New York City's Middle Class Is Shrinking

It’s not news that New York City’s population has undergone staggering change over the past decade.

A new study from the Citizens Housing Planning Council confirmed what many already knew: the number of middle-class New Yorkers has shrunk—particularly among the black middle class—while wealthy white and low-income Hispanic populations are surging.

New York’s middle class is now 14 percent smaller than it was in 2000, while more and more New Yorkers are either rich or poor. The black middle class experienced an even more dramatic decrease at 19 percent.

“If what we're seeing—and I think it is—is an erosion of the black middle-class homeowner communities, this raises a lot of questions,” said Jerilyn Perine, executive director of the CHPC.

Communities like Woodlawn, Hollis, Jamaica and East Flatbush saw a draining of their black middle class homeowners. They’ve largely been replaced by lower-income black families and singles who can only afford to rent their homes.

“These are neighborhoods where home-ownership was a driver of equity,” said Perine. “It was a way to finance your kid’s college education. It had many, many ripple effect benefits which, if that’s beginning to go away, that’s somewhat troubling.”

One demographic group that is taking up more space in the five boroughs? Wealthy white people, especially singles, who have expanded to neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Downtown Brooklyn.

In fact, wealthy white people are now the fastest-growing population group in New York City. They’re largely moving to neighborhoods that were previously racially diverse, and majority-white neighborhoods are getting even whiter. White neighborhoods did see a new "notable presence" of Asian-Americans, however, and traditionally Asian neighborhoods like Flushing and Chinatown shrank. 

Despite the surge of wealthy whites, low-income Hispanic people are still the largest demographic group in New York City. Poor Hispanic families have swelled in traditionally Hispanic neighborhoods like the South Bronx, and they’ve also ventured to other neighborhoods such as East New York.