
Severely rent-burdened households, moderate income			0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Rental Subsidy
Housing choice vouchers (% of occupied, privately owned rental units)			12.3%	9.3%
Public housing (% of rental units)						26.3%

DEMOGRAPHICS

In 2021, there were an estimated 123,956 people in Brownsville, of which 1.7% identified as Asian, 65.9% identified as Black, 20.9% identified as Hispanic, and 2.8% identified as white.

Graph showing the racial and ethnic composition of Brownsville in both 2000 and 2017-2021.

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In 2021, the household income group with the largest share (32.8%) of households was <= $20,000. In 2000, the same household income group had the largest share as well, with a slightly higher share of 33.0%.

Graph showing the distribution of household income in Brownsville in both 2000 and 2017-2021.

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Median household income in 2021 was $40,620, about 44% less than citywide median household income ($72,150). The poverty rate in Brownsville was 28.8% in 2021 compared to 18.0% citywide.

The poverty rate in Brownsville was 28.8% in 2021 compared to 18.0% citywide.

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The rent distribution shows the share of apartments by their size (according to the number of bedrooms), and then for each apartment size in the community district, the share of apartments according to their monthly gross rent. This distribution compares 5-year ACS figures from 2010 to 5-year ACS figures from 2021.

Graph showing the distribution of rents in Brownsville in both 2010 and 2017-2021.

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HOUSING

Renters

Real median gross rent in Brownsville increased from $870 in 2006 to $1,100 in 2021. This represents a 26.4% increase over the same period. As of 2021, the change in median household income outpaced the change in median gross rent by 17.7 percentage points. In 2021, 36.0% of renter households in Brownsville were severely rent burdened (spent more than 50% of household income on rent). 26.3% of the rental units were public housing rental units, as of 2022. The overall rental vacancy rate in Brownsville was 2.5% in 2021.

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Graph showing the change in real median gross rent and median renter household income in Brownsville from 2006 to 2021.

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26.3% of the rental units in Brownsville are public housing rental units in 2022.

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Homeowners

In 2021, the homeownership rate in Brownsville was 21.4%, which is lower than the citywide share of 33.3%. The homeownership rate in the neighborhood has increased by 3.9 percentage points since 2010. In 2021, the home purchase loan rate was 19.6 per 1,000 properties (owner-occupied 1-4 family buildings, condominiums, or cooperative apartments) and the refinance loan rate was 39.2 per 1,000 properties in the neighborhood. Out of all the first-time home purchase loans and refinance loans in Brownsville, 5.2% and 1.3% were high cost loans, respectively. 131 properties had a filing of mortgage foreclosure in Brownsville in 2022. There were 20.1 mortgage foreclosure actions initiated per 1,000 1-4 family properties and condominium units.

There were 20.1 mortgage foreclosure notices per 1,000 1-4 family properties and condominium units in Brownsville in 2022

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Development

The Department of Buildings issued new certificates of occupancy to 661 residential units in new buildings in Brownsville in 2022, 181 fewer than the number of units certified in 2021.

Department of Buildings issued new certificates of occupancy to 661 residential units in new buildings in Brownsville last year, the same as the number of units certified in 2022.

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Over the last decade, 2,262 units in 4+ unit buildings were built in Brownsville. 13% were market rate, compared to 85% that were income-targeted. We use data from a variety of sources to count the number of income-restricted units targeted to households earning between 80% and 165% of AMI. However, due to restricted availability of granular data our calculations of income-restricted units should be read as conservative estimates. Read more about our methodology in the technical appendix of the 2021 Focus Report.

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NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES AND CONDITIONS

The serious crime rate was 18.9 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 2022, compared to 14.2 serious crimes per 1,000 residents citywide.

The serious crime rate was 18.9 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 2022, compared to 14.2 serious crimes per 1,000 residents citywide.

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Data Notes: See Indicator Definitions, Rankings, and Methods for more information.

Indicators: The rental vacancy rate, severe crowding rate, and the severely rent-burdened households indicators use five-year American Community Survey (ACS) estimates. Data under the 2010 heading comes from the 2006 – 2010 ACS, data under the 2019 heading comes from the 2015 – 2019 ACS and data under the 2021 heading comes from 2017 – 2021 ACS .