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ReportDashboardMethodologyAbout
  1. Employment & Labor Force1
  2. Industry Trends2
  3. Economic Shifts3
New York City skyline at sunset
June 2026

Making Growth Matter

This dashboard accompanies the report. Use the charts below to make your own cuts on the economic, demographic and housing data across New York City and peer metro regions.

Return to executive summary
1Employment & Labor Force2Industry Trends3Economic Shifts
Section 1

Employment & Labor Force

Where does NYC's labor market stand today?

1.1 Total Employment in New York City

Annual and monthly total employment in New York City, citywide and by borough

2015
2025

Line chart of annual total employment in NYC, citywide.

† QCEW data are derived from unemployment insurance records and cover ~95% of all wage and salary employment, making them the most complete jobs count available at the city and county level. Data are published with a five-to-six month lag.

‡ The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program produces monthly employer survey estimates released within weeks of the reference month, but is subject to revision. BLS benchmarks CES annually to QCEW — a process that has produced two consecutive downward revisions of roughly 900,000 jobs nationally (March 2024 and March 2025), among the largest in decades. Monthly CES data for the New York City metro are available here.

Source: BLS QCEW (annual) & CES (monthly)

1.2 New York Metro Job Growth versus Peer Metros

Total employment indexed to 2015 = 100

2015
2025

Line chart comparing NYC MSA to the nine most populous peer U.S. metros, 2015 to 2025.

CBSAs denoted by primary cities.

† QCEW data are derived from unemployment insurance records and cover ~95% of all wage and salary employment, making them the most complete jobs count available at the city and county level. Data are published with a five-to-six month lag.

‡ The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program produces monthly employer survey estimates released within weeks of the reference month, but is subject to revision. BLS benchmarks CES annually to QCEW — a process that has produced two consecutive downward revisions of roughly 900,000 jobs nationally (March 2024 and March 2025), among the largest in decades. Monthly CES data for the New York City metro are available here.

Source: BLS QCEW (annual) & CES (monthly)

1.3 Labor Force Participation and Unemployment

Unemployment rate (16+), New York City MSA and nine most populous peer metros, 2015–2025

'15
'20
'25

Line chart of unemployment rates across the NYC MSA and nine peer metros, 2015 to 2025.

The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the working-age population who are either employed or actively seeking employment. This, with employment and unemployment, provides a fuller picture of the labor market’s health since it captures people who have stopped looking for work and reveals broader trends in economic engagement, demographic shifts, and workforce availability. BLS reports labor force participation for the noninstitutional population aged 16 years and older. Some charts in this dashboard only include the prime working age population (aged 25 to 54 years) to account for variation among younger adults and students as well as older adults and retirees, particularly when comparing geographies.

The unemployment rate is the percentage of people in the labor force who do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior four weeks, and are currently available for work. Work does not include volunteer opportunities, unpaid internships, training programs, jury duty, or household work.

Series are shown from 2015.

Source: BLS LAUS; Census ACS 1-year (HR&A analysis of IPUMS USA). 2025 values are projected.

1.4 Labor Force Participation and Demographics

Labor force participation (prime-age 25–54) by race / ethnicity, NYC, 2015 → 2025

'15
'20
'25

Dumbbell chart comparing labor force participation rates by race / ethnicity between two years for NYC.

20152025ImprovedWorsenedNYC overall (2025)
Each row compares one group's rate at the two selected years; the hollow dot is the earlier year and the solid dot the later year. Segments are green where the metric improved and red where it worsened (for unemployment, lower is better). The dashed line marks the NYC citywide overall rate in the later year. LFP covers prime-age workers (25–54); the sex × age view reports each cell's own age band.

Source: Census ACS PUMS (HR&A analysis of IPUMS USA); BLS LAUS. 2025 values are projected.

Section 2

Industry Trends

Which industries are growing, contracting, or at risk?

2.1 Employment by Industry

Citywide workforce by 2-digit NAICS industry, 2025

2025
'15
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'25

Treemap of employment by industry for NYC, 2025.

