Filipino Americans in New York
200,000 Strong — Little Manila in Woodside, the Nurse Migration That Built Queens & the East Coast Diaspora Hub
When Filipino nurses began arriving in Woodside, Queens in the 1970s — recruited by hospitals facing critical shortages, settling near Elmhurst Hospital where many of them worked — they didn't just fill jobs. They founded a community. A stretch of Roosevelt Avenue between 63rd and 71st Streets became Little Manila: Filipino restaurants, bakeries, remittance centers, barber shops, and the church of St. Sebastian's, where a neighborhood that was once Irish-Catholic quietly became Filipino-Catholic. Fifty years later, that corner was officially named Little Manila Avenue by the New York City Council.
New York State is home to approximately 200,000 Filipino Americans — the third-largest state Filipino population in the U.S. and the largest Filipino American community on the entire East Coast. The greater New York–New Jersey metro area, including Long Island and Northern New Jersey, holds roughly 262,000 Filipino Americans — more than any metro east of the Mississippi. New York City alone had 94,000 Filipino residents as of 2023, according to the Asian American Federation, and the population continues to grow.
This is not primarily a military story, the way Jacksonville or Vallejo is. New York's Filipino community was built by professionals — nurses, doctors, engineers, educators — who came through the door opened by the 1965 Immigration Act and never left. What they built in Queens, on Long Island, in the Bronx, and in the corridors of the city's hospital system is one of the most consequential Filipino diaspora communities anywhere in the world.
This page is PinoyBuilt's definitive reference on Filipino Americans in New York — our history, our neighborhoods, our organizations, and our people.
A History of Filipinos in New York
New York has a shorter Filipino settlement history than the West Coast — but its depth and pace of growth make it one of the most important chapters in the Filipino American story.
The first Filipino American organization ever documented in the New York tri-state area was the Filipino Knights of Rizal, organized in 1923 — three years before J.F.R. Perseveranda's family would eventually make their way to Chicago from the Philippines, and 42 years before the 1965 Immigration Act would build the community we know today. New York's Filipino presence runs deeper than most New Yorkers know.
Where Filipino Americans Live in New York
The 200,000 Filipino Americans in New York State are concentrated in New York City — primarily Queens — with significant communities on Long Island and a growing presence in the Bronx and Brooklyn. The tri-state metro (NYC + Northern New Jersey + Long Island) is home to approximately 262,000 Filipino Americans.
| Borough / County | Filipino American Population | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Queens (NYC) | 49,500 | Largest borough concentration; Little Manila in Woodside |
| Brooklyn (NYC) | Growing (+1.7 pp since 2018) | Fastest borough growth alongside the Bronx |
| The Bronx (NYC) | Growing (+1.8 pp since 2018) | Fastest proportional growth 2018–2023 |
| Manhattan (NYC) | Notable presence | Declining proportion; healthcare workers; UN community |
| Staten Island (NYC) | 7.3% of Fil-Am NYC pop. | Highest concentration per capita of any NYC borough |
| Long Island (Nassau/Suffolk) | Significant presence | Suburban expansion from Queens; growing fast |
Sources: Asian American Federation ACS Analysis 2023; U.S. Census Bureau ACS; Little Manila Queens
Neighborhood Spotlights
Little Manila is the heart of Filipino New York — a stretch of Roosevelt Avenue in Woodside, Queens that has been home to the highest concentration of Filipino-owned businesses in New York City for over five decades. The 7 train's 69th Street station is its gateway. Along the corridor from 63rd to 71st Streets you will find Filipino restaurants and bakeries, remittance centers, freight-forwarding shops, travel agencies, medical offices, and the church of St. Sebastian's — the Catholic parish that welcomed the first Filipino nurses in the 1970s when Woodside was still predominantly Irish. The community's first petition for official recognition was filed in 2020. On June 12, 2022 — Philippine Independence Day — the corner of Roosevelt Avenue and 70th Street was officially co-named Little Manila Avenue. The Jollibee on Roosevelt Avenue — the first in New York, opened in February 2009 — was not just a fast food opening. It was a confirmation.
