Meals costs proceed to soar within the Massive Apple, with extra New Yorkers going through the danger of going hungry — a state of affairs that would worsen amid federal funding cuts and the implementation of tariffs, in keeping with a brand new report.
Over the previous decade, the price of eating out or consuming in has risen by greater than 56% within the New York Metropolis metropolitan space — roughly 10% increased than the nationwide common — in keeping with a report on the price of residing within the metropolis launched Thursday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
By comparability, the common annual pretax revenue within the area solely grew roughly 52% throughout that very same interval, between 2012–2013 and 2022–2023, in keeping with the latest accessible information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The report additionally discovered that meals costs within the 5 boroughs, Lengthy Island, and surrounding counties have jumped greater than 25% since 2019, with low-income households now spending considerably extra on meals than earlier than the pandemic.
An individual retailers at a Entire Meals Market grocery retailer on Dec. 17, 2024 in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by Spencer Platt/Getty Photos)
In 2022–2023, households within the New York Metropolis metropolitan space spent about $11,288 yearly on meals, accounting for 12.5% of their complete bills — the fourth-largest portion of family spending.
Nationally, meals spending averaged $9,664 per 12 months, making up 12.9% of complete family expenditures and rating because the third-largest share.
Over that very same interval, households within the metropolis incomes lower than $15,000 spent almost 70% of their revenue on meals — a 16-point enhance in simply 4 years, in contrast with a mere 0.7-point rise for households incomes $200,000 or extra.
A employee shares meals objects at a Entire Meals Market grocery retailer in Manhattan on Dec. 17, 2024 in New York Metropolis. (Photograph by Spencer Platt/Getty Photos)
“My office is closely monitoring the factors driving affordability issues in the city and state, and it is clear that higher food costs are putting pressure on household budgets in New York City, with price increases outpacing income growth,” DiNapoli mentioned.
Whereas meals worth progress in New York Metropolis slowed between 2023 and 2024 — with a 1.8% enhance within the metropolis’s meals worth index in contrast with the nation’s 2.3% progress — latest sharp will increase have nonetheless left many lower-income households struggling to afford groceries, whilst inflation issues have eased.
From 2021 to 2022, the town’s meals worth index surged by 8.8%, marking the best enhance in over 40 years.
“Food prices rose sharply during the pandemic, putting more New Yorkers at risk of going hungry,” DiNapoli mentioned. “Now the implementation of tariffs and potential cuts to federal food and other support programs may exacerbate the problem.”
Final month, a brand new ballot commissioned by the nonprofit No Child Hungry New York discovered that 53% of New Yorkers have taken on further debt prior to now 12 months as they wrestle to feed their households, with Black and Hispanic New Yorkers — and particularly girls of shade — being hit the toughest.
Initially Printed: Could 1, 2025 at 3:16 PM EDT
