High-Income New Yorkers To City: We're Thinking Of Leaving You

NEW YORK CITY — High-income New Yorkers don't necessarily think the city is "dead," but their enthusiasm for living here is on life support, according to a new study.

A poll of city dwellers making $100,000 or more a year found 44 percent of them have considered moving in the past four months.

And the study commissioned by the Manhattan Institute and conducted by the Siena College Research Institute discovered those six-figure earners aren't overwhelmingly positive about the city's prospects.

Roughly two in five of those surveyed believe that the city is headed in the wrong direction, according to the study. They reported a steep decline in quality of life since the coronavirus pandemic struck in March.

"Looking ahead, 37% say that it is at least somewhat likely that they will not be living in the city within the next two years," the study stated.

The study supports growing murmurs that many New Yorkers are uprooting and fleeing the city, which is widely being described as "dead."

The dissatisfaction recently prompted business leaders to press Mayor Bill de Blasio to take action on crime and other quality of life issues.

De Blasio, for his part, has repeatedly referenced a "perfect storm" facing the city that "tough" and "pragmatic" New Yorkers will weather. He has been alternately dismissive and defiant over reports of well-to-do New Yorkers leaving.

“I am not going to beg anybody to live in the greatest city in the world,” he said at a recent news conference.

A majority — 53 percent — of high-income New Yorkers surveyed in the study still believe the city is heading in the right direction. But their feelings on quality of life in the pandemic have taken a sharp downward turn.

Before the coronavirus crisis, 79 percent rated the city's quality of life as excellent or good. After the crisis, 38 percent rated it as excellent or good, according to the study.

Read the full study here.