New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has a new warning: Living in the city with kids could cost you at least $150,000 a year.
The Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice released its inaugural “NYC True Cost of Living Measure” report Monday. The TCOL figure adapts an economic security framework used by the Urban Institute, comparing a household’s financial resources to their actual cost of living. Using 2022 data, it accounts for line items like housing, food, healthcare, childcare, transportation, and taxes.
The report found that it costs the median New York couple with kids $159,197 to live in the city, and that number varies depending on their number of children. That’s the equivalent of paying cash for a house in Rockford, Illinois, or shelling out for a four-year degree at a top university. And it’s just the price of basic bills.
For a single parent with two children, the cost is still staggering, at $114,108. Per the report, the only group in NYC who consistently makes enough income to afford expenses are dual-income households without children — who still must earn about $131,000 a year to live comfortably.
For comparison, the Urban Institute found that the median American family with kids needs $134,800.
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Overall, 62% of New Yorkers — or 5 million people — do not earn enough to meet their cost-of-living threshold, according to the report, and the average person is $39,603 short. Per the report, children and communities of color are disproportionately impacted by high prices. Bronx residents are most likely to have resource gaps, followed by residents of Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. Residents of Staten Island have the smallest resource gap at 48.2%.
The city’s TCOL measure is built around estimates for a typical household, and individual circumstances will vary. It doesn’t directly take into account, for example, residents’ disabilities or their student loan debt.
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There are also 3.58 million New Yorkers whose income is above the federal poverty line but falls short of their cost-of-living threshold, the report said. This means that these households likely don’t qualify for aid programs like Section 8 or SNAP, but still struggle to afford housing, groceries, or other bills.
Business Insider has heard from parents trying to balance work with childcare, gig workers trying to cover their bills, creatives hustling to build a stable income, and young people splitting rent amongst roommates. Regardless of their income or profession, most are on a tight budget.
For many New Yorkers, the exorbitant cost of daily life is exhausting. In a Monday afternoon Reddit “Ask Me Anything” forum, residents posted queries and comments to be answered by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Deputy Mayor for Housing Leila Bozorg, and Cea Weaver from the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants about housing.
On r/nyc, posters wrote about their steep property taxes, sky-high rents, backbreaking daycare costs, and concerns about construction zoning for affordable apartments. They asked how to navigate “bad” landlords — and what it means to be a “good” one.
“Expensive and frequent inspections that are lining pockets of scaffolders and facade inspectors. It’s extremely costly and drives up costs for renters and homeowners,” said one poster. “I’d love more generous incentives as it’s clearly a net positive for society to be producing ample housing,” said another. “I’m now within striking distance of finally being able to buy a home in NYC, something that’s been my dream for years,” said a third.
“Every one of our efforts is driven by a singular focus on making the most expensive city in the country affordable,” Mamdani wrote in one response. Alongside housing reforms, his administration has proposed universal daycare, city-run grocery stores, free buses, and additional housing construction to improve affordability. “We’re just getting started,” he added.
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