In 2022, more than half of the city’s population (56%) was living in poverty or with low incomes. Robin Hood, in partnership with Columbia University, has been analyzing these poverty rates in New York City since 2012, and just released its sixth Poverty Tracker Annual Report.
Over the span of one year, between 2021 to 2022, the amount of New Yorkers living in poverty spiked from 1.5 million to 2 million. New York City’s poverty rate jumped from 18% to 23%. This was the largest single-year spike in citywide poverty on record for Poverty Tracker since launching. According to the US Census, New York City’s poverty rate in 2022 was nearly double that of the nation’s (11.5%).
When looking at the data further, the poverty rate in children was even more severe. The city experienced a 66% jump in childhood poverty, increasing from 15% to 23% from 2021 to 2022. That means one in four children in NYC were living in poverty by 2022.
The study outlined that this drastic change can be accredited to the termination of pandemic-era stabilizing policy interventions that aided impoverished adults and children.
“2022 saw some of the city’s hard-won reductions in poverty and hardship of recent years reversed, at the same time that inflation and high rents took a toll on people’s wallets,” said Christopher Wimer, director of The Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University. “The news is certainly grim, but if there is a silver lining it is that recent years have proven that well-designed policies can and do reduce poverty dramatically. We know what works, it’s just a matter of doing it.”
The overall Poverty Tracker Annual Report considers rates of income poverty, material hardship, and economic disadvantage in the city. The poverty line for a renting household with two adults and two children in New York City is $43,890. More than 4.6 million New Yorkers were receiving incomes below 200% of this threshold in 2022.
“We know that fully refundable tax credits, housing vouchers, and childcare subsidies can move millions out of poverty and hardship,” said Richard R. Buery Jr, CEO of Robin Hood. “But we have lacked the will to keep these policies in force. We are calling on lawmakers to make investments that will help our neighbors live lives of opportunity.”