New York metropolitan area eight subregions are often further divided. For instance, Long Island can be divided into its South and North Shores (usually when speaking about Nassau County and western Suffolk County) and the East End. The Hudson Valley and Connecticut are sometimes grouped together and referred to as the Northern Suburbs, largely because of the shared usage of the Metro-North Railroad system. The geographical, cultural, and economic center of the metropolitan area is New York City, which consists of five boroughs, each of which is also a county of New York State. The five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and
Demographics of New York (state) The top ancestry groups in New York State are Italian American (15.8%), African American (14.4%), Hispanic (14.2%), Irish (12.9%), German (11.1%), English (6%), and Polish (5.27%). 1.5% of the state population is multiracial. New York contains the largest Puerto Rican population in the country, concentrated in parts of New York City such as the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. New York also has the largest Dominican population in the country, concentrated in New York City's Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. New York City is home to many blacks, the majority with roots in the United States but a group which includes