In response to the U.S. Census Bureau’s release of the Vintage 2023 Population Estimates today, Fiscal Policy Institute Senior Policy Analyst Andrew Perry released the following statement:
"The latest Census data should serve as a red flag for policy makers: New York is losing more residents than any other state in the nation. Together with the Fiscal Policy Institute's latest report, which reveals the wealthiest residents typically leave at one-quarter the rate of all other New Yorkers, this data reflects a state that is struggling to retain its working and middle class. In light of this population loss, the State should make deep investments in the services and programs that keep New Yorkers here — including housing, childcare, and public infrastructure. Conversely, cuts to essential public services will only threaten the quality of life and increase costs for the working and middle-class New Yorkers who are already leaving at elevated rates.”
Background:
- FPI analysis recently revealed working and middle-class New Yorkers leave the State at four times the rate of wealthy New Yorkers in typical, non-Covid years.
- State Comptroller DiNapoli’s report this week echoed FPI’s findings, revealing New York City’s population is growing wealthier as the cost of living rises.
- Today’s U.S. Census Bureau 2023 population estimates reveal that between between July 1, 2022 and July 1, 2023:
- New York experienced the highest rate of population loss and net out-migration in the country.
- New York's population fell by 102,000 residents over the last year. Since 2020, the population has fallen by 533,200, or 2.7 percent.
- 216,800 more New Yorkers left the state than moved into the state last year — a reduced rate of out-migration than the prior two years, but still above the pre-Covid norm.
- While international immigration — a longstanding source of population growth for the state — has returned to pre-Covid levels, the number of births in the state remains depressed, dampening population growth.