Economic Pressures Hit NYC Families with Children the Hardest

Data Resources

October 21, 2025

Analysis of U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey

New data from the American Community Survey shines a light on the persistent economic challenges facing New York City’s families. Nearly a quarter of NYC residents, 22%, live below or near the federal poverty level, earning less than $39,000 a year. Rising rents, unaffordable child care costs, and the growing gap between incomes and true cost of living are all driving too many New York families into poverty. As the city looks ahead to a new Mayoral Administration, the following data necessitate bold policy solutions to advance economic security for NYC children and their families.

Two charts side by side. The first is a bar chart illustrating how child poverty in NYC has remained higher than the national average for 6 years from 2019-2024. Each year the rate is between 22% and 25% in NYC while nationally it remains under 20%. The second chart illustrates income disparity in NYC. About 583,000 households make $150k or more while over 1.3 million households make under $150k.

New York City has over 583,000 high-earning families (earning $150,000 or more), and nearly the same number (551,000) of families earning incomes below $50,000.

Two charts side by side. The first is a line chart that shows how median income for families with children, median income for families without children, and living wage income have changed between 2019 and 2024. Income for families with children have fallen further behind both the living wage income and income for families without children since 2019. The second chart is a bar chart that breaks down median income for families with children across the 5 boroughs, showing that families in Manhattan earn far more than all other boroughs.

Median income (1) for families with children has increased over the past several years, but remains consistently lower than median incomes for families without children. Despite growth, median incomes fall short of the estimated living wage (2) needed to meet basic family needs and well below what is needed to be economically secure. (3)

49% of renter households in NYC pay 30% of their income on rent while 29% spend nearly half of their income on rent.

Nearly half of NYC Renters Are Rent Burdened

Two-thirds of NYC households are renters, and among these, half are rent burdened (paying more than 30% of their income on rent) and almost 3 in 10 are severely rent burdened (paying more than 50% of their income on rent). With median monthly rent reaching an all-time high in 2024, housing costs continue to strain family budgets.

Rising Unemployment Affects NYC, Especially Young Adults

NYC’s unemployment rate rose from 6.3% to 6.9% between 2023 and 2024—a statistically significant increase that signals a troubling trend. The unemployment rate also climbed for young adults ages 20-24 from 11.3% to 13.2%.

This graph series shows the breakdown of child demographics in NYC by the percentage of children who are under 18, under 5, foreign born, and those with limited English proficiency.

This graph shows the racial/ethnic composition of NYC children.

Data Notes and Sources

Our analysis uses median (middle values) to describe typical incomes rather than averages because average incomes are skewed by very high earners.
Living Wage Income is derived from the MIT Living Wage Calculator (livingwage.mit.edu) and represents estimates for a family with 2 working adults and 2 children.
The True Cost of Economic Security (TCES) determined to be $165,300 for NYC, includes household budget essentials, reasonable savings targets and the ability to manage debt. True Cost of Economic Security Policy Implications for New York City retrieved via https://www.fpwa.org/resource-center/in-the-news/3012/
Hispanic or Latino is categorized as ethnicity and includes individuals of any race. Percentages displayed will total more than 100% since some children are counted in more than one category.

Statistics use data from the American Community Survey, 2024 1-year estimates.