Facing Crunch, NYC's Middle Class Flees

(CBS)  Start spreading the news - New York City's middle class is leaving. And not just today either.

Sky-high rents, long commutes and other exorbitant living costs are just some of the reasons the nation's most expensive city has been steadily losing its middle class in recent years, according to a study released by the Center for an Urban Future.

New York City suffered a net loss of over 150,000 middle income residents in 2006 - a greater flight than 1993, when the city was in much worse shape economically - according to the study.

With New York more than twice as expensive as the national average, many former residents have opted for cheaper alternatives in Philadelphia, Charlotte and the Atlanta suburbs.

Looking at the numbers, it's not hard to understand why:

Monthly rents average $2,801, which is 53 percent higher than the next most expensive city, San Francisco. The national average is $995. (The rent figures reflect "effective rent," which factors free incentives and other landlord perks into the total cost.)

An annual salary of $123,322 in New York would be the equivalent of a $50,000 salary in Houston.

City taxes are 90 percent higher than the average of other major urban centers, according to a 2007 study from the Independent Budget Office.

The city is also feeling the unemployment crunch that has escalated around the nation. In December, New York City's jobless rate hit 7.4 percent, up from 6.3 percent in November. In December 2007, that number was 5.1 percent.

On Friday, the Labor Department reported the national unemployment rate soared to 7.6 percent after January saw the worst monthly job losses in 35 years.

Among other issues squeezing New York's middle class residents are high child care costs (day care can run up to $25,000 a year), poor schools, high food costs and lengthy commutes.

The report calls for, among other things, a preservation of affordable housing, improved infrastructure and a focus on the outer boroughs, not just Manhattan.

[kirstinharr]

NYC is the greatest city in the world but simply unaffordable. Offered a job there at Columbia Presbyterian for the same salary I earn in Texas. I would have been broke in spite of a 6 figure income. Quality of life requires a little extra money after paying rent/mortgage costs. I couldn['t even consider owning in NYC but own a 4k sf home in Texas with every upgrade AND have plenty of money left over to travel. All you New Yorkers, take a look at Texas! We'd love to have you...

[clovisbuford]

Obama can send only so much money to New York, at some point, they will have to pay the piper.
Posted by hdc77494 at 12:28 AM : Feb 07, 2009
Obama has been on the job 2 weeks and already NYC and its finaces are already his responsibility ..who knew

[clovisbuford]

If you can afford it, Chicago or San Francisco are great towns. In San Francisco, there are so many gay men, it makes it alot easier for single, hetero males to pick up on females that aren''''t getting any male company. In the Midwest, all the single women are fat, obese slobs and all the hotties are already taken or married.
Posted by militades at 04:18 AM : Feb 08, 2009
wow jsut a weird comment on women and heterosexuality in general . One assumes you consider yourself an elgible hetero male. Someone looking in would get most of it all but the "why they would interact with you." pretty bizarre

[blackyowe]

New York City is a disgrace and Mayor Bloomberg is a coconspirator of Madoff. New York City sucks the blood from the working people of New York State.

[militades-2009]

NYC is still the most peaceful big city in the world. Other than that, there is not much to offer. I find it weird that New Yorkers vote Democrat, but so many of them are super rich criminals like Bernard Madoff and company. Other places that suck are Atlanta, Miami(everyone speaks Espanol now), Detroit, and Los Angeles.

If you can afford it, Chicago or San Francisco are great towns. In San Francisco, there are so many gay men, it makes it alot easier for single, hetero males to pick up on females that aren''t getting any male company. In the Midwest, all the single women are fat, obese slobs and all the hotties are already taken or married.

[militades-2009]

NYC is still the most peaceful big city in the world. Other than that, there is not much to offer. I find it weird that New Yorkers vote Democrat, but so many of them are super rich criminals like Bernard Madoff and company. Other places that suck are Atlanta, Miami(everyone speaks Espanol now), Detroit, and Los Angeles.

If you can afford it, Chicago or San Francisco are great towns. In San Francisco, there are so many gay men, it makes it alot easier for single, hetero males find larger selection of various single females. In the Midwest, all the single women are fat, obese slobs.

[kaffirboetie]

I have a message for CloverNYC, "Hey Buddy, you can keep your rude, expensive, arrogant, politically correct NYC and give me the sticks any day. At least in the sticks I''m no more than 30 or 40 minutes drive from the peaceful countryside and it doesn''t takeme two hours to get to work crammed like a sardine with the likes of you for company"

[hdc77494]

I saw in two articles this morning, that the city of New York has 320,000 employees while the entire state of California only has 230,000. I guess union workers can''t work as hard in New Your, so it takes 120,000 more of them to do the same work. There is no way a city needs more employees than the state of California. Especially when California has entirely too many people with too generous benefits anyway. All those employees have better benefits and a better retirement than 95% of the people paying their salaries too. Obama can send only so much money to New York, at some point, they will have to pay the piper.

[ydulibssuck]

well, it''s about time people left that dump.

[roblin2005]

Trickle down economics at its finest.

The system did eat itself.