ICYMI: Lower East Side Is One Of The Least Affordable Neighborhoods In NYC, Report Says

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — The Lower East Side is one of the least affordable neighborhoods for housing in New York City, according to a new report released by NYC real estate website RentHop.

RentHop, which lists apartments available for rent in NYC, looked at the affordability of neighborhoods throughout the city by comparing each area's median income with the median asking rent on RentHop for a two-bedroom apartment. These days in the Lower East Side the median rent for a two-bedroom is typically about $3,495 a month, but the median household income is just $31,273 a year, according to RentHop's report. That means that the median household would need to pay 134 percent of its income to meet that two-bedroom asking price. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

The analysis used 2015 income data from the American Community Survey, the most recent year for which data is available. The rental data came from listing on RentHop's website.

"The neighborhood with the third largest income-housing cost gap was Lower East Side, where the median household would need to spend 134% of the $31,273 neighborhood income for two-bedroom asking rent of $3,495," according to RentHop's analysis. "LES is known for its night life and rough-and-tumble past, but the wealth gap and expensive apartments are the true story here."

The affordability gap in the Lower East Side was so stark that it ranked the third largest gap in New York City, according to Rent Hop. The report listed only Williamsburg and Long Island City as having a starker difference between median rents and median incomes.

Broadly, the data indicates how popular neighborhoods, such as Long Island City and the Lower East Side, gradually price out longtime residents as wealthier renters move in and gentrify the neighborhood. An April analysis from the city comptroller's office identified the Lower East Side and Chinatown as one of a number of NYC neighborhoods that were gentrifying amid an influx of white, wealthy renters who were crowding the neighborhood. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of LES residents making $75,000 or more a year doubled, according to the comptroller's report.

Lead image credit: Spencer Platt / Staff / Getty Images News.