As Immigration Slows, White Population Rises in NYC

"'The fact that it is not going down is the news,' said Joseph J. Salvo, director of the population division at the Department of City Planning. 'The increase is small, but the relative stability of the number and percent is meaningful.'

He described the turnaround as a testament to the city's 'diversity and ethnic heterogeneity' and said it 'sets New York apart from many other older cities where this is not the case.'

Andrew A. Beveridge, a demographer at Queens College, called the apparent trend a potential 'harbinger of racial equilibrium.'

But he cautioned that it could be short-lived given the turmoil on Wall Street, because 'a lot of the non-Hispanic whites are plainly associated with the financial community.'"