Tiles are sized by each industry's share of the selected geography. The map's overall area is held to a consistent jobs-per-area scale across years, so dragging the year slider (or pressing play) shows real employment growth. Each geography is scaled to its own peak year, so areas are comparable across years within a geography but not across geographies. Pre-2005 Educational and Government figures are affected by QCEW industry-classification changes (public-sector education moving in and out of NAICS 61) and the 2001 SIC→NAICS transition; interpret early years with caution. FIRE = Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate services.

Source: BLS QCEW · LODES-based borough rollup · 13 industries

2.2 Industry Employment Trends

Employment by industry in NYC, indexed to 2015 = 100

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'20
'25

Line chart of industry employment within NYC, 2015 to 2025.

Choose what to compare: industries within one place, the same industry across peer metros, or the same industry across NYC boroughs. NYC boroughs are the 5-county city; peer metros (and 'New York metro') are full MSAs — they are kept in separate comparison modes so the two scopes are never mixed on one axis. The series begins in 2015. FIRE = Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate services.

Source: BLS QCEW · LODES-based borough rollup + BLS MSA aggregates · 13 industries

2.3 Workforce Demographics by Industry

NYC racial / ethnic composition of the workforce aged 16 years and older by industry · 2024

Stacked bar chart showing the race and ethnicity composition of the workforce in each of the 13 industries, NYC.

WhiteBlack or African AmericanHispanic or LatinoAsianOther
Geography is residence-based — workers' home borough, not job location. Hispanic or Latino ethnicity takes precedence over RAC1P race classification. Suppressed cells (weighted employment <100) are excluded. Composition shows each industry's full demographic mix against a geography-wide reference row; Representation shows one group's percentage-point gap from the citywide share so over- and under-representation share a common zero baseline. Figures come from the ACS 2020-2024 5-year PUMS — a pooled 5-year microdata estimate (labeled 2024 here), not an annual time series.

Source: ACS PUMS 5-year microdata · ACS 2020-2024 5-year PUMS · weighted with PWGTP. Benchmark sums employment across non-suppressed industries — within ~1% of the ACS published total.

2.4 Median Annual Pay by Occupation

Citywide change in real median annual pay by occupation (adjusted for inflation), 2015–2025

Sort by
'15
'20
'25

Dumbbell chart comparing real median annual wages between 2015 and 2025 across the 22 SOC major occupation groups, NYC citywide.

20152025Real pay roseReal pay fell
Each row compares one occupation's median annual wage at the two selected years: the hollow dot is 2015, the solid dot is 2025, and the arrow points in the direction of travel. Segments are green where real pay rose and red where it fell. Wages are expressed in 2025 dollars (BLS CPI-U NY Metro, CUURS12ASA0). The dashed line marks the 2025 citywide employment-weighted average of occupation medians ($76,751). OEWS reports the median wage for each occupation — half of workers in that group earn less.

Source: BLS OEWS · median annual wage · real series deflated with CPI-U NY Metro (CUURS12ASA0)

2.5 Education & Wages by Industry

Citywide share of jobs requiring a 4-year degree (left) and median wage by degree group (right) by industry in 2025

Paired chart: left side shows the share of jobs requiring a bachelor's degree by industry; right side shows median annual wages for degree and non-degree workers within each industry, NYC 2025.

Requires Bachelor's or higherDoes not require Bachelor'sWage premium (degree − non-degree)
Wages are occupation-weighted OEWS medians at the NYC geography (May 2025 release). The within-industry gap between degree and non-degree pay is the meaningful comparison. Degree shares apply national occupation-education ratios to NYC's industry employment mix — may understate the credentialed share in Finance, Information, and Professional Services. The 'All industries (NYC)' benchmark is the employment-weighted average across the 13 industries, using QCEW 2024 NYC employment as weights.

Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 (NYC-area wages) · BLS Employment Projections 2024 occupation-education crosswalk · BLS QCEW 2024 NYC industry employment weights

Section 3

Economic Shifts

What structural changes since the pandemic are reshaping work?

3.1 Wage vs. Living Wage

Median annual wage by occupation versus the living wage for a 1 Adult, No Children household, 2025, in 2025 dollars

Working Adults
Children

Horizontal bar chart comparing median annual wage by occupation against the MIT living-wage threshold for a 1 Adult, No Children household, NYC 2025.

