Eric ‘this issue will destroy New York City’ Adams touts population growth boosted by international migration

In September of 2023, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, furious about a lack of federal support as tens of thousands of migrants arrived in the city, said, “Let me tell you something New Yorkers, never in my life have I had a problem that I did not see an ending to – I don’t see an ending to this ... This issue will destroy New York City.”

The stark statement made headlines when the mayor said it a year and a half ago, and it’s continued to come up again and again since. 

On Thursday, the mayor, who insists he’s running for reelection despite record low approval ratings, touted the city’s recent population growth as evidence of his leadership success. 

Census data shows the city’s population grew two years in a row, and it now stands at 8.5 million people. Between July of 2023 and July of 2024, the city’s population grew by 87,000. It certainly marks the beginning of a recovery, if yet not a return to the prepandemic record high of 8.8 million people. 

“The numbers do not lie. Our city’s best days still lie ahead of us,” Adams said in a press release about the data. “Jobs are at their highest levels in city history, crime is down across the five boroughs, and people are coming back to the greatest city on the globe.”

Of course, much of New York City’s population growth was driven by the arrival of more than 200,000 migrants who have at least temporarily lived here since the spring of 2022. A previous estimate of the city’s population in July 2023 was retroactively revised up by 130,000 due to better accounting of international migration, according to the Department of City Planning.

“Between July 2023 and July 2024, net international migration reached the highest levels since at least 2000, while net domestic migration returned to levels seen in the 2000s and 2010s,” the press release says. And people are staying put, which is a promising sign for the city.

The mayor also touted strong jobs numbers that drew hundreds of thousands of recent college graduates as well as reducing the rate of empty storefronts to 11% from 30%.

“As we celebrate this milestone, Mayor Adams continues to be consistent in his message: New York City is and will always be a city of immigrants,” a City Hall spokesperson said in a statement. “At the same time, no other municipality had to deal with the scale of more than 230,000 people arriving to our city with little more than hope and the clothes on their backs. New York City has emerged from the darkest days of the pandemic and continues to take leaps towards a brighter future.”