New York City’s post-pandemic recovery has been sharply uneven. A report released Wednesday by Comptroller Mark Levine, analyzing tax returns from 2019 to 2024, found that income inequality in the city increased over those years and now exceeds the national rate. In 2024, the top 1% of city households held 37% of all income citywide, compared with 22% nationally. The bottom 90% of New Yorkers saw average real incomes, adjusted for inflation, fall slightly by 0.8% over the period, while real wages for the top 1% grew 16.2% and those for the top 0.001% grew 57.9%. The divergence matters because it quantifies what many residents have experienced as a “K-shaped” economy: a few gain more each year while most struggle financially.
The mechanics behind the split are tied to how income is earned. The report found that non-wage sources—including capital gains, dividends, interest, rent, and other profits—are the primary drivers of faster income growth at the top of the economic ladder. The majority of income for the top 1% came from non-wage sources. Meanwhile, base wages and salaries do not appear to be responsible for the city’s increasing income inequality. Pay grew in many of the metro area’s low-wage fields, including healthcare and food and hospitality, between 2019 and 2025. But those wage gains were not enough to offset the region’s higher cost of living, which the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates is 12.6% above the national average.
The evidence also shows New York’s poorest residents are poorer than their peers elsewhere. The comptroller said the city’s bottom 90% of earners still made 9% less than the bottom 90% across the country in 2024. The city’s unemployment rate was 5% as of July, compared with 4.1% nationally, giving workers less bargaining power with employers. Its minimum wage of $17 per hour is lower than those in cities with comparable living costs, including Seattle at $21.30 and Los Angeles at $18.42 per hour. Mohamed Obaidy, an economist and associate director at the New School’s Center for NYC Affairs, noted that the city’s economy is structured around finance, insurance, and real estate industries, creating a concentration of millionaires.
The implications extend to policy and labor markets. Levine said in a statement that “New York City is generating enormous wealth, but the vast majority of that prosperity is flowing to those who already have the most,” and called for policies that expand economic mobility, build the middle class, and strengthen earnings. A spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the report underscores the urgency of the administration’s affordability agenda, citing programs like universal childcare, fast and free buses, and city grocery stores. Andrew Rein, president of the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission, said the finding that real wages have been stagnant for most New Yorkers reinforces the need to attract and grow more living- and higher-wage jobs while increasing affordability through housing production and other programs.
The report is a single data point from one city agency, and its analysis of tax returns through 2024 may not capture more recent wage or employment shifts. It also does not break down income changes within the bottom 90% by race, borough, or household type, leaving open questions about which groups experienced the largest declines. What to watch next is whether city and state policy responses—minimum wage adjustments, housing production, or childcare expansion—alter the trajectory in future comptroller reports, and whether non-wage income growth at the top continues to outpace wage gains for everyone else.