New Yorkers don’t need a report to tell them life in this city is expensive. They see it in rents that rise faster than wages, in child care costs that rival college tuition, and in paychecks that barely cover the bills. Only our governments have been in denial.
Last week, Mayor Mamdani traveled to Medgar Evers College to release the city’s first-ever True Cost of Living measure, alongside its Racial Equity Plan. He delivered in months what had been stalled for years by the previous mayor. In doing so, New York now leads the nation with the first measure of its kind, building on work that began nearly a decade ago, when the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies and others first pushed for a true cost of living measure.
The city will no longer solely rely on outdated poverty thresholds that obscure the financial pressures families face. It is naming what it costs to live here, and to do so with dignity. Government statistics have told the lie that families are doing fine as long as they sit above the poverty line. Across the five boroughs, that line has never reflected reality.
Consider a family in Queens: two parents with a child in day care, each balancing jobs. On paper, they aren’t poor. But in practice, they are one rent hike, one medical bill, or one missed paycheck away from crisis. The gap between those two truths is where our metrics have been failing New Yorkers.
The True Cost of Living measure is a step toward closing that gap.
It is the result of a clear public mandate. More than 80% of voters approved a charter revision requiring the city to develop and publish this metric annually. As chair of the Racial Justice Commission that advanced the measure, I heard from New Yorkers who wanted their government to stop minimizing their struggles.
The truth that the report reveals is grim. Sixty-two percent of New Yorkers — more than 5 million people — cannot make ends meet without going into debt, relying on public benefits, or forgoing basic needs. For households with children, the number climbs to a staggering 73%. For a family with children, the median annual true cost of living is $159,000, versus the federal poverty level of $33,000 for a family of four.
This is a moral reckoning. At a moment when the federal government is dismantling the safety net that millions rely on, the city now has a tool to help us move in the opposite direction. It should reshape how policymakers approach everything from wages, benefits, tax policy, housing development, child care, and beyond. It should force an honest conversation about what it takes to live with economic security.
Mamdani deserves credit for honoring the will of voters and restoring a measure of transparency and accountability. But the release of this data is only a beginning. The harder work will be acting on it.
Other cities and states should follow suit and develop their own measures so that policy reflects what it takes for people to thrive, not just survive..
For years, New Yorkers have been told a partial story about their economic lives. Now, at last, the full picture is coming into view. Now that we can see the problem, the question is whether we are willing to respond to it.
Jones Austin is the CEO of Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies and was the chair of the NYC Racial Justice Commission.