A Quarter of New Yorkers Can't Afford Basic Necessities As Affordability Crisis Deepens, Report Reveals

New York has long been known for its high rent prices and cost of living. But as an affordability crisis further deepens in the Big Apple, a quarter of its residents can no longer afford basic necessities like housing and food, a new report reveals.

The new data comes from a research group at Columbia University and Robin Hood, an anti-poverty group. The report is part of a 13-year-study that surveys a representative sample of about 3,000 households in New York City.

The study found that the share of New Yorkers living in poverty was nearly double the national average in 2023 and increased by seven percentage points in just two years. In order to measure poverty researchers take into account income, noncash support like tax credits and the local cost of living, a different measure than the one the federal government uses.

Under that metric, the poverty threshold for a couple with two children in a rental household is now $47,190. The report found that 58 percent of New Yorkers, more than 4.8 million people, were in families with incomes below 200 percent of the poverty line— about $94,000 for a couple with two children or $44,000 for a single adult.

Poverty rates among Latino, Black and Asian residents were about twice as high as the rate for White residents, according to the report.

Among the primary drivers for this trend is a scarcity of housing and its rising cost, The New York Times reports. Interestingly, most people surveyed were either working or looking for a job, yet many reported falling behind on rent or struggling to pay for food.

"There is a lack of political will to actually invest in services for the lowest-income people," said Chris Mann, an assistant vice president for Women in Need, which runs shelters in New York City.

The report comes as New York's affordability crisis deepens. This month, Con Edison, the company that provides electricity, gas and steam to the city, hiked up its prices. According to a recent analysis from the Alliance for a Green Economy (AGREE), the average cost of heating for Con Ed customers has already increased from $205 in 2022 to over $250 in 2025. Now, if the new rate hike is approved, customers will have to pay nearly $300 every month by 2026.

Elected officials are seemingly recognizing the discontent about the high cost of living, and are tailoring their re-election agendas around it.

Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled a $252 billion executive budget intended to appease dissatisfied New Yorkers. The proposed budget includes funding for about $1 billion in middle-class tax cuts, $3 billion in rebate checks for millions of New Yorkers, $800 million for an expansion of the state's child tax credit, $340 million for school meals for every student and close to $60 million for more police officers on subway trains, all of which are designed to address concerns about affordability, crime and the cost of living, according to The New York Times.