In 2022, overall poverty rates both in New York City and nationally rose back to pre-pandemic levels, coin- ciding with the expiration of many of the historic – but temporary – policy interventions at the end of 2021. More than 20% of New Yorkers lived in poverty each year between 2015 and 2017, but the poverty rate began to decline both in New York City and nationally in 2018 (see Figure 1.1 ; see the text box for discus- sion of the Poverty Tracker’s income poverty measure). One might be surprised that the poverty rate did not increase significantly in 2020 and 2021 amid the economic challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pan- demic, but as we discuss below, government policy played a significant role in preventing the poverty rate from rising in these years and actually led to stable poverty rates from 2019 to 2021. Despite the progress made in reducing poverty in recent years, poverty rates in New York City and nationally increased signifi- cantly in 2022, returning to pre-pandemic levels after the expiration of historic – but temporary – policy reforms at the end of 2021.
Overall poverty rates in New York City and nationally (2015–2022) Figure 1.1
New York City
National
40%
30%
23%
22%
22%
21%
20%
19%
18%
20%
17%
14%
14%
14%
13%
10%
12%
12%
9%
8%
0%
2019
2020
2022
2017
2018
2015
2016
2021
Source: New York City results based on annual Poverty Tracker survey data, second through fifth Poverty Tracker cohorts. National results based on authors’ calculations using the Current Population Survey, retrieved from IPUMS-CPS, University of Minnesota, www.ipums.org. Note: In 2020, the Poverty Tracker sampling design changed to include an oversample of New Yorkers of Chinese descent, including those who speak Mandarin. Thus, pre-2020 results are not directly comparable to results from 2020 to the present, which we signify with a break in the New York City trend line. See Appendix B for additional details.
THE STATE OF POVERTY AND DISADVANTAGE IN NEW YORK CITY 9
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