Just 5% of People Earning an Average Salary Can Afford NYC Rents
In 2023, median asking rents for apartments in New York City increased 8.6% to $3,475, while average wages in the city rose just 1.2% according to a recently released report by StreetEasy and Tech:NYC. Based on the typically used 40-times the rent calculation, a New Yorker would need to make a gross wage of $139,000 annually, which is about 36% higher than last year’s average gross annual wage in the city of $88,347 according to the New York State Department of Labor, meaning that the average wage could afford $2,216 per month without spending more than 30% of the 2023 average annual wage. Overall, less than 5% of rentals on the market in 2023 are affordable based on last year’s annual wage average. However, if upfront costs such as the first month’s rent, a security deposit, and broker fees that amounted to $10,454 last year, are factored in, it reduces New Yorkers’ affordability to 4.4%. A sample of affordability among occupation groups include Healthcare Support, which can afford just 0.2% of NYC’s 2023 rental inventory based on an average annual wage of $39,539; the Life, Physical, and Social Service group with an average annual wage of $98,539 making 8.3% of rental inventory affordable; and the Management group’s ability to afford 71.5% based on an average annual wage of $197,088 in 2023. Suggestions offered within the report to begin to help increasing affordability include targeted zoning reforms near public transportation; removing parking requirements for off-street parking at new buildings not located near public transit; increasing investment in public transportation; increasing floor-to-area ratio in Manhattan; strengthening mixed-use zoning districts with new tax incentives; and reforming upfront costs for rentals.