A new study shows more older New Yorkers are living in poverty than ever — with many senior citizens having no money saved and returning to work.
In association with the AARP, the Center for an Urban Future (CUF) released new data showing 18.4% of seniors living in poverty, and increase of nearly 41% over the past decade.
Nearly 60% of Big Apple septuagenarians and their elders reported no retirement income, according to the center’s calculations.
At 63.6%, the Bronx reported the highest share of elderly adults with no income out of any borough. Brooklyn was a close second, followed by Queens and Manhattan respectively. Staten Island, where 52.3% of older adults reported no retirement income, fared best.
CUF’s policy brief showed nearly 19% of the city’s elders report no income from social security.
In 2023, 14.5% of senior New Yorkers were employed. That number is now 19%, which amounts to 245,959 elderly workers, CUF found.
Compounding the issue is the fact that 1,366,151 older adults — a purported all-time high — call New York City home. CUF said that number constitutes “a remarkable 33.5% increase over the last decade.”
Only seven U.S. cities have entire populations larger than New York’s number of elderly people alone.
“A staggering 250,901 New Yorkers aged 65 and over lived below the poverty line in 2023, up from 178,067 in 2013,” the CUF reported.
Minority populations are being hardest hit among the aging.
Citywide poverty rates among older Hispanic adults is 27.2%, followed by Asian older adults at 24.7% and Black older adults at 18.2%. White older adults reported a 12.9% poverty rate.
Older immigrants reportedly face a 21.7% poverty rate, which is nearly 7% higher than what U.S. natives in New York City experience.
The 25-year-old CUF offered several recommendations to help the city deal with its growing number of seniors in need of financial assistance. Those suggestions include solidifying funding for the Department for the Aging (DFTA), which “has experienced major budget swings in recent years.”
The center said financial stability within that agency would make planning for the future easier.
A $50 million investment to improve “NYC’s crumbling aging services infrastructure” is also proposed. The CUF says many senior centers are operating with poor temperature control and ventilation systems — particularly in New York City Housing Authority developments.