The Bronx saw the fastest proportional growth in Filipino population of any NYC borough between 2018 and 2023 — a gain of 1.8 percentage points. This mirrors patterns seen in other immigrant communities as housing costs push residents from Queens into more affordable neighboring boroughs. The Bronx's Filipino community is younger, newer, and less visible than Woodside's — but it is growing. Community advocates have called for more services, translation support, and cultural representation to keep pace with the shift.
Long Island's Filipino American population has been growing steadily as families move east from Queens into Nassau and particularly Suffolk counties — following the pattern of suburban expansion seen in other Fil-Am communities across the country. Filipino Americans in Long Island are less concentrated in a single corridor than in Woodside, but the community is building infrastructure: churches, cultural organizations, and professional networks that serve an increasingly suburban Fil-Am population.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Little Manila in Woodside, Queens was physically situated at the epicenter of New York City's outbreak — a neighborhood of Filipino healthcare workers who were simultaneously serving the city's hospitals and suffering its highest early mortality rates. The Mabuhay Mural, unveiled on Philippine Independence Day 2020, was painted directly on the Roosevelt Avenue corridor to honor those who gave everything. Mabuhay means: long live. The community meant it as both tribute and defiance.
The Nurse Migration That Built New York's Filipino Community
You cannot understand Filipino New York without understanding the nurse pipeline. New York City hospitals in the 1970s were facing a crisis: not enough nurses, too many patients, and a public healthcare system under severe fiscal strain. The solution came from 7,000 miles away. The Philippines had developed, under American colonial influence, one of the most robust nursing education systems in Asia — and Filipino nurses were ready, trained, English-proficient, and willing to come.
Elmhurst Hospital in Queens was among the most active recruiters of Filipino nurses in the 1970s. As nurses arrived and settled in the nearest affordable neighborhood — Woodside — they brought their families, their churches, their cuisine, and their community organizations. One nurse brought a cousin. A cousin brought a sister. A sister sent money home and told her mother to come. This is how Woodside became Little Manila: not by design, but by the relentless logic of bayanihan — the Filipino instinct to build community wherever you land.
During COVID-19, Filipino healthcare workers in New York paid a devastating price. Filipino nurses, doctors, and allied health workers died in disproportionate numbers during the pandemic's early months — when PPE was scarce, protocols were uncertain, and the hospitals they had staffed for decades were overwhelmed. Little Manila was the neighborhood at the epicenter. The community grieved publicly and together. The Mabuhay Mural was their answer — not a plaque, not a press release, but paint on a wall that said: we were here, we mattered, we still do.
→ Read PinoyBuilt's California Pillar — home of the nation's largest Fil-Am community
→ Explore PinoyBuilt's community coverage
Community & Culture Today
New York's Filipino American community in 2026 is organized, politically aware, and fighting for visibility. The neighborhood of Little Manila is threatened by gentrification and by redistricting that has historically split the Woodside community across three different state assembly districts — diluting its political voice. Community organizations including Little Manila Queens Bayanihan Arts, NAFCON-Northeast (National Alliance for Filipino Concerns), UniPro, and the Filipino American National Historical Society–Metro New York (FANHS-MNY) have been at the forefront of advocacy for redistricting reform, a Filipino community center, improved translation services, and the formal recognition the street co-naming represented.
The community's cultural calendar includes the annual Little Manila Block Party in October for Filipino American History Month, Simbang Gabi services at St. Sebastian's and parishes across Queens, and the ongoing work of Little Manila Queens Bayanihan Arts — a collaboration of artists and cultural workers dedicated to creative placekeeping in Woodside through public art, community programming, and the insistence that this neighborhood's history be visible.
