Brownsville Neighborhood Profile

Neighborhood Indicators

Demographics

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019
Population
Born in New York State		59.7%	60.1%	62.7%
Disabled population			10.5%	11.7%
Foreign-born population	23.6%	28.3%	28.8%	25.6%
Population	116,790	116,936	115,433	128,369
Population aged 65+	7.2%	9.1%	9.4%	12.5%
Households
Households with children under 18 years old	51.7%	45.1%	45.1%	30.5%
Single-person households		27.8%	26.5%	36.7%
Race and Ethnicity
Percent Asian	0.6%	0.3%	0.4%	0.9%
Percent Black	75.9%	77.3%	74.0%	68.4%
Percent Hispanic	20.4%	20.3%	24.6%	25.6%
Percent white	0.7%	0.8%	0.4%	3.8%
Racial diversity index	0.38	0.36	0.39	0.47
Income and Poverty
Income diversity ratio		6.8	6.0	6.8
Median household income (2021$)	$35,180	$30,430	$31,840	$32,940
Median household income, homeowners (2021$)		$74,120	$75,980	$77,350
Median household income, renters (2021$)		$22,110	$24,710	$27,780
Poverty rate	42.6%	38.7%	39.8%	34.3%
Poverty rate, population aged 65+		39.5%	25.4%	33.9%
Poverty rate, population under 18 years old		51.7%	53.4%	47.4%
Labor Market
Labor force participation rate		51.2%	54.1%	54.5%
Population aged 25+ without a high school diploma		33.0%	27.7%	23.9%
Unemployment rate	22.30%	13.10%	15.58%	7.62%

Housing Market and Conditions

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020	2021
Housing Stock
Homeownership rate	16.8%	21.6%	17.5%	17.7%
Housing units		44,350	45,117	55,188
Rental vacancy rate			5.3%	3.9%
Serious housing code violations (per 1,000 privately owned rental units)		136.4	143.7	175.9	136.2	156.3
Severe crowding rate (% of renter households)			2.0%	1.6%
Total housing code violations (per 1,000 privately owned rental units)		572.5	473.1	641.1	441.9	613.4
Finance - Distress
Notices of foreclosure rate (per 1,000 1-4 family and condo properties)	21.4	41.0	59.7	26.9	11.4	15.3
Notices of foreclosure, all residential properties	154	255	371	178	70	95
Notices of foreclosure, initial, 1-4 family and condo properties	92	193	198	65	21	20
Notices of foreclosure, repeat, 1-4 family and condo properties	11	34	145	90	45	69
Pre-foreclosure notice rate (per 1,000 1-4 family and condo properties)				99.7	56.0	41.8
Pre-foreclosure notices, 1-4 family and condo properties				575	326	243
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%	43.3%
Higher-cost home purchase loans (% of home purchase loans)		57.2%	0.8%	17.6%	6.4%
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	14.4
Home purchase loans in LMI tracts (% of home purchase loans)		94.9%	15.4%	88.0%	86.5%
Home purchase loans to LMI borrowers (% of home purchase loans)		4.3%	96.2%	7.2%	7.1%
Refinance loan rate (per 1,000 properties)		99.0	10.7	21.5	32.0
Sales - Volume
Sales volume, 1 family building	35	69	19	29	22	22
Sales volume, 2-4 family building	220	451	103	104	98	88
Sales volume, 5+ family building	28	40	19	13	6	14
Sales volume, condominium	1	7	12	18	15	21
Sales volume, all property types	284	567	153	164	141	145
Sales - Median Prices
Median sales price per unit, 1 family building (2021$)		$476,800	$345,860	$498,330	$503,670	$544,750
Median sales price per unit, 2-4 family building (2021$)		$282,550	$155,340	$385,300	$396,480	$350,090
Median sales price per unit, 5+ family building (2021$)		$128,150	$79,260	$173,390	$219,550	$100,590
Median sales price per unit, condominium (2021$)		$238,400	$395,620	$520,160	$481,300	$515,000
Sales - Housing Price Index
Index of housing price appreciation, 1 family building	100.0	204.3	164.0	255.0	244.1	291.4
Index of housing price appreciation, 2-4 family building	100.0	216.4	134.5	305.4	318.0	367.0
Index of housing price appreciation, 5+ family building	100.0	242.5	148.4	382.5	623.3	270.0
Index of housing price appreciation, condominium	100.0	82.2	43.8	101.2
Index of housing price appreciation, all property types	100.0	217.1	133.7	307.8	325.0	344.9
Subsidized Housing
Total number of subsidized properties (properties)						563
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)						5,128
Public Housing (properties)						48
Public Housing (units)						8,613
Mitchell-Lama (properties)						13
Mitchell-Lama (units)						1,486
421-a Tax Exemption (properties)						17
421-a Tax Exemption (units)						324
420-c Tax Exemption (properties)						116
420-c Tax Exemption (units)						3,631
NYC Housing Production Programs and Zoning Incentives or Requirements (properties)						202
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2022 and 2027 (properties)						27
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2022 and 2027 (units)						1,308
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2028 and 2037 (properties)						57
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2028 and 2037 (units)						2,319
Eligible to expire from housing programs in 2038 and later (properties)						50
Eligible to expire from housing programs in 2038 and later (units)						2,748

