New York by the Numbers
Monthly Economic and Fiscal Outlook
No. 105 - September 2025
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Photo Credit: Zoltan Vass/Shutterstock
A Message from the Comptroller
Dear New Yorkers,
Fall is here, and the kids are back in school, so it’s a good time to look at the numbers.
August saw a weakening labor market nationally, with unemployment edging up. New York City is doing a bit better economically than the nation as a whole. Unfortunately, threats continue to loom. The federal government cut $70 million from NYC’s HeadStart program. Federal Medicaid cuts led Governor Hochul to announce that approximately 450,000 working-class New Yorkers will lose their health insurance under the State’s Essential Plan. And the annual budget being considered by Congress includes very large cuts to housing and education funding.
Our Spotlight [[link removed]] takes a look at job, population, and housing growth in NYC neighborhoods. Unsurprisingly, the areas seeing the most development tend to be adjacent to Manhattan’s central business districts. In the outer boroughs, neighborhoods with high levels of homeownership have seen considerably less new housing added than more renter-dominated neighborhoods. This November, New Yorkers will have the opportunity to vote on ballot proposals put forward by the Charter Revision Commission, [[link removed]] including an “affordable housing fast track” proposal, which would make it easier to build mixed-income housing in the community districts that have produced the least affordable housing in recent years.
A few other things we’ve been up to as the summer ends:
Our most recent audit revealed systemic non-compliance in the Department of Education’s (DOE) English Language Learners (ELLs) services [[link removed]] , which denied legally mandated services to thousands of students;
We unveiled a “ Life in the Slow Lane [[link removed]] ” report card for New York City’s 332 bus lines operating across the five boroughs, with 186 of the 332 bus lines getting a D or F grade.
We celebrated recovering $15 million for workers [[link removed]] whose employers failed to pay them prevailing wages and benefits since the start of my term in 2022.
I testified before the House Financial Services Committee [[link removed]] on protecting shareholder rights and corporate good governance from efforts to undermine the model of shareholder accountability that New Yorkers’ retirement security – and U.S. capital markets – have relied on for decades.
We’ll keep watching the numbers. Doing what we can to make sure more that NYC builds more housing. And investing responsibly.
[[link removed]]
Brad Lander
Table of Contents
* The U.S. Economy [[link removed]]
* New York City Economy [[link removed]]
* City Finances [[link removed]]
Highlights
* The August U.S. jobs report signaled further weakening in the labor market. Payroll employment rose by just 22K, and the average gain over the past 3 months was just 29K; further downward revisions to job trends over the past year are projected. Both unemployment and labor force participation edged up, leaving the employment-population ratio steady at a 3½-year low.
* While local data are not yet available for August, NYC's unemployment rate inched up in July, but the employment-population ratio held steady at a record high. Payroll employment has continued its moderate upward trend but with all the net gain continuing to accrue to Health & Social Assistance and Government.


* Regional consumer and business confidence have been increasingly weak.


* The housing rental market has remained tight, though the inventory of available rentals has edged up in recent months; the sales market has been mostly flat.


* Manhattan's office market continued to recover gradually as of early September. Since mid-2023, when the overall market began to recover, the total inventory (supply) of Class B & C space has been reduced by renovations, demolitions, and conversions, and this has begun to nudge down availability rates in those segments.


* New York City office attendance, which had exceeded comparable pre-pandemic levels in July for the first time, fell back somewhat in August but remains well above nationwide trends.


* Congress resumed budget deliberations leading up to its deadline for a potential shutdown at the end of September.

* The Governor announced that the state will end its Essential Plan expansion, which currently provides no-cost health coverage to approximately 450,000 individuals who earn between 200% and 250% of the Federal Poverty Level, in response to federal funding cuts.
View the September Newsletter [[link removed]]
Spotlight
How have New York City's neighborhoods grown and evolved over the years?
Despite a severe setback from the pandemic, New York City's economy has chalked up record growth since the turn of the century. This month's Spotlight looks at how growth has played out across the five boroughs and drills down further to explore how the city's various neighborhoods have grown and evolved.
Read More [[link removed]]
In Case You Missed It
Over the past month, the Comptroller's Office released the following announcement on the state of NYC's economy and finances.
* Comptroller Lander Delivers Testimony Before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services on Protecting Shareholder Rights [[link removed]]
* NYC Comptroller Lander's Office Hits $15 Million Mark in Securing Back Wages for Workers [[link removed]]
* Comptroller Lander Exposes Worst Employers in NYC [[link removed]]
* Comments on NYC's Fiscal Year 2026 Adopted Budget [[link removed]]
* DOE Flunks in Comptroller Lander' Audit of English Language Learning Services [[link removed]]
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Office of the New York City Comptroller
Office of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander
1 Centre Street
New York, NY 10007
United States
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