There are more New Yorkers living in poverty than there are people living in Philadelphia or Phoenix, according to a new report released by the NYU Furman Center this week.
The "Focus on Poverty" report, released as part of the center's annual "State of NYC's Housing and Neighborhoods" study, looked at data pertaining to NYC's most impoverished areas from 2011 to 2015, finding that nearly 1.7 million New Yorkers live in poverty, out of a total 8.5 million residents. The number of impoverished New Yorkers exceeds the population of Philadelphia (an estimated 1.5 million in 2016) and Phoenix (1.6 million), estimated to be the fifth and sixth most populous cities in the nation in 2016.
New York's poverty rate, which has hovered around 19 to 21 percent since the 1980s, is higher than the national rate, and the Furman Center notes that it is particularly high for children and senior citizens. The poverty rate for children in NYC was 30 percent from 2011 to 2015; nationally, it's only 22 percent.
The study also found that in 20 percent of NYC's neighborhoods, at least one third of the households are poor, and that concentration of poverty has worsened since 2010. The study also found that the poverty rate is becoming more concentrated in an increasing number of neighborhoods, while lessening in a smaller percentage of other neighborhoods.
This high concentration of poverty is troubling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that neighborhoods with more poor residents have more violent crime, worse schools, fewer adults with college degrees and higher unemployment rates than areas with lower concentrations of poverty. Only a quarter or less of fourth grade students in high and extreme poverty neighborhoods performed at grade level in math in 2014.
27.5 percent of NYC's neighborhoods had a poverty rate of zero to 10 percent; 52.8 percent harbored a poverty rate of between 10 and 30 percent, while 11 percent had poverty rates between 30 and 40 percent. 8.7 percent of NYC neighborhoods had a poverty rate of over 40 percent.
There's also a serious racial divide when it comes to neighborhoods, as the study found poor black and Hispanic New Yorkers were much more likely to live in high or extreme poverty neighborhoods than poor white and Asian New Yorkers—in fact, over half of poor black and Hispanic New Yorkers lived in those neighborhoods, while only 23 percent of poor Asian New Yorkers and about 30 percent of poor white New Yorkers lived in high or extreme poverty neighborhoods.
"The increase in poverty concentration in New York City is deeply troubling, as is the fact that poor children and poor black and Hispanic New Yorkers are living in high-poverty neighborhoods at higher rates than other poor New Yorkers.” Katherine O’Regan, Faculty Director at the NYU Furman Center, said in a statement. "We hope that highlighting how neighborhood conditions correlate with poverty levels in New York City will lead to more targeted policy interventions, leading to better futures for individuals and the city."
More than half of the Bronx's neighborhoods are high or extreme poverty areas. Fewer than 4 percent of Queens' neighborhoods, meanwhile, are high or extreme poverty areas.
Meanwhile, 8 out of the country's 10 most expensive areas to rent an apartment are in, obviously, Manhattan. Those include Battery Park City, the Upper East and West Sides, the Lower East Side, and Chinatown/Soho/Tribeca. A tale of two cities, indeed.
