TLDR
- Brooklyn and Staten Island are major parts of the New York City Albanian community, one of the largest in the US
- Staten Island has grown into an important center for Albanian families and community institutions
- Albanian mosques, cultural centers, and businesses anchor community life across both boroughs
- The community mixes long-established families with newer arrivals from Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia
- Staten Island has about 8,700 residents reporting Albanian ancestry (about 1.7 percent of the borough, the highest share in the city) and Brooklyn about 7,700; New York State has about 57,000, the most of any state (ACS 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024)
- ALB Connection lists verified Albanian-owned businesses across Brooklyn, Staten Island, and New York
Where Albanians Live in Brooklyn and Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island has become one of the most important centers of Albanian family life in New York City. As families moved out from the Bronx and Brooklyn in search of more space and a suburban feel, many settled on Staten Island, and the borough now hosts the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center and Miraj Islamic School on Victory Boulevard, the office of the nonprofit Albanian Roots, and a strong network of family-run businesses. The community here is well established: about 8,700 residents report Albanian ancestry, roughly 1.7 percent of the borough and the highest share of any borough, a figure that has held steady since the 2006 to 2010 estimates (about 8,100).Brooklyn
Brooklyn has a long-standing Albanian presence: Albanian Muslims opened their first New York mosque in Flatbush in 1972. Today the Census estimates are concentrated in the southwest of the borough, led by the Bensonhurst and Bath Beach community district with about 3,400 residents of Albanian ancestry (ACS 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024, margin of error about 875). As the borough has changed over the decades, Albanian families, businesses, and places of worship have remained part of its diverse fabric, and Brooklyn continues to be an entry point and home for both established families and newer arrivals.A Brief History
The Albanian communities of Brooklyn and Staten Island grew as part of the larger New York story. Albanians have lived in the city for more than a century, but the community expanded most dramatically in the second half of the twentieth century and after, with families arriving from the former Yugoslavia, from communist Albania, and, in large numbers, after the fall of communism in 1991 and the Kosovo war of 1999. Many Albanian families first settled in the Bronx, the traditional heart of Albanian New York, and then spread out across the other boroughs. Brooklyn drew families into its diverse, immigrant-rich neighborhoods, while Staten Island, with its more suburban character and larger homes, increasingly attracted families looking to put down long-term roots. The result is two boroughs with distinct but connected Albanian communities, tied into the wider metropolitan population.Community Life
Community life across Brooklyn and Staten Island is built around faith, family, and a dense network of businesses and institutions. The Albanian American Islamic Center in Flatbush and the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center on Victory Boulevard in Staten Island serve Muslim families and double as social and educational hubs, while the nearest Albanian Orthodox and Catholic parishes are in Queens (St. Nicholas, Jamaica Estates) and Westchester (Our Lady of Shkodra, Hartsdale). Cultural associations organize Independence and Flag Day celebrations each November, language and folk-dance programs for children, and social events that keep families connected. Food and small business tie it all together. Albanian bakeries, cafes, restaurants, and family-run trades across both boroughs serve as both livelihoods and gathering places, where byrek, qofte, and Balkan coffee bring the community together. For families raising a new generation of Albanian New Yorkers, these institutions are how heritage gets passed on.Community Organizations
Albanians in Brooklyn and Staten Island are part of the dense institutional life of Albanian New York. Community-wide groups such as Albanian Roots, which organizes the annual Albanian Roots Parade in New York City, connect families across the boroughs, alongside the mosques, churches, and cultural centers that anchor daily life. See our full directory of Albanian American organizations.Albanian Population in New York
Staten Island has about 8,700 residents who report Albanian ancestry (margin of error roughly 1,800) and Brooklyn about 7,700 (margin of error roughly 1,200). They are two boroughs of the larger New York community, the largest in the country. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2020-2024 5-Year Estimates, Table B04006), roughly 57,000 New York State residents report Albanian ancestry, more than any other state. As everywhere, this figure undercounts the true community, because ancestry is self-reported and optional, only two ancestries per person are tabulated, many Albanians from Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro are recorded under other ancestries or under none, and later generations often stop reporting it. The Albanian-American Society Foundation puts New York City higher, at over 100,000 (The Bronx Journal, 2019).
Hungry? Find Albanian restaurants near you, searchable by city or ZIP code.
Curious how this compares nationwide? See our guide to the Albanian population in the United States and our full guide to Albanians in New York.
