A third of New York's population, which in 2005 was 8.2 million people, is renewed every decade. Why is the number of native residents of the city steadily declining? This question was addressed by the head of New York City's financial management, William Thompson, who commissioned experts from his office to conduct a special study.
The results of the analysis of New York's population size and composition for 2005 are impressive. It turned out that residents with middle incomes (from $60,000 to $140,000 per year) most often stay in New York, while the poor (incomes from $40,000 to $60,000 per year) and the rich (they earn from $140,000 to $250,000 per year) most often do not linger in the 'Big Apple' city. Also noteworthy is the fact that 43% of families leaving New York have children. Therefore, it can be assumed that those who are looking for better conditions for their children's education and recreation also leave the metropolis more often.
The average age of adult residents permanently leaving New York reaches 40 years. However, those over 50 prefer to remain for permanent residence in the city. People with high earnings often try to buy homes outside the five boroughs of the metropolis, but 60% of them remain in three states: New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Approximately 76,000 adults who permanently left the city in 2005 had a bachelor's degree. In the same year, approximately the same number of college-educated immigrants from other countries came to New York.
One can guess why the poor do not stay in New York by reading a recently published report by the research organization Tax Foundation. The document reports that in 2006, New York residents paid the highest property taxes in the country: almost $6,500 more than the average US figure. In Manhattan, the average home value is $787,900, while the average home value in other New York boroughs is $303,400.
According to data from the Census Bureau cited in a report by the research center American Community Survey, most New York residents spend half of their monthly income on mortgage payments or apartment rent. For example, in the Brooklyn borough of New York, 31% of homeowners pay 50% of their income monthly toward their mortgage. This is more than in any other region of New York State.
For many poor families leaving Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens due to excessively high apartment rental costs, the last accessible borough remains the Bronx, where the average apartment rent is $826 per month – the cheapest level in New York. But even in the Bronx, 32.9% of renters pay half of their monthly income for housing. According to the organization Community Service Society of New York, on average in New York, after paying rent, the budget of poor families leaves only $32 per week per person.