Last year was a good year for New York's financial industry as Wall Street bonuses reached a record $47.5 billion in 2024, its first major increase since the COVID-19 pandemic highs, according to a report released Wednesday by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

The comptroller said the average bonus of nearly $245,000 represents a more than 30% increase from the previous year and the state is getting about $600 million more in tax revenue as a result. He said robust economic growth led to increased trading, account supervision, underwriting and selling revenues, driving strong profits and helping generate the first significant bump in the average bonus estimate since 2021.

According to the report, securities employment in 2024 reached its highest annual level in at least three decades with 201,500 employees, up from 198,400 the year prior and exceeding the previous peak seen in 2000. New York City remains the nation’s financial capital even as the city’s share of securities industry jobs has declined as companies have expanded nationally in recent years. DiNapoli estimates one in 11 jobs in New York City is either directly or indirectly associated with the securities industry.

"New York hasn't so much been losing jobs as much as we haven't seen the growth so the fact that 2024 was a growth year at a rate comparable to growth that we're seeing in other parts of the country, I think that is certainly another piece of good news as far as the employment picture," he said.

DiNapoli said that Wall Street accounted for 19% of the state’s tax collections in fiscal year 2023-24 and 7% of city tax revenue in fiscal year 2024. DiNapoli estimates the 2024 bonuses will generate $600 million more in state income tax revenue and $275 million more for the city when compared to the previous year.

"I think given that were at the time of year where they're working hard to get the budget done by April 1, this shows that, as we've seen across the board, revenues have been coming in higher than projected, the same is true with the revenues that will be derived from the bonuses from Wall Street so perhaps that will ease the path to getting a budget agreement on time this year," DiNapoli told Spectrum News 1.

Over the last month and a half, stocks have dipped as tariffs have created volatility in the markets. DiNapoli said it could dampen the outlook for 2025.

"We're very early in 2025 so I don't want to predict where it's headed but markets and Wall Street, they don't like uncertainty. Even if the news is bad, as long as they know what they have to deal with they can deal with it. I think, kind of the volatility we're seeing is reflective of the uncertainty of the decisions being made in Washington right now and what the impact will be," he said.