Xenia Diente, daughter of a Filipino nurse who came to New York in the 1970s to work at Elmhurst Hospital, is the founder of Little Manila Queens Bayanihan Arts — the organization that championed the Mabuhay Mural, the Little Manila Avenue street co-naming, and the ongoing cultural preservation work in Woodside. Her origin story is the Little Manila origin story compressed into one person: a nurse mother, a Woodside neighborhood, a daughter who decided the community deserved to be seen.
Notable Filipino Americans in New York
Dr. Conrado "Bobby" Gempesaw is the President of St. John's University in New York City — one of the most prominent Filipino Americans in higher education in the United States. His leadership of a major New York Catholic university represents the trajectory of Filipino American professional achievement in the city: from nurses in the 1970s to university presidents in the 2020s.
Dr. Kevin Nadal is a Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and one of the foremost Filipino American scholars in the country. His book Filipino American Psychology: A Handbook of Theory, Research, and Clinical Practice is a foundational text in Fil-Am studies. He is also a performing artist and LGBTQ+ advocate — one of the most publicly visible Filipino American intellectuals in New York.
Sandro Roco is the Filipino American founder of Sanzo — the Asian-inspired sparkling water brand that became one of the fastest-growing beverage startups in the U.S. Born and raised in the New York area, Roco built Sanzo into a nationally distributed brand stocked at Whole Foods, Target, and major retailers. He is one of the most prominent Filipino American entrepreneurs of his generation and a regular presence in New York business and startup media.
Xenia Diente is the artist and community organizer behind the Mabuhay Mural and the driving force behind Little Manila's formal recognition — the street co-naming, the ongoing cultural programming, and the advocacy for redistricting reform that would give Woodside's Filipino community a unified political voice. She represents the second generation of Filipino New York: raised in the community her nurse mother helped build, committed to making sure it survives.
Though Carlos Bulosan spent most of his American years on the West Coast, his literary legacy has deep roots in New York — where he arrived as a young man, navigated the city's publishing world, and produced the journalism and poetry that preceded his landmark 1946 memoir. America Is in the Heart remains the defining literary text of the Filipino American experience, and its author passed through New York at the moment of the community's earliest formation.
A Filipino American educator in New York City public schools, Dr. Eleuterio Timbol Jr. received the prestigious Sloan Award for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics in 2024 — one of the highest honors in NYC education. He is also co-founder of the International Association of Multicultural and Filipino American Educators (IAM FAME, Inc.) and a recipient of the Empire State Excellence in Teaching Award (2022) and America's Finest Teacher Award (2015). He represents the Filipino American educator pipeline that has quietly shaped New York's public school system for generations.
Filipino American College & University Organizations in New York
New York is not just home to the largest Filipino American community on the East Coast — it is the birthplace of FIND, Inc., the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue, which was founded at NYU in 1992 and now serves over 3,000 Filipino students at more than 50 institutions from Boston to Florida. The density and diversity of New York's college Filipino organizations — from the Ivy League to CUNY — reflects the depth of the community that nurse migration and professional immigration built.
These are the confirmed Filipino American student organizations in New York with active web or social presence as of 2026.
The International Filipino Association at NYU is one of the oldest Filipino student organizations in the United States — founded in 1985 as an intramural basketball team that evolved into a full-fledged cultural and political organization. NYU IFA is historically significant: the first FIND, Inc. conference was hosted here in 1992, making NYU the birthplace of the East Coast Filipino collegiate network. IFA has since championed the creation of NYU's Asian Pacific American Institute and Tagalog language courses.
PUSO (Philippine United Student Organization) at Stony Brook University is one of the most active Filipino student organizations in New York State — with 2,462 Instagram followers, 1,000+ posts, a dedicated website at pusox3.com, and three collegiate dance branches including PUSO Modern. PUSO's annual SAYAW dance competition draws teams from across the East Coast. A FIND, Inc. District III member, PUSO has been a consistent presence in the East Coast Filipino collegiate network for decades.
