Nigerian Community • New York City
Igbo Community in New York City
40,000–60,000 Nigerian-born in NYC metro • Bronx: largest urban Nigerian concentration in the US • St. Clement Pope: NYC’s only parish with resident Igbo priest • UIU Tri-State New Yam Festival every August • Nigerian Independence Day Parade on Madison Ave every October
New York City’s Igbo community is one of the oldest and most institutionally developed in America. The Bronx — particularly the Tremont Avenue and Highbridge corridors — is where the community first took root, and it remains the daily-life hub: Nigerian restaurants open until midnight, African groceries on Fordham Road, and RCCG churches within walking distance. Brooklyn (East Flatbush / Crown Heights) is the working-class and middle-class belt. And Southeast Queens (Jamaica, St. Albans, Rosedale) is where established Igbo families buy homes — anchored by St. Clement Pope Church in Jamaica, the only Catholic parish in New York City with a dedicated resident Igbo priest, appointed by the Diocese of Brooklyn in 2013. Every August, the UIU Tri-State New Yam Festival draws the community to McCarren Park in Brooklyn. Every October, the Nigerian Independence Day Parade marches down Madison Avenue — the largest Nigerian celebration outside Nigeria itself.
Last updated: March 2026 • Full Nigerian Community guide for New York City →
Why Igbo Families Choose New York City
New York City rewards credentialed immigrants, and the Igbo community — part of the most educated immigrant group in America (61%+ hold bachelor’s degrees, 29%+ graduate degrees) — has built careers across nearly every sector of the city’s economy. Healthcare is the defining pathway: NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest public hospital system in the United States, employs Nigerian-trained nurses and physicians across all 11 hospital campuses. Northwell Health (New York’s largest private employer) and Mount Sinai Health System actively sponsor EB-3 immigrant visas for internationally trained nurses. Montefiore Medicine — the Bronx-based academic health system whose President and CEO is Dr. Phillip Ozuah, a Nigerian-born physician — employs thousands across the Bronx. For Igbo healthcare professionals, the Bronx is not just a neighborhood. It is an ecosystem built by people who came before you.
Beyond healthcare: the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority), New York City government agencies, the CUNY system, and financial services all employ significant numbers of Nigerian professionals. Immigrant-born workers are not the exception in NYC — they are 57% of the healthcare workforce. The city is built for people who came to build something. The Igbo community has been doing exactly that since the 1970s.
Where Igbo Families Live in New York City
The Igbo community in NYC occupies a three-tier geography that reflects three different phases of immigrant life. Understanding this map helps you decide where to land and where to aim.
The Bronx — Where You Arrive (Tremont, Highbridge, Morrisania)
The Bronx has the largest urban Nigerian concentration in the United States. Nigerians represent approximately 10% of all immigrants in the Bronx, compared to 4% citywide. The primary Nigerian corridors are: East Tremont Avenue (the most vivid street-level Nigerian commercial strip in all of NYC — “you can walk Tremont Avenue conducting all your errands in Yoruba or Igbo”), Highbridge around 167th Street and the Grand Concourse, and the Morris Avenue corridor in Morrisania. The northeast Bronx (Co-op City, Baychester, Williamsbridge) has a newer, slightly more upwardly mobile Nigerian community cluster. Groceries, churches, restaurants, and beauty shops are all walkable. The Bronx is where newly arrived Igbo professionals find their first apartment, their first church, and their first community.
Brooklyn — East Flatbush, Crown Heights, East New York
Brooklyn’s Nigerian community is centered on the corridor formed by Church Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, Nostrand Avenue, and Utica Avenue in East Flatbush and Crown Heights. This is a working-class and upwardly mobile belt, largely Caribbean and West African in character, where Nigerian families have settled alongside Jamaican, Haitian, and Trinidadian communities. Nigerian storefronts, groceries (Wazobia on Flatbush Ave), and churches (MFM’s Region 1 HQ at 180 Blake Avenue in East New York) are spread across the corridor. St. Fortunata Church on Linden Blvd in East New York holds Igbo Mass every Sunday. Brooklyn is the community’s middle ground — denser and more affordable than Queens, more spread out than the Bronx.
Southeast Queens — Jamaica, St. Albans, Rosedale, Springfield Gardens
Southeast Queens is where established Igbo families buy homes. Jamaica, St. Albans, Rosedale, Laurelton, Springfield Gardens, and Cambria Heights form a homeownership zone where multi-generational West African and Caribbean families have put down roots alongside each other. The institutional anchors here are the most significant in the city: St. Clement Pope Church (the only Catholic parish in NYC with a dedicated Igbo priest), the Igbo Organization Inc. (190-01 Linden Blvd, Jamaica), and Ohanaeze Ndigbo USA (headquartered via Jamaica PO Box). Schools are better, blocks are quieter, and you own rather than rent. Southeast Queens is where the Bronx generation sends its children.
