NEW YORK - More people are moving in to New York City than moving out for the first time since before 1950, and city population has grown to a record high, according to the latest US Census Bureau estimates released on Thursday.

The estimates show that New York City population has reached 8, 336,697, an increase of 161,564 or about 2 percent since 2010.

The population rise is fueled by a continuing increase in the number of people moving to the city and a decline in those leaving the city, as well as the continued growth in the surplus of births over deaths -- with life expectancy in the city reaching new record highs.

Earlier this week, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that New York subway's annual ridership for 2012 was 1. 654 billion, the highest in 62 years. Average weekend ridership grew 3 percent, matching the historical record set in 1946.

New York is the most populous city in the United States. Statistics show that more than three million New Yorkers are foreign-born and over one-quarter of current city residents arrived in 2000 or later.