A new study by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s office found that nearly 14% of New Yorkers lived in poverty last year.
The report, entitled New Yorkers In Need: A Look At Poverty Trends in New York State For The Last Decade, found that 2.7 million New Yorkers, or 13.9% of the state’s population, lived in poverty in 2021. Despite the poverty rates declining prior to the pandemic, the number last year is higher than in 2019, with New York ranking 13th in in the amount of poverty and had a higher rate of people in poverty compared to neighboring states.
“While economic hardships existed long before the pandemic, it deepened the financial stress experienced by many households,” DiNapoli said. “We saw what a large and broad federal response achieved, as the country made historic progress in the fight against poverty. Continued federal resources, along with a greater equity in state services, can help improve the lives of New Yorkers struggling to make ends meet.”
This report is the first in a series that will examine poverty throughout New York, with subsequent reports looking at specific dimensions of poverty, including food insecurity and housing insecurity. The Official Poverty Measure, determined by the U.S. Census Bureau based on survey data of income and family size and composition, determined that in 2021, the threshold, updated for inflation, was $13,788 for one person and $27,740 for a household of four before taxes.
This report found that poverty rates were more than double for Hispanic New Yorkers compared to white, non-Hispanics. Black, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders, with one fifth of Hispanic New Yorkers being below the poverty level in 2021. American Indian New Yorkers experienced poverty at twice the rate of white New Yorkers, while poverty rates for Black and Asian New Yorkers were down three percentage points last year compared to 2010.
The report found that poverty ranged from 5.7% in Nassau and Putnam counties to as high as 24.4% in the Bronx. In Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, one out of every four people were living in poverty, and one in four families in Syracuse and one in five in Rochester were living in poverty in 2021. Throughout the state, families with female heads of household with no spouse experienced poverty at more than two times the rate for all families and four times the rate of married couples, with nearly 23% in poverty in 2021.
The report also found that poverty rates in New York were much higher for children than it was for adults. In 2021, 18.5% of the population under the age of 18 were below the poverty line. The report noted that while poverty rates in children declined by around 21% in 2010, poverty rates increased for seniors while decreasing for all others between 2010 and 2021. In 2021, less than 6% of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher were in poverty, but the rate for those with less than a high school degree was almost five times greater.
“State Comptroller DiNapoli’s report presents sobering realities faced by New Yorkers in need of all ages, backgrounds, and locations across our state,” said State Senator Roxanne J. Persaud (Brooklyn), Chair of the Senate Social Services Committee. “Too many children live in poverty, too many older New Yorkers face hunger and struggle to keep bills paid. I share the State Comptroller’s view that poverty measures are antiquated, failing to account for true costs of living, and I will continue to advocate for a State Self-Sufficiency Standard, among other measures, to ensure that New York state is enacting policy and delivering programs that truly meet the needs of all our neighbors. Significant progress has been made but many silos have yet to be merged.”
The report showed that alternative measures of poverty show greater numbers of households in need. The Census Bureau one-third of all households surveyed during the pandemic reported at least some difficulty in August 2020 in paying household expenses, with this share increasing over the next three months to 40% and remaining elevated through mid-March 2021. These difficulties started increasing again by September 2021 and continued to rise through 2022, with that rate reaching 47.1% in October 2022.
“Despite being home to some of the wealthiest people in the U.S., New York state also has the dismal distinction of ranking 13th in poverty rates nationwide, according to State Comptroller DiNapoli’s eye-opening report,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (Manhattan), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Social Services. “Poverty rates have risen dramatically in recent years, in part due to the pandemic, and women, people of color, disabled people and other disadvantaged communities have borne the brunt of the increase. The report provides a roadmap to changing these dynamics, and I look forward to passing legislation that will invest in efforts to strengthen our social safety net, such as increasing outdated cash assistance grant levels, providing families with additional tax credits and expanding rental subsidies, all of which have never been more urgent.”
DiNapoli’s report found more than $115 billion in public resources from federal, state, and local governments are used each year to help low-income families. The federal government funds the bulk of the safety net, providing 87% of funding for major assistance and tax credit programs identified in the report, and took significant action during the pandemic to provide support to individuals and families in need through expanding unemployment benefits and the Child Tax Credit, as well as through stimulus checks.
In the report, DiNapoli commended the start for setting a goal of reducing child poverty by 50% over the next decade. He recommended evaluating alternative measures and update them as necessary to allow for accurate assessments of needs that reflect modern living standards and also assessing current programs for potential improvements, including the adequacy of benefit amounts and flexibility in local administration.
Click here to read the full report.