Igbo Organizations in New York
Umu Igbo Unite (UIU) Tri-State Chapter — New Yam Festival
tristate@umuigbounite.com • umuigbounite.com
The Tri-State chapter of Umu Igbo Unite Corporation (founded 2005, national 501(c)(3), 5,000+ members, 14+ chapters) serves New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Its signature event is the Annual New Yam Festival (Iri Ji / Iwa Ji) held every August. The 8th Annual edition (August 31, 2024) was held at McCarren Park, 776 Lorimer Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222 (Manhattan Ave Picnic Area): traditional Igbo cuisine, yam-based dishes, live Afrobeat music, children’s cultural games, and face painting. Tickets are free for members, $20 for non-members. The New Yam Festival is the largest and most public Igbo cultural event in NYC — the event where diaspora-born children encounter their heritage and where new arrivals immediately feel at home.
Igbo Organization, Inc. — Southeast Queens
190-01 Linden Boulevard, Jamaica, NY 11412 • (718) 413-2013 • info@igboorganizationny.org • igboorganizationny.org
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit based at the heart of the Southeast Queens Igbo homeownership zone, on Linden Boulevard between Jamaica and St. Albans. The Igbo Organization serves underprivileged youth of all backgrounds while centering Igbo cultural identity. Active on Facebook. This is the neighborhood-level Igbo presence in Queens.
Ohanaeze Ndigbo USA — New York
P.O. Box 340101, Jamaica, NY 11434 • Facebook: Ohanaeze Ndigbo of NY Incorporated
The New York chapter of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide — the foremost Igbo socio-cultural and political organization, established 1976 in Nigeria. Ohanaeze Ndigbo USA formally registered as a New York nonprofit in July 2024, signaling the maturing of Igbo political organization in the diaspora. Its Jamaica, Queens address places it in the middle of the Southeast Queens Igbo community. Ohanaeze connects diaspora Igbo to Nigeria’s statecraft and to the global Igbo political conversation. Activities include Town Hall meetings and Igbo Ancestry ceremonies.
Organization for the Advancement of Nigerians (OAN) — Independence Day Parade
Founded 1989 • hello@oanweb.org • oanweb.org
OAN is the pan-Nigerian civic umbrella for New York City, and the Igbo community is prominently represented. Its flagship event is the Nigerian Independence Day Parade (held annually since 1991 on the first Saturday of October): the 2024 parade marched down Madison Avenue from 38th to 24th Street, with a cultural festival at East 38th Street between Madison and Park Avenues. Billed as the largest Nigerian Independence Day celebration outside Nigeria. Co-produced with NIDC and the Nigerian Consulate of New York. For newly arrived Igbo immigrants, attending this parade in your first October in New York is the fastest way to understand the scale and visibility of the NYC Nigerian community.
Igbo Churches in New York City
New York City has a remarkable depth of Igbo Catholic, Anglican, and Pentecostal infrastructure. The Diocese of Brooklyn formally established a Nigerian Apostolate — three parishes designated to serve the Nigerian Catholic community — a recognition of a community large enough to warrant its own diocesan structure. RCCG has multiple Bronx and Brooklyn parishes. MFM operates its US Region 1 headquarters from Brooklyn. If you are Catholic, Queens has a church built for you by the diocese itself. If you are Pentecostal, the Bronx has the church that built its pastor into a continental overseer.
St. Clement Pope Catholic Church — The Igbo Parish (Jamaica, Queens)
141-11 123rd Avenue, Jamaica, NY 11436 • (718) 529-0273 • stclementpopechurch.org
Igbo Mass: Every Sunday at 12:30 PM | Saturday Vigil 5:00 PM | Sunday English Mass 9:30 AM
This is the flagship Igbo Catholic parish in New York City — and in many ways in the entire United States. In 2013, then-Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Diocese of Brooklyn formally apportioned St. Clement Pope to the Igbo community, which had asked for their own place of worship. The parish is the only Catholic church in New York State with a dedicated resident Igbo priest. Hundreds of Igbo parishioners attend weekly. Part of the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Nigerian Apostolate — a formal diocesan structure recognizing approximately 2,000 Nigerian Catholics across Brooklyn and Queens. For Catholic Igbo families relocating to NYC, visit St. Clement Pope first. The community you find there on Sunday morning will help you navigate everything else.