Living wage: $65,520/yr per earner (1 Adult, No Children)Meets living wageBelow living wage
Living wage from MIT Living Wage Calculator, NYC-Newark-Jersey City MSA, 2026. Wages are occupation-weighted OEWS medians in 2025 dollars. Wages from NYC MSA OEWS — identical across NYC boroughs in the source data. The living-wage threshold is a per-working-adult value: for two-earner households, MIT splits the household requirement across both earners, so each adult needs to clear the per-earner threshold — the household total is roughly the same across configurations.

Source: OEWS NYC MSA wages · MIT Living Wage Calculator (NYC-Newark-Jersey City MSA 2026)

3.2 Wage vs. Rent Affordability

Affordable rent versus median rent by occupation in NYC, 2025

2025
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'25

Horizontal bar chart comparing affordable rent (30% of wage) against median rent across occupations in NYC, 2025.

Affordable — covers rentSurplusAffordable — falls shortGap to median rent
3 of 22 occupations clear the affordability threshold(14%)

Affordable rent = 30% of gross annual wage / 12 months (HUD standard). Wages are occupation-weighted OEWS medians — more representative than QCEW averages, which are skewed by high earners. Rent from Zillow Observed Rent Index (market-rate asking rents) — higher than ACS median which includes rent-stabilized units. Values shown in nominal (year-of-data) dollars. Each bar's solid segment is the rent that wage can afford; the lighter segment is the gap to that place's median rent (shortfall) or the affordability surplus beyond it.

Source: BLS OEWS (occupation wages — MSA direct; boroughs derived via EP industry-occupation matrix) · Zillow ZORI · nominal dollars

3.3 New Jobs per New Home Permitted

Cumulative net new jobs versus residential permits issued in NYC, 2015–2025

Time range2015–2025
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'20
'25

Paired-bar chart of cumulative net jobs added versus residential permits issued, for NYC, 2015 to 2025.

Each bar is a single running total over the selected range — cobalt is net jobs added (job-loss years such as 2020 net against gains), orange is residential permits issued. The two bars share a single y-axis, so a taller jobs bar relative to permits signals housing undersupply over the range.

The 2015 Brooklyn QCEW rebase adds a +93K artifact to cumulative jobs for Brooklyn and NYC citywide — interpret rebase-spanning ranges with caution. Peer MSAs use Census MSA boundaries, not directly comparable to NYC's 5-county definition.

Source: BLS QCEW (employment) · Census Building Permits Survey (residential permits)

3.4 Commuting Dynamics in NYC Boroughs

Where workers live relative to where they work, from LEHD LODES origin-destination data (2023)

Five Venn diagrams, one per NYC borough, showing the overlap between workers who live and work in each borough.

Workers are wage-and-salary jobs covered by unemployment insurance. Each region of the Venn diagram counts a distinct group; the overlap captures workers who both live and work in the geography. In the 5-borough compare view each borough's Venn is scaled to its own data so its largest circle fills the cell — use the net-importer/exporter badge to compare across boroughs rather than the absolute circle size.

Source: LEHD LODES Origin-Destination Employment Statistics · 2023 vintage

3.5 Commute Mode Share

Share of workers working from home across NYC boroughs, 2010–2024

'10
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Line chart of work-from-home share across NYC and the five boroughs, 2010 to 2024.

Residence-based data — counts workers by where they live. Source: ACS B08301 annual estimates 2010–2024. NYC MSA includes NJ and CT suburbs (wider than 5-borough NYC). LA MSA data starts 2013. transit_total is an ACS aggregate and is never stacked with sub-modes.

Source: ACS B08301 annual estimates · residence-based commute mode

3.6 Office Occupancy by Metro

Weekly office occupancy since 2020, as a percent of the pre-pandemic baseline

Line chart of weekly office occupancy for the NYC MSA and peer metros, indexed to the pre-pandemic February 2020 baseline.

Source: Kastle Systems — Back to Work Barometer · weekly office occupancy indexed to the pre-pandemic (Feb 2020) baseline

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