Methodology
Dashboard Methodology
Overview
The State of the NYC Economy dashboard draws on federal labor statistics, Census microdata, and private-sector data to describe New York City's economy across three dimensions: employment and labor force participation, industry composition and wages, and post-pandemic structural change. This page documents the data sources used, the analytic choices made, and the conventions applied throughout.
Geography
Two geographies appear throughout the dashboard. NYC refers to the five-borough city (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island). The NYC Metropolitan Statistical Area (NYC MSA) is the approximately 23-county Census-defined metro region extending into New Jersey and Connecticut. The two are kept in separate comparison groups and never combined on the same axis.
Peer metro comparisons use the 10 most populous U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas as of 2024:
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
- Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
- Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
- Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA
- Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
- Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
Most time series begin in 2015. Where 2025 data are not yet available (notably the American Community Survey), the most recent available year is used and noted on the chart.
Data Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). The primary jobs count for NYC and peer metros, derived from state unemployment-insurance administrative records. QCEW covers approximately 95% of all wage and salary employment, making it the most complete jobs count available at the city and county level. This analysis uses QCEW reports through December 2025, released June 2, 2026, which may be subject to further revision. Data are reported on a workplace basis and published with a five-to-six-month lag.
Current Employment Statistics (CES). A monthly establishment survey released within weeks of the reference month. CES is benchmarked annually to QCEW, a process that produced two consecutive downward national revisions of roughly 900,000 jobs each (March 2024 and March 2025), among the largest in decades. This dashboard uses QCEW as the authoritative employment count; CES is referenced only for directional signal where timeliness matters.
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Median annual wages by occupation and place, using the May 2025 release. OEWS counts jobs by what workers do rather than by their employer's industry, using its own sampling frame separate from QCEW. Because BLS does not publish occupation-level wages for individual NYC boroughs, borough-level wage figures are derived (see Analysis below).
Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS). Sub-state unemployment rates and labor force participation rates for NYC, the boroughs, and peer metros, using annual county averages.
Employment Projections (EP) industry-occupation matrix. A national BLS crosswalk distributing occupation employment across industries. Used to derive industry-level wage estimates and to distribute borough sector employment into occupation groups where direct measurements are not available.
Consumer Price Index, NY Metro (CPI-U, series CUURS12ASA0). Used to deflate nominal wages to constant 2025 dollars for real-pay comparisons. The NYC metro series is used rather than the national CPI because NYC inflation has consistently run above the national average. Cumulative inflation from 2015 to 2025 in the NYC metro was 32.6%.
U.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey (ACS). Three ACS products are used in this dashboard. The five-year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS, 2020–2024 release, labeled 2024 throughout) provides worker-level demographic data for workforce-composition charts; records are weighted using PWGTP and analyzed via IPUMS USA. ACS one-year estimates supplement LAUS for participation and unemployment rates by demographic group. ACS Table B08301 provides annual residence-based commute mode shares from 2010 to 2024, with 2020 bridged due to no 1-year release that year. All ACS demographic figures are residence-based, counting workers by home borough rather than job location. Hispanic or Latino ethnicity takes precedence over RAC1P race classification; cells with weighted employment under 100 are suppressed.
Building Permits Survey. Residential permits issued, used in chart 3.3 to compare housing supply against job growth.
LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES). Workplace- and residence-linked employment at the census-block level, 2023 vintage. Used for the commuting Venn diagrams in chart 3.4.
Private-Sector Data
Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI). Market-rate asking rents by place. ZORI is used rather than ACS median rent because it reflects what new movers actually pay; ACS median rent pools rent-stabilized and longer-tenure leases and understates current market conditions.
MIT Living Wage Calculator. Per-working-adult living-wage thresholds for the NYC-Newark-Jersey City MSA, 2026 release. For two-earner households, MIT apportions the household threshold across both earners.
Kastle Systems Back to Work Barometer. Weekly office-occupancy index for select metros, normalized to the pre-pandemic February 2020 baseline. Used in chart 3.6.
Analysis
Industry Classification
Industry charts use a consistent 13-industry grouping applied to 2-digit NAICS codes (2022 NAICS system). The grouping is consistent across every industry chart.
| Dashboard Industry | NAICS Code(s) |
|---|---|
| Accommodation & Food | 72 |
| Arts & Entertainment | 71 |
| Educational | 61 |
| FIRE (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate) | 52, 53 |
| Government | 92 |
| Healthcare & Social Assistance | 62 |
| Information | 51 |
| Manufacturing | 31–33 |
| Natural Resources, Mining & Construction | 11, 21, 23 |
| Other Services | 81 |
| Professional & Business | 54, 55, 56 |
| Trade | 42, 44–45 |
| Transportation & Utilities | 22, 48–49 |
Four groupings combine multiple NAICS supersectors: FIRE, Professional & Business, Trade, and Transportation & Utilities. All others map one-to-one. Industry classification has changed over time, particularly through the 2001 SIC-to-NAICS transition and the reclassification of public-sector education between NAICS 61 and 92. Interpret pre-2005 Educational and Government figures with caution.
Occupation Classification
Occupational analysis uses the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system at the major group level, as published by BLS. The 22 major groups are the finest grain at which OEWS publishes reliable wage estimates for sub-national geographies.
| SOC Code | Occupation Group |
|---|---|
| 11-0000 | Management |
| 13-0000 | Business & Financial Operations |
| 15-0000 | Computer & Mathematical |
| 17-0000 | Architecture & Engineering |
| 19-0000 | Life, Physical & Social Science |
| 21-0000 | Community & Social Service |
| 23-0000 | Legal |
| 25-0000 | Educational Instruction & Library |
| 27-0000 | Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports & Media |
| 29-0000 | Healthcare Practitioners & Technical |
| 31-0000 | Healthcare Support |
| 33-0000 | Protective Service |
| 35-0000 | Food Preparation & Serving |
| 37-0000 | Building & Grounds Cleaning & Maintenance |
| 39-0000 | Personal Care & Service |
| 41-0000 | Sales & Related |
| 43-0000 | Office & Administrative Support |
| 45-0000 | Farming, Fishing & Forestry |
| 47-0000 | Construction & Extraction |
| 49-0000 | Installation, Maintenance & Repair |
| 51-0000 | Production |
| 53-0000 | Transportation & Material Moving |
Industry-Level Wages
Industry wages are not directly measured. They are derived from OEWS occupation medians using the national BLS Employment Projections industry-occupation matrix. For each 2-digit NAICS industry, occupation employment shares from the EP matrix are applied to OEWS median annual wages to produce an occupation-weighted median wage. These are then rolled up to the 13-industry grouping using each place's QCEW employment as weights. OEWS medians are preferred over QCEW average wages because medians are not skewed by very high earners.
Borough-Level Occupation Employment
OEWS does not publish occupation employment for individual NYC boroughs. Borough occupation employment is derived by distributing each borough's QCEW industry employment across occupations using the national EP matrix. As a result, borough-level wage figures reflect differences in occupational mix, not borough-specific pay rates. The OEWS wage anchor is the NYC MSA, applied