New York City suffered the largest gap between the amount of growth in wages and the increase in rent across the United States from 2022 to 2023, according to a study by the real estate listing information firm StreetEasy and the real estate marketplace company Zillow.
Among the metro areas included in the study, New York City had the biggest percentage point difference between the growth in wages and growth in rent from 2022 to 2023, with the rent growing over seven times more than the wages. Over that span, wages in NYC went up 1.2%, while rent increased 8.6%, making for a difference of 7.4%.
The United States as a whole has experienced a 4.3% increase in wages and a 3.4% increase in rent, resulting in a -0.8% difference, sharply contrasting that of New York City.
While the study concluded that the job market in New York City is strong, this has led to a higher demand for a place to live in the area. Consequently, the high demand, combined with record-low vacancy rates, has led to a surge in the cost of rent. The 8.6% increase in asking rent in New York City was also the most significant jump in that category among the metro areas included in the study.
With a rental vacancy of just 1.4% in 2023, this was the lowest for New York City since 1968, according to the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey. In that survey, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development stressed the need for public investments in new construction and housing preservation in order to help close the wealth gap among New Yorkers.