Igbo Catholic Community of New York (ICC-NY) at St. Angela Merici — Bronx
917 Morris Avenue, Bronx, NY 10451 • igbocatholiccommunitynewyork.org
Igbo Mass: 2nd and 4th Sunday of every month
ICC-NY (Igbo Catholic Community of New York) is formally affiliated with ICCUSA (Igbo Catholic Community USA) — the national umbrella — and holds its Igbo-language Mass twice monthly at St. Angela Merici Parish, a historic Bronx church staffed by the Apostles of Jesus since 2000. The mission: “to establish a thriving Catholic ethnic community for the Igbo Diaspora in New York that galvanizes and serves as a rallying point, a fountain of hope, and a forum for the worship of Almighty God in Igbo language.” For Igbo Catholics living in the Bronx, ICC-NY is the monthly gathering that keeps the language and the faith alive far from home.
St. Fortunata Catholic Church — Igbo Mass (East New York, Brooklyn)
2609 Linden Blvd., Brooklyn, NY 11208 (corner Crescent St. and Linden Blvd.) • (718) 647-2632 • stfortunata-brooklyn.org
Igbo Mass: Every Sunday at 1:30 PM (confirm time directly)
The third parish in the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Nigerian Apostolate. St. Fortunata serves the East New York and surrounding Brooklyn Nigerian Catholic community with a weekly Igbo Mass. An annual procession commemorating the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt draws the Nigerian Catholic community and has been covered by local media.
RCCG Chapel of Restoration — Bronx
1001 Morris Avenue, Bronx, NY 10456 • (718) 293-8996 • rccgchapelofrestoration.org
Pastor: Daniel Ajayi-Adeniran (also Assistant Continental Overseer for RCCG in the Americas)
Bible Study: Tuesdays 7:30–9:00 PM
One of the flagship RCCG locations in New York. Pastor Ajayi-Adeniran’s dual role as both parish pastor and RCCG’s regional overseer for the Americas gives this congregation outsized influence in the NYC Nigerian Pentecostal world. The Morris Avenue location places it in the heart of the Bronx Nigerian corridor. Additional Bronx RCCG parishes: RCCG Victory House (1315 E 222nd St, northeast Bronx | rccgvictoryhouseny.org); RCCG Chapel of the Great Restorer (rccgcgr.org). Brooklyn: RCCG ICCI (125 Flatbush Ave Extension, Downtown Brooklyn, founded 2003 | rccgicci.org); RCCG International Center (781 E 93rd St, Canarsie/East Flatbush area).
Mountain of Fire & Miracles Ministries — US Region 1 HQ (Brooklyn)
180 Blake Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212 • mfmnewyork.org
The Brooklyn location of MFM (Mountain of Fire & Miracles Ministries, founded 1989 in Lagos by Dr. D.K. Olukoya) serves as the US Region 1 Headquarters for all of MFM North America. Known for its spiritual warfare prayer culture, MFM draws heavy attendance from Igbo Christians alongside other Nigerian groups. The Brooklyn HQ is the national anchor for MFM in the United States.
Winners Chapel International — Bronx
527 East 137th Street, Bronx, NY 10454 • National HQ (NY area): 310 Fulton Avenue, Hempstead, NY 11550 • winnerschapelny.org
National NY services (Hempstead): Sundays 8:00 AM and 10:15 AM
Living Faith Church Worldwide (Winners’ Chapel), founded by Bishop David Oyedewo, is one of Nigeria’s largest Evangelical charismatic denominations. The Bronx location at 527 E 137th St is the main NYC borough campus.
Igbo Restaurants & Food in New York City
The Bronx has the best daily-life Nigerian restaurant infrastructure; the citywide prestige destination is BUKA in Bed-Stuy. For specifically Igbo dishes — ofe onugbu (bitter leaf soup), oha soup, abacha (African salad), nkwobi (spiced cow foot), ofe ocha (white soup) — Eko Suya Spot has the most explicitly Igbo menu in the Bronx, BUKA serves nkwobi, and Wakky’s in Crown Heights lists white soup.
Eko Suya Spot — Most Igbo Menu in the Bronx
3678 White Plains Road, Bronx, NY 10467 • (240) 408-2985 • ekosuyaspot.com
Hours: Daily 9:00 AM–9:00 PM | Catering available
Eko Suya Spot has the most explicitly Igbo-specific menu found in the Bronx: both Pounded Yam & Bitter Leaf Stew (ofe onugbu) and Pounded Yam & Oha Soup are confirmed on the menu — the two signature Igbo soups. Also: egusi with pounded yam, goat pepper soup, asun (spicy smoked goat), moi-moi, suya. Located in the Williamsbridge/Wakefield zone of the northeast Bronx. The first-choice destination for Igbo New Yorkers who miss home-state cooking.
