The Bronx is back and bigger than ever

After decades of population loss, new building has grown the borough

The Bronx
(Image Courtesy of FromTheBronx.com)

The Bronx is back. After losing one fifth of its population in the 1970s, the borough is surging, with new construction leading to population growth.

Not only has the Bronx made up for it population loss, but it also seems to have surpassed its historic peak, according to new census projections cited by the New York Times.

Since 2010, an influx of immigrants moving to the borough has pushed its population to 1.45 million, according to the United States Census Bureau. And with population growth at the annual rate of roughly 1 percent, the Bronx could already be bigger than the high of 1.47 million resident in 1970, according to the Times.

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Burning buildings have given way to new investment in the Bronx. The Bronx accounted for nearly 32 percent of building permits issued by mid-2016, compared with an annual average of 11 percent between 2011 and 2015, a recent report by the New York Building Congress found.

The Bronx also led the city in the number of homes and apartments authorized for construction. [NYT]Christopher Cameron