Francisco Palacios, who grew up poor in Ecuador, came to New York City in 1986 so that he could earn enough to someday retire back home.

But after getting stuck in low-paying jobs at restaurants, construction sites and a laundromat, Mr. Palacios, now 70, has no savings and is just trying to survive. Most weekdays, he waits on a street corner in Queens with other day laborers in hopes that someone will hire him to paint homes. I still feel I have the energy and the strength to work, he said in Spanish, through a translator, though he believes, I have no future.

Older immigrants like Mr. Palacios now make up just over half of New York Citys 65-and-over population. Their numbers have increased at more than twice the rate of U.S.-born seniors since 2010, mainly because of the graying of immigrants who came decades ago as young adults and workers.

Many of these immigrants said they never expected to grow old in the city and, after years of saying Im leaving tomorrow, are simply not prepared for that reality when it comes. Some are still chasing the American dream long after their prime working years. Others have stayed because they cannot bring themselves to leave the children and grandchildren they have here, or the life they have carved out for themselves.

Older immigrants have largely propelled the rapid growth of the citys 65-and-up population to 1.4 million, according to a census analysis by Social Explorer, a data research company. In 2022, there were 713,000 older immigrants, a 57 percent increase from 2010. During that same period, the number of U.S.-born older residents rose 25 percent to 678,000.

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Many Older Immigrants in New York Are Struggling: 'I Have No Future' - The New York Times