BUKA New York — Best Nigerian Restaurant in NYC
1111 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11238 (Bedford-Stuyvesant) • (347) 763-0619 • bukanewyork.com
Hours: Monday 4:00 PM–11:00 PM | Tuesday–Sunday 12:00 PM–11:00 PM | Reservations via OpenTable
Voted the best Nigerian restaurant in New York City. Nkwobi (spiced cow foot — a quintessentially Igbo dish) is on the menu alongside pounded yam, fufu, pepper soup, grilled tilapia, suya, akara, moi moi, and amala. Located in Bed-Stuy rather than the East Flatbush Nigerian belt, BUKA draws from across the city and across backgrounds. The prestige destination for special occasions, visiting family, and the first meal after a long flight from Lagos.
More Nigerian Restaurants
- African Home Restaurant — 57 East Tremont Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453 | (347) 597-7708 | Daily 10:00 AM–midnight. The workhorse community restaurant on the Tremont Ave corridor — egusi, fufu, jollof, late hours. Second location: 2028 Jerome Avenue, Bronx | (347) 270-0505 | africanfoodbronx.com.
- Eazylife Nigerian Restaurant & Lounge — 1300 East 222nd Street, Bronx, NY 10469 | (347) 603-7644 | eazyliferestaurant.com | Daily noon–11:00 PM. Restaurant + event lounge in the northeast Bronx — community celebrations, naming ceremonies, birthday parties.
- Wakky’s African Restaurant — 1174 St. Marks Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11213 (Crown Heights) | wakkysllc.com | Mon–Sat noon–11:00 PM. White Soup (ofe ocha / ofe oji) on menu — confirmed Igbo specialty. Also okra soup (mixed meat), egusi, eba, jollof rice. Strong DoorDash delivery presence.
- African Pride Restaurant — 1895 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11233 | (347) 627-3410 | africanpriderestaurant.com | Daily 1:00 PM–1:00 AM. On the Eastern Pkwy corridor between Crown Heights and East Flatbush. Afang soup, efo riro, pepper pot soup. Open until 1:00 AM.
- Akara House — 642 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11216 (Crown Heights) | (929) 610-3732 | akarahouse.getsauce.com. Vegan Nigerian; akara veggie sandwiches, moi moi, jollof, soups. A unique option for health-conscious Igbo visitors.
African Grocery Stores
Bronx Groceries — The Most Developed Network
- Eddie’s Place African Market — 5 East 167th Street, Bronx, NY 10452 | Instagram: @africanmarket. 30 years in Highbridge — one of the oldest and most established African groceries in NYC. Wholesale and retail. Palm oil, egusi, stockfish, ogiri, yams, and specialty items. Second location: 1221 E 233rd Street, Bronx. The institutional anchor for Igbo grocery needs in the Bronx.
- Sweet Home African Grocery — 15 Bedford Park Boulevard East, Bronx, NY 10468 | (347) 270-3023 | Mon–Thu 9 AM–9 PM. Fordham Road area. “Big wholesale retailer” with 7+ years serving the Nigerian community.
- Royal African & Caribbean Foods — 2957 Webster Avenue, Bronx, NY 10458 | (718) 620-8000 | royacshop.com. Belmont/Fordham area. Nigerian and Ghanaian grocery; also ships online nationally. Palm oil, fufu flour, ogiri, stockfish, African spices.
- Co-op City African Market — 2829 Edison Avenue Suite E, Bronx, NY 10469 | (718) 708-5939. Northeast Bronx. Imported foods from Nigeria and surrounding areas; serves the Baychester/Co-op City Nigerian residential concentration.
Brooklyn Groceries
- Wazobia African Market — 1204 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11226 | (718) 282-1300 | wazobia.market | 7 days/week 10 AM–9 PM. Full Nigerian and Ghanaian grocery: fresh produce, palm oil, stockfish, smoked fish, cassava leaves, spices. Money transfer services available. “Wazobia” = “come” in Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo combined — all are welcome.
- Ecowas African Food Market — 1292 Sutter Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11208 (East New York) | (718) 277-8118 | Mon–Sat 8 AM–9 PM, Sun 9:30 AM–8 PM. Near St. Fortunata Church — convenient for Sunday post-Mass grocery shopping. Licensed by NY State Dept. of Agriculture and Markets.
Data Sources
U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (2022 5-Year Estimates) • Community organization websites and direct verification • Local school district enrollment data • Zillow and Apartments.com (rent estimates) • Glassdoor and BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (salary data) • Redfin (home price data). Community population estimates reflect available Census language data combined with organization-reported figures. Read our full research methodology →