The living isn’t easy in New York, nor is it cheap. That’s according to a Siena College Research Institute survey of New York voters which found that 83% of voters “believed the cost of living in New York is a major problem.” It is hard to believe that the survey even found 12% of New York voters who considered New York’s high costs a “minor problem.” But anyone who was paying attention knows that New York has an affordability problem, especially with how many people have left New York.
Consider that New York State’s 2022 population of 19,677,151 decreased by 431,145 people from the 2020 population of 20,108,296. Many of these folks, earning in excess of $200,000 annually, have flocked to Florida, Texas, North and South Carolina and Tennessee, taking the badly needed economic activity with them. Making the net exodus of 431,145 more alarming is that not offsetting the outmigration is that New York’s birth rate has exceeded the death rate and international migration to New York has continued. Even with this growth in population, the net effect is that New York still lost population as compared to the rest of the country. Reflecting that loss of population is the decreasing influence in the Congress of the United States. Since 1990 New York’s congressional delegation has lost nine members, from 35 to the 26 representatives seated in this Congress. Population losses have consequences. Think loss of the SALT deduction. Handwringing won’t reverse the trend, but handwringing is the default policy of choice.
New York has an affordability issue, 83% of voters in the Sienna survey are telling us so, but it also has a quality-of-life issue. Sienna reports that a dismal 4% of independents, 5% of Republicans and 22% of Democrats say “things in New York are getting better.” Rarely is there such unanimity of opinion among New Yorkers. Clearly voters are warning us that things in New York are getting worse. While housing costs are an issue, it’s not the only issue.
It’s not only surveyed voters that are unhappy. So are the mobile millennials who can take their education and go elsewhere to benefit the economy of another state. Millennials have told us so. They have told us so for years. But nobody appears to listen.
In surveys I have conducted since 2014, Long Island millennials have said that finding a job that allows them to live here is important to them. But to do that they have to find jobs that meet their salary requirements and skill sets at businesses in which they wish to work. Millennials have also said that they don’t believe Long Island will be able to attract the high-paying industries where they wish to work. No clearer illustration of that belief, despite Long Island unified support, is how the state bungled the opportunity to attract Amazon and their high-paying jobs to Queens. Millennials have said that they will move elsewhere if their needs are not met and they are not alone in their frustration.
So are the baby boomers and retirees who are taking their fixed-income pensions and economic impact elsewhere to avoid the ever-increasing New York tax burden, minimum wages, insurance, and energy costs.
There is not enough handwringing to stop this exodus of middle-class New Yorkers.
Martin Cantor is director of the Long Island Center for Socio-Economic Policy and a former Suffolk County economic development commissioner. He can be reached at [email protected].
Opinion
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