More than 300,000 New Yorkers have left the city in the last eight months amid lockdowns spurred by the coronavirus and an uptick in crime.
Just over 295,000 people made change of address requests from March 1 through Oct. 31, the New York Post found via United States Postal Service data.
The outlet reported the actual number of New Yorkers who have left is much higher, as each address change request only accounts for one household, not all of the people within the household. The data also only shows when 11 or more change of address requests were made in a certain county outside of the city.
“I think people are afraid,” Michael Hendrix, director of state and local policy at the Manhattan Institute, said. “They’re afraid of catching a deadly virus, and they’re afraid of crime and other quality of life concerns. One thing we also hear is about trash and cleanliness of the city.”
There were 244,895 change of address requests between just March and July, which is more than double the 101,342 requests made during the same time period in 2019.
“The biggest reason for people leaving the city is uncertainty about when the pandemic will be over and how quickly the New York economy will recover,” said Kathryn Wylde, head of the Partnership for New York City. “More than half a million city residents who were employed in the retail, restaurant, services sectors have lost their jobs and cannot afford city rents. The late decision on re-opening public and private schools forced many families to relocate so they could make enrollment deadlines in districts where they were living during the pandemic.”
In addition to lockdown woes, crime has also been on the rise in the city, with 344 murders from January to October, surpassing the number of murders in all of 2019. The New York Post also found the number of shootings from the start of the year through Nov. 8 is up 94% compared to 2019.
The data found most New Yorkers moved to Long Island, Westchester, or New Jersey.
In August, Gov. Andrew Cuomo pleaded that New Yorkers return to the Big Apple.
“I literally talk to people all day long who are now in their Hamptons house who also lived here, or in their Hudson Valley house, or in their Connecticut weekend house, and I say, ‘You got to come back! We’ll go to dinner! I’ll buy you a drink! Come over, I’ll cook!’” the Democratic governor said.
“They’re not coming back right now. And you know what else they’re thinking? ‘If I stay there, I’ll pay a lower income tax,’ because they don’t pay the New York City surcharge,” he added.
