Brooklyn has a population of 2.5 million. The racial and ethnic makeup remained essentially the same over the last year with whites and African Americans making up the majority of the population with 37% and 34% each. Latinos make up 20% of the population, followed by Asians with 9% and Native Americans, Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders and people of more than one race, who combine to make up 1.8% of Brooklyn residents.

Of its 2.5 million residents, almost 1 million are foreign born, over half of whom are naturalized U.S. citizens. Of the 950,000 foreign born residents, over 750,000 entered the United States before the year 2000. Latin America was the region of birth for just over half of the foreign born population (52%), followed by Asia and Europe with just over 200,000 each (22% and 21% respectively).

The 2.3 million residents who are five years of age and older are almost evenly split between individuals who speak only English and those who speak a language other than English (1.2 to 1 million respectively), and over half a million of the latter speak English less than “very well.”

Brooklyn numbers some 872,000 households, of which 561,000, or 61%, are families. Of those families, 47% have children under 18 years of age and 11% are single mothers with children. There are 66,000 grandparents living with their own grandchildren under 18, 27% of whom are responsible for those children.

Of the population 25 and over, numbering 1.6 million, individuals with less than a ninth grade education account for 11.6%; those with more than ninth grade, 11%; those with a high school diploma, 30%; those with some college, 12%; those with an associates degree, 6%; those with a bachelor’s degree, 17.8%; and those with a graduate or professional degree, 10%.

Brooklyn’s unemployment rate remained a full percentage point higher than the national average at 7.4% in 2006. There are 1.93 million Brooklyn residents over the age of 16 of whom 1.14 million are in the labor force. Of the total population 16 and over, just over 1 million are women, but only 559,000 are in the labor force. Of those, 7% are unemployed.

Management, professional and related occupations employed the largest number of the 1.06 million Brooklyn residents with jobs in 2006 at 354,500, or 33.5%. This was followed by sales and office occupations at 265,500 or 25%, service occupations at 247,000 or 23%, production, transportation and material moving occupations at 105,942 or 10%, and construction, extraction, maintenance and repair occupations at 84,655 or 8%.

Individuals residing in Brooklyn in 2006 had a median income of just over $40,000. While households making between $35,000 and $75,000 number over 278,000, households making under $25,000 number almost 300,000.