Brownsville is a residential neighborhood in eastern Brooklyn in New York City. The neighborhood is bordered by Crown Heights to the northwest; Bedford–Stuyvesant and the subsection of Ocean Hill to the north; East New York to the east; Canarsie to the south; and East Flatbush to the west.
The 1.163-square-mile (3.01Â km) area that comprises Brownsville has 58,300 residents as of the 2010 United States census, with an estimated population of 128,369 residents in 2019. Founded in its current incarnation in 1858, Brownsville was initially a settlement composed of Jewish factory workers. The neighborhood underwent a major demographic change in the 1950s that saw an influx of African-American residents. Since the late 20th century, Brownsville has consistently held one of the highest poverty and crime rates of any neighborhood in New York City.