Find Albanian-Owned Businesses in Brooklyn and Staten Island
Albanian entrepreneurs are active across both boroughs, in food, construction, real estate, and services. Top business categories include:- Restaurants, Cafes & Bakeries
- Construction & Trades
- Real Estate & Services
- Professional Services
- Albanian Businesses in Brooklyn
- Albanian Businesses in Staten Island
- Albanian Businesses in New York
Featured Albanian Business Owners
Staten Island has been a launching pad for Albanian entrepreneurs, including Ervin Toro, who arrived from Albania in the late 1990s and built a New York-based global fashion brand. His story is one of many in our featured business owner series.Own an Albanian Business in Brooklyn or Staten Island?
If you run an Albanian-owned business in Brooklyn or Staten Island, list it for free on ALB Connection. Make it easier for the community to find and support you. Add your listing today.Albanian Ancestry by Community District in Brooklyn and Staten Island
The Census Bureau publishes ancestry estimates for areas that closely follow New York City’s community districts. The table below shows the districts in the two boroughs with the largest numbers of residents who report Albanian ancestry, from the ACS 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024 (Table B04006). Margins of error are at the 90 percent confidence level and are wide for single districts, so small differences between rows mean little.
| Place | Residents reporting Albanian ancestry | Margin of error |
|---|---|---|
| New York City | 37,502 | ±2,961 |
| Staten Island (whole borough) | 8,651 | ±1,763 |
| Staten Island Community District 2: Mid-Island | 3,630 | ±1,162 |
| Staten Island Community District 1: North Shore | 3,045 | ±805 |
| Staten Island Community District 3: South Shore | 1,976 | ±973 |
| Brooklyn (whole borough) | 7,684 | ±1,230 |
| Brooklyn Community District 11: Bensonhurst and Bath Beach | 3,410 | ±875 |
| Brooklyn Community District 10: Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights | 1,190 | ±414 |
| Brooklyn Community District 12: Borough Park and Kensington | 943 | ±489 |
| Brooklyn Community District 15: Sheepshead Bay and Gravesend | 681 | ±305 |
| Brooklyn Community District 14: Flatbush and Midwood | 348 | ±199 |
On Staten Island the estimates are spread across all three districts, with the Mid-Island the largest at about 3,600 people, roughly 2.6 percent of its residents. That is the highest share of any district in the two boroughs. In Brooklyn the picture is much more concentrated. Bensonhurst and Bath Beach alone account for about 3,400 people, close to 1.9 percent of the district, and the four southwestern and southern districts in the table (Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge, Borough Park and Sheepshead Bay) hold about 6,200 of the borough’s 7,700. North and central Brooklyn districts such as Williamsburg, Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant each have estimates of 150 or fewer.
The Flatbush Mosque of 1972
Brooklyn is home to the first mosque opened by Albanians in the New York area. On November 13, 1972 The New York Times reported that the “Albanian Moslems of New York and New Jersey opened their first mosque” at 1325 Albemarle Road in Flatbush, in a converted mansion that the community had raised $122,000 to buy. Until then, the paper wrote, they had worshiped in Arab mosques around the city and taught their children in rooms at the University Settlement on the Lower East Side. The Times put the number of Muslim Albanians in the metropolitan area at 8,000 and quoted the head of the Free Albania Committee, Michael Dibra, for an estimate of 20,000 Albanians in total in the area at that time. The Albanian American Islamic Center, which reproduces the article on its website, still operates at the same address and lists a second location in Garfield, New Jersey.
A report by Aysha Choudhary in The Brooklyn Ink, dated October 8, 2017, shows how the neighborhood around it changed. The mosque’s first imam, Isa Hoxha, led it until his death in 1997. By 2017 about 80 to 90 Albanians came to Friday prayers, and the paper wrote that “Flatbush was once home to a concentrated Albanian community” that had since dispersed into other parts of Brooklyn. Imam Roland Cinari told the paper he estimated that about 50,000 people of Albanian ancestry lived in Brooklyn. That is his estimate from 2017, and it is far above the Census figure of about 7,700, which counts only people who write in Albanian ancestry.
The Albanian Islamic Cultural Center and Miraj Islamic School
Staten Island’s Albanian mosque is the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center at 307 Victory Boulevard. According to a profile by the Interfaith Center of New York, it began in 1973 as the Islamic Mesjid of Staten Island, and on September 16, 1990 it relocated and took its present name. The center describes itself as a place of worship, learning and community, with Quran and Arabic classes and charity work. Miraj Islamic School shares the same address. The school’s history page says that it “opened its doors in 1999 to only a handful of students.”
