NYC wealth gap widens as top earners capture majority of income

New York City Comptroller Mark Levine’s latest study finds that income inequality has deepened from 2019 to 2024, with the top 10% of earners now taking in over 60% of the city’s total income and the top 1% receiving 37%. Although wages for traditionally low-paid occupations such as food preparation and healthcare support grew faster than higher-paid roles, overall real earnings fell for the bottom 90% of residents. The surge in wealth among the richest stems largely from non-salary streams—rental income, business ownership, and investment gains—accounting for more than half of the top 10%’s earnings in 2024.

This concentration of income underpins a substantial share of the municipal tax base, with the top 1% paying about 46% of all city income taxes. Lawmakers, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, are grappling with the paradox of relying on wealthy taxpayers while considering measures such as a pied-à-terre tax to increase revenue.