The number of New Yorkers living in poverty has climbed to 25%, nearly double the national average, according to a new report from Robin Hood and Columbia University.
The annual "State of Poverty and Disadvantage" report found that rising costs for food, housing, utilities, clothing and internet access pushed the poverty threshold for a renting family of four to an annual salary of $47,000 in 2023.
That shift pushed an additional 100,000 New Yorkers into poverty, according to the report—which is based on 2023 data—bringing the total number of residents struggling to afford basic needs to 2.02 million, including 420,000 children.
“We talk to a representative sample of New Yorkers year after year, and it gives us a deeper picture of the experience of those New Yorkers and how they're struggling to survive in our beautiful city,” Robin Hood CEO Richard Buery said on “Mornings On 1” Wednesday.
Typically, economic growth and declining unemployment help reduce poverty, according to the report, but inflation-driven costs caused New York City’s poverty rate to climb. That means one in four New Yorkers is now living in poverty, nearly double the national rate of 13%, the report found.
“Even though the trend lines are the same, the experience is much more challenging in New York,” Buery said.
He said that prior to 2022, there was a dip in poverty levels thanks to pandemic-era aid, but as that assistance was allowed to expire, poverty rates once again climbed.
Buery explained that the study uses the “supplemental poverty measure,” which accounts for both income and public benefits when measuring poverty levels. He said this approach provides a more accurate picture of reality for many New Yorkers compared with traditional federal measures, which consider only income.
“If you look at things like the cost of housing, food, clothing, utilities—as inflation goes up, that poverty threshold goes up,” Buery said.
He added that because of these factors, the poverty threshold climbed to $47,190 in 2023, when it was just $43,890 in 2022.
The report further reveals that Black, Latino and Asian New Yorkers are more likely to experience poverty than white residents, which Buery said is tied to historical discrimination and challenges within immigrant communities.
“Barriers to housing equity, barriers to schools, jobs, challenges in immigrant New Yorkers faces. We see that reflected in the experience of poverty and hardship in New York,” he said.
Even those living above the poverty line can struggle to make ends meet in New York City, the report found, with many suffering “material hardships,” which is difficulty affording food, housing, medical care and other essentials.
“Even if you are at double the poverty line, if you earn $94,000 for a family of four, you still have a large likelihood of experiencing material hardship. You're still struggling to put food on the table, to pay your rent. And so, it's really 58% of New Yorkers who live within 200% of the poverty line,” Buery said.