and Italian working class residents who lived in tenements without running water; the German presence, already in decline, virtually ended after the General Slocum disaster in 1904. Since then, the community has become Puerto Rican and Latino in character, despite the "gentrification" that has affected the East Village and the Lower East Side since the late 20th century. Staten Island has a fairly large Puerto Rican population along the North Shore, especially in the Mariners' Harbor, Arlington, Elm Park, Graniteville, Port Richmond, and Stapleton neighborhoods, where the population is in the 20% range. In New York and many other cities, Puerto Ricans usually live in close proximity with Dominicans and African Americans. High concentrations of Puerto Ricans are also present in numerous public housing developments throughout the city. Puerto Ricans are present in large numbers throughout the Bronx, which has the highest percentage of Puerto Ricans of any borough. In some places in the South Bronx, Spanish is the primary language. Throughout the 1970s, the South Bronx became known as the epitome of urban decay, but has since made a recovery. Puerto Rican population in New York As of 1990, New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent (Nuyoricans), numbered 143,974. Nearly 41,800 state residents (Nuyoricans) in 1990 had lived in Puerto Rico in 1985. According to the Census taken in the year 2000, Puerto Rican migrants made up 1.2% of the total population of the United States, with a population of well over 3 million Puerto Ricans (including those of Puerto Rican descent). If taken into account together with the almost 4 million Puerto Ricans who are U.S. citizens (nevertheless, excluded by the U.S. Census statistics of U.S. population), Puerto Ricans make up about 2.5% of the total population of U.S. citizens around the world (within and outside the U.S. mainland). 2010 Puerto Rican population by borough New York City's total Puerto Rican population was 723,621 and they represented 8.9% of the population. The Puerto Rican population and the percentage Puerto Ricans make up of each borough, as of the 2010 census, is: Bronx – 298,921 (21.6%) Brooklyn – 176,528 (7.0%) Manhattan – 107,774 (6.8%) Queens – 102,881 (4.6%) Staten Island – 37,517 (8.0%) Puerto Rican influence In July 1930, Puerto Rico's Department of Labor established an employment service in New York City. The Migration Division (known as the "Commonwealth Office"), also part of Puerto Rico's Department of Labor, was created