Land Use and Development

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020
Density
Population density (1,000 persons per square mile)		45.1	44.6	49.6
Development
Units authorized by new residential building permits	34	0	403	683	503
Units issued new certificates of occupancy	92	313	310	112	360

Neighborhood Services and Conditions

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020	2021
Commute
Car-free commute (% of commuters)	73.1%		76.7%	78.7%
Mean travel time to work (minutes)	48.1		43.4	47.2
Crime and Incarceration
Serious crime rate (per 1,000 residents)		23.9	23.3	16.8	16.7	17.8
Serious crime rate, property (per 1,000 residents)		10.6	10.3	6.7	6.8	7.6
Serious crime rate, violent (per 1,000 residents)		13.3	13.0	10.0	9.9	10.2
Schools
Students performing at grade level in English language arts, 4th grade				28.8%
Students performing at grade level in math, 4th grade				25.5%

Renters

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020	2021
Median Rent
Median rent, 2- and 3-bedrooms (2021$)			$1,010	$1,150
Median rent, all (2021$)	$800	$820	$1,020	$1,170
Median rent, recent movers (2021$)			$1,200	$1,370
Median rent, studios and 1-bedrooms (2021$)			$740	$790
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%
Moderately rent-burdened households, low income			27.6%	28.3%
Moderately rent-burdened households, moderate income			5.5%	9.5%
Severely rent-burdened households	29.6%		32.2%	37.7%
Severely rent-burdened households, low income			39.0%	45.7%
Severely rent-burdened households, moderate income			0.0%	0.0%
Rental Subsidy
Housing choice vouchers (% of occupied, privately owned rental units)			12.3%	9.3%	8.9%
Public housing (% of rental units)						26.5%

DEMOGRAPHICS

In 2019, there were an estimated 128,369 people in Brownsville, of which 0.9% of the population identified as Asian, 68.4% identified as Black, 25.6% identified as Hispanic, and 3.8% identified as white.

Graph showing the racial and ethnic composition of Brownsville in both 2000 and 2015-2019.

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In 2019, the household income group with the largest share (36.6%) of households was <= $20,000. In 2000, the same household income group had the largest share as well, with a slightly lower share of 34.8%.

Graph showing the distribution of household income in Brownsville in both 2000 and 2015-2019.

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Median household income in 2019 was $32,940, about 55% less than citywide median household income ($72,930). The poverty rate in Brownsville was 34.3% in 2019 compared to 16.0% citywide.

The poverty rate in Brownsville was 34.3% in 2019 compared to 16.0% 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 2019. This is a new figure made for the 2021 State of the City report.

Graph showing the distribution of rents in Brownsville in both 2010 and 2015-2019.

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HOUSING

Renters

Real median gross rent in Brownsville increased from $820 in 2006 to $1,170 in 2019. In 2019, 37.7% of renter households in Brownsville were severely rent burdened (spent more than 50% of household income on rent). 75.7% of the rental units were affordable at 80% Area Median Income, 11 percentage points lower than the share in 2010. 26.5% of rental units were public housing rental units, as of 2021. The overall rental vacancy rate in Brownsville was 3.9% in 2019.

Real median gross rent in Brownsville increased from $840 in 2007 to $1,170 in 2019.

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26.5% of the rental units in Brownsville are public housing rental units in 2021.

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Homeowners

In 2019, the homeownership rate in Brownsville was 17.7%, lower than the citywide share of 31.9%. The homeownership rate in the neighborhood has increased by 0.2 percentage points since 2010. In 2020, the home purchase loan rate was 14.4 per 1,000 properties (owner-occupied 1-4 family buildings, condominiums, or cooperative apartments) and the refinance loan rate was 32.0 per 1,000 properties in the neighborhood. Out of all the first-time home purchase loans and refinance loans in Brownsville, 6.4% and 1.3% were high cost loans, respectively. 95 properties had a filing of mortgage foreclosure in Brownsville in 2021. There were 15.3 mortgage foreclosure actions initiated per 1,000 1-4 family properties and condominium units.

There were 15.3 mortgage foreclosure notices per 1,000 1-4 family properties and condominium units in Brownsville in 2021

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Development

Department of Buildings issued new certificates of occupancy to 360 residential units in new buildings in Brownsville in 2020, 248 more than the number of units certified in 2019.

Department of Buildings issued new certificates of occupancy to 360 residential units in new buildings in Brownsville last year, 248 more than the number of units certified in 2019.

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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% low-income. 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 methdology in the technical appendix of the 2021 Focus Report.

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NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES AND CONDITIONS

The serious crime rate was 17.8 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 2021, compared to 12.2 serious crimes per 1,000 residents citywide.

The serious crime rate was 17.8 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 2021, compared to 12.2 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 and data under the 2019 heading comes from the 2015 – 2019 ACS.

Rankings: We report rankings out of all neighborhoods for which the indicator can be calculated. Rankings are listed for community districts, though some indicators are reported at the sub-borough area level.