Liga Filipina is the sole Filipino cultural organization at Columbia University, founded in 1990. Its mission — to unify Columbia students interested in Filipino culture through social interaction, cultural programs, educational exchange, and political awareness — reflects the dual mandate of New York's Filipino student organizations: celebrate the culture, stay engaged with the issues. A FIND, Inc. District III member, Liga Filipina has won multiple competitive awards and produced community leaders across law, medicine, and the arts.
The Philippine-American Organization (PAO) at CUNY City College is one of New York's oldest Filipino student organizations, founded in 1986. Operating at one of the most diverse public universities in the country, PAO creates a safe space for Filipino and other students to discover Philippine culture through events, social gatherings, and community building. CUNY's Filipino student population reflects the breadth of New York's Fil-Am community — from recent immigrants to third-generation New Yorkers.
The Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue (FIND, Inc.) was formally ratified at a conference at Harvard in April 1992 — but its founding meeting was held at NYU in New York City. Today FIND serves over 3,000 Filipino students at more than 50 institutions across 9 geographic districts, from Boston to Florida. New York's institutions — NYU, Stony Brook, Columbia, CUNY, Fordham, Pace, and Binghamton — form the backbone of FIND's District II and District III, the organizational heartland of Filipino collegiate life on the East Coast.
PinoyBuilt is building the most comprehensive directory of Filipino American student organizations in the United States. If your college or university in New York has a Filipino American student org with an active web or social presence — FASA, FSA, FUSION, PUSO, Liga, PAO, or any name — submit your organization here and we will add it to this page. Verified listings only — must have an active Instagram, website, or campus portal page. We're especially looking to list orgs at Fordham, Binghamton (PAL), Baruch (FUSION), and Queens College.
FIND, Inc. — the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue that now serves over 3,000 students at 50+ East Coast institutions — was born from a meeting at NYU's International Filipino Association in New York City. NYU IFA itself traces its roots to 1985, when a group of Filipino students started an intramural basketball team that eventually became one of the most historically significant Filipino student organizations on the East Coast. The whole East Coast Fil-Am collegiate network grew from a pickup basketball game in Greenwich Village.
Approximately 200,000 Filipino Americans live in New York State — the third-largest state Filipino population in the U.S. and the largest on the East Coast. Within New York City alone, the Filipino population reached 94,000 as of 2023 (Asian American Federation ACS analysis). The greater NYC–NJ–Long Island metro area is home to approximately 262,000 Filipino Americans.
Little Manila is located in Woodside, Queens — along Roosevelt Avenue between 63rd and 71st Streets. The intersection of Roosevelt Avenue and 70th Street was officially co-named Little Manila Avenue on June 12, 2022. The community was founded by Filipino nurses recruited to work at Elmhurst Hospital in the 1970s, who settled in the surrounding neighborhood and built the Filipino businesses, churches, and organizations that define Woodside today.
In the 1970s, New York City hospitals faced critical nursing shortages and recruited heavily from the Philippines. Elmhurst Hospital in Queens was a major hub. Filipino nurses arrived, settled in nearby Woodside, and their community grew through chain migration. By the 1990s, 72% of Philippine immigrants in New York were registered nurses — a concentration unmatched in any other U.S. city.
FIND, Inc. — the Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue — is the largest Filipino student network on the East Coast, founded in 1992 at a conference hosted by NYU's International Filipino Association. It serves over 3,000 students at more than 50 institutions across 9 districts from Boston to Florida. New York's universities — NYU, Stony Brook, Columbia, CUNY, Fordham, and others — are at its core.
Queens has the largest Filipino American population in New York City, with approximately 49,500 residents as of 2023 — about 53% of NYC's total Filipino population. Woodside, in northwestern Queens, is the heart of the community. The Bronx and Brooklyn have seen the fastest proportional growth in recent years.
Yes. New York State has the largest Filipino American population on the East Coast, with approximately 200,000 statewide. The greater NYC–NJ metro area (including Long Island and Northern New Jersey) holds roughly 262,000 Filipino Americans — more than any other metro east of the Mississippi. New York is third nationally, behind California and Hawaii.