Flag Day on Staten Island and Ismail Qemali Way
Staten Island has a street co-named for an Albanian statesman. In June 2023 Seaview Avenue at Father Capodanno Boulevard was co-named Ismail Qemali Way, after the man the Staten Island Advance calls the “Father of Independence” of the Albanian state, with Mid-Island Councilman David Carr as a co-sponsor. On November 26, 2023 the Staten Island Advance reported that hundreds of Albanian Americans gathered at that corner to raise the flag ahead of Independence Day, with traditional dancers, horns and drums, and children raising the American and Albanian flags. Borough President Vito Fossella told the crowd, “Your grandparents, your great-grandparents sacrificed to make Albania free and independent.”
The nonprofit Albanian Roots, which organizes the annual Albanian Roots Parade in New York City, gives a Hylan Boulevard address on Staten Island and says it has chapters in New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Texas. For passports and documents, the Consulate General of Albania is at 320 East 79th Street in Manhattan, according to the Embassy of Albania. You can find more groups in our directory of Albanian American organizations and this year’s Flag Day gatherings on our Albanian events calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do many Albanians live on Staten Island?
Yes. About 8,700 Staten Island residents report Albanian ancestry (ACS 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024, margin of error roughly 1,800), about 1.7 percent of the borough, and it has become one of the most important centers of Albanian family life in New York City, with mosques, cultural institutions, and many family-run businesses, as families moved out from the Bronx and Brooklyn.
How many Albanians live in New York?
About 57,000 New York State residents report Albanian ancestry (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024, Table B04006), the largest of any state. Ancestry is self-reported, so people who report a different ancestry, such as Kosovar or Macedonian, or who leave the question blank are not included in the count.
Are there Albanian businesses in Brooklyn and Staten Island?
Yes. ALB Connection maintains a directory of Albanian-owned businesses across New York, including Brooklyn and Staten Island. Visit our New York business directory to search by category.
Which Brooklyn neighborhoods have the most Albanians?
Census estimates point to southwest Brooklyn. The community district covering Bensonhurst and Bath Beach has about 3,400 residents who report Albanian ancestry, followed by Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights (about 1,200), Borough Park and Kensington (about 900) and Sheepshead Bay and Gravesend (about 700), according to the ACS 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024. All have wide margins of error.
Is there an Albanian mosque in Brooklyn or on Staten Island?
Yes, one in each borough. The Albanian American Islamic Center at 1325 Albemarle Road in Flatbush opened in November 1972, as The New York Times reported at the time. The Albanian Islamic Cultural Center at 307 Victory Boulevard on Staten Island took its present name and location on September 16, 1990 and shares its address with Miraj Islamic School.
What is Ismail Qemali Way?
It is the honorary name given in June 2023 to Seaview Avenue at Father Capodanno Boulevard on Staten Island, after Ismail Qemali, known as the father of Albanian independence. The Staten Island Advance reported that hundreds of Albanian Americans raised the flag there in November 2023, joined by Borough President Vito Fossella.
Sources and Further Reading
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, Table B04006 (People Reporting Ancestry)
- Harvard Kennedy School Growth Lab: Statistical Profiling of the Albanian-Americans
- U.S. Census Bureau: ACS 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024, Table B04006, People Reporting Ancestry
- Albanian American Islamic Center: Albanians Open a Mosque Here (The New York Times, November 13, 1972)
- The Brooklyn Ink: Flatbush, An Albanian Mosque Struggles With its Heritage (October 8, 2017)
- Interfaith Center of New York: Miraj Islamic School and Albanian Islamic Cultural Center
- Albanian Islamic Cultural Center, Staten Island: official website
- Miraj Islamic School: School History
- Staten Island Advance via SIBOR Global Council: Throngs attend 2023 Staten Island celebration of Albanian independence (November 26, 2023)
- Albanian Roots: Programs and chapters
- Embassy of the Republic of Albania in the United States
Related community guides
- Albanians in New York
- Albanians in the Bronx
- Albanians in Queens
- Albanians in New Jersey
- Albanians in Connecticut
Author: Dardanë Halimi
Dardanë Halimi is a writer and communications professional with an M.A. in Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication from James Madison University. Her work focuses on storytelling, digital content, higher education, and strategic communication, with experience writing for academic, nonprofit, and marketing organizations in both the United States and Kosovo.
