NYC's Wages Falling Far Behind Record-High Rents, Study Finds

NEW YORK CITY — New Yorkers simply aren't making enough money to pay for record-setting rents, a new study found.

The gap between rent and wage growth stood at 23 percent in August, the widest since 2008, according to a new StreetEasy analysis published Thursday.

Wages were down 9.1 percent in August from last year, while rents increased 13.4 percent, the analysis found.

Unsurprisingly, those falling wages and skyrocketing rents put millions of New Yorkers in a bind this summer as they looked for apartments.

"Just under half (48.2%) of NYC’s four-million-person workforce earned enough in typical annual wages to afford just 10% of the rental inventory available this summer, unless they spent more than half of their income on rent," the study states.

The study reinforced advocates' long-standing worries during the coronavirus pandemic that many New York City dwellers soon could be kicked out of their apartments.

Advocates quickly responded to the study by urging state lawmakers to pass "Good Cause" legislation that protects against rent increases and unjust evictions.

Nearly half of New York City's essential workers simply can't afford roughly 90 percent of available apartments, said Judith Goldiner, attorney-in-charge of The Legal Aid Society's civil law reform unit.

“It is unconscionable that these workers, many of whom provided essential services throughout the pandemic, must now face increased housing instability after putting their own lives at risk to keep New York City running," she said in a statement.

The StreetEasy analysis found New Yorkers who have food preparation and serving jobs, which typically pay less than $38,000 a year, could only afford 1.3 percent of available apartments in the city this summer.

Health care support workers, such as home health aids and nursing aides, didn't fare much better. They could only afford 1.9 percent of city apartments on their median annual wage of $38,730, the study found.

Not only were those health care workers vital during the pandemic, the analysis found they make up 10 percent of the city's workforce.

The study did find signs that the city's rental market could be becoming less hostile to workers.

Typical, or median, rents stayed roughly flat between August and September, and hovered about $3,500, according to the study. And more listings are offering at least one month of free rent, as well as price cuts, the study found.

"However, the rebalancing of the rental market will likely take place at a gradual pace," the study states. "It remains to be seen whether demand cools beyond a seasonal slowdown toward the end of the year."