Borough Park
Neighborhood of Brooklyn
Temple Beth El of Borough Park
Location in New York City
Coordinates: 40°38′02″N 73°59′35″W / 40.634°N 73.993°W / 40.634; -73.993
Country	United States
State	New York
City	New York City
Borough	Brooklyn
Community District	Brooklyn 12[1]
Languages[2]	List 56.8% Yiddish 89.6% English 8.5% Chinese 6.4% Polish 4.4% Spanish 1.9% Hebrew 7.4% Other
Area
• Total	2.071 sq mi (5.36 km2)
Population  (2010)[3]
• Total	153,470
• Density	74,000/sq mi (29,000/km2)
Ethnicity [4]
• White	77.0%
• Asian	11.7%
• Hispanic (of any race)	9.4%
• Black	0.7%
• Other	1.2%
Economics [5]
• Median household income	$37,438
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	11204, 11218–11220
Area code	718, 347, 929, and 917

Borough Park^[6] (also spelled Boro Park^[7][8]) is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The neighborhood is bordered by Bensonhurst to the south, Dyker Heights to the southwest, Sunset Park to the west, Kensington and Green-Wood Cemetery to the northeast, Flatbush to the east, and Mapleton to the southeast.

It is economically diverse and home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside Israel, with one of the largest concentrations of Jews in the United States.^[6] With Orthodox and Haredi families having an average of 6.72 children, Boro Park is experiencing a sharp growth in population.^[9]

The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community District 12, and its primary ZIP Code is 11219.^[1] It is patrolled by the 66th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.^[10] Politically, it is represented by the New York City Council's 38th, 39th, and 44th Districts.^[11]

History

Early development and railroads

Originally, the area was called Blythebourne, a small hamlet composed of cottages built and developed in 1887 by Electus Litchfield,^{[note 1]} and then expanded with more housing by developer William Reynolds.^[12][13] It was served by the Brooklyn, Bath, and Coney Island, a steam railroad that is today's elevated BMT West End Line (D train); the line ran from Green-Wood Cemetery to Coney Island when it was built in the 1860s. This line was put on an elevated structure in 1917.^[14]

The Sea Beach Railroad was another steam railroad. This railroad was named after the Sea Beach Palace Hotel, its southern terminal in 1879. In 1913, it was electrified and placed in an open cut; it now serves the N train.^[14]

In 1902, State Senator William H. Reynolds bought the land northeast of Blythebourne. The new area was then named Borough Park. Blythebourne was absorbed into Borough Park by the 1920s.^[15]

Jewish settlement

Jewish immigrants began populating Borough Park at the turn of the 20th century, beginning in 1904–1905.^[16] By 1914, a YMHA had formed and purchased a lot on 58th Street and 14th Avenue on which to build a large facility.^[17] Through the 1930s, 13th Avenue was lined with pushcart vendors^[18] and pickle sellers.^[19] In the late 1930s, the city opened a public market on 42nd Street to force an end to the pushcart trade.

During the late 1920s and early 1930s, many Yemenite Jews emigrated from both Yemen and Palestine, creating their own small enclave in Borough Park. They established their own synagogue and named it Ohel Shalom. The synagogue moved from a small storefront building to 12th Avenue and 44th street when they purchased an old church.^[20]

In the 1980s, the neighborhood changed demographically — from one of Italian, Irish, and Modern Orthodox Jewish to Hasidic Jewish families. By 1983, an estimated 85 percent of the residents of Borough Park were Jewish.^[21]: 101 New shops and restaurants opened on 13th Avenue to serve the expanding Orthodox Jewish community. In 1987, two of the most popular stores debuted: Eichler's Judaica bookstore, and Kosher Castle Dairy Cafeteria. New stores also opened, selling imported goods and computer technology.^{[21]: 108–109} At the end of the 1990s, businesses began selling electronics and Jewish books, music, and videos to overseas customers via the Internet.^[16] The area continued developing into a very large Jewish enclave around that time period.^[6]

"Baby Boom Capital" nickname

In the 2000 United States Census, it was reported that an estimated 76,600 Jews lived in Borough Park.^[22] Since that time, Borough Park has grown significantly, and was given the title of "baby boom capital" of New York City by the New York Post because of the high birth rate. The population in 2011 was 140,000. The neighborhood recorded 4,523 births in 2004,^[23] the highest in the city. The closest Brooklyn neighborhood in terms of population growth was Williamsburg, home to many Satmar Hasidim, which reported 3,839 births. Borough Park's birth rate, 24.4 per 1,000 residents, has translated into growth in the neighborhood.

Many of these births occur at Maimonides Medical Center, a hospital in the Borough Park area. The Maimonides Infants & Children's Hospital of Brooklyn is fully accredited as a "children's hospital within a hospital", one of three such facilities in New York City.^[24] Here, at The Stella and Joseph Payson Birthing Center, Maimonides handles more births than any other hospital in New York State.^[25]

The size of many Hasidic families often requires larger homes, and this has fueled construction and renovation projects across the neighborhood. The majority of these projects involve larger bedrooms and kitchens. A 1998 article in The New York Times stated that, "Since 1990, the Building Department has issued more permits for private construction projects — new homes and additions — in the Borough Park area than in any other residential neighborhood in Brooklyn."^[19] These construction projects were aided with a new law passed in 1992, which established Borough Park as a special zoning district where residents could build on 65% of their lot, thus reducing the size of setbacks and backyards.^[19]

Business development

Thirteenth Avenue, a commercial strip roughly one mile in length from 39th to 55th Streets, features storefronts supplying Jewish households. Many Hasidic Jews shop at these stores, coming from all parts of the city, other states, and even other countries to buy kosher items. Businesses have benefited from the growing Jewish population, the increasing density of the neighborhood, and the use of the Internet.^[16]

The community receives many visitors, especially among Israeli expatriates and tourists. The Park House Hotel between 12th and 13th Avenues on 48th Street, the first kosher hotel in Borough Park, was established in 1987. In 1999, a kosher hotel called "The Avenue Plaza Hotel" opened on 13th Avenue, becoming the first new hotel to appear in the neighborhood in more than a decade.^[16] These hotels along with many area merchants specifically accommodate the needs of visiting Hasidic tourists.^[26]

Demographics

Based on data from the 2010 United States census, the population of Borough Park was 106,357, an increase of 5,302 (5.2%) from the 101,055 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 1,238.87 acres (501.35 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 85.9 inhabitants per acre (55,000/sq mi; 21,200/km²).^[3]

The racial make-up of the neighborhood was 77.0% (81,910) White, 0.7% (794) African American, 0.1% (60) Native American, 11.7% (12,464) Asian, 0.0% (8) Pacific Islander, 0.2% (236) from other races, and 0.8% (894) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.4% (9,991) of the population.^[4]

The entirety of Community District 12, which includes Borough Park, Kensington, and Ocean Parkway, had 201,640 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 84.2 years.^{[27]: 2, 20} This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods.^{[28]: 53 (PDF p. 84) [29]} Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 34% are between the ages of 0–17, 28% between 25–44, and 18% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 9% and 10%, respectively.^[27]: 2

As of 2016, the median household income in Community District 12 was $45,364.^[30] In 2018, an estimated 28% of Community District 12 residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. Less than one in fifteen residents (6%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 64% in Community District 12, higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51%, respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018^[update], Community District 12 is considered to be high-income, relative to the rest of the city.^[27]: 7

According to the 2020 census data from New York City Department of City Planning, there were 40,000+ White residents, and each the Hispanic and Asian populations were between 5,000 to 9,999 residents. Meanwhile, the Black residents were less than 5,000.^[31][32]

Climate

Borough Park falls under different climate types depending on the climate classification system used. However, the Köppen climate classification system is the most widely used climate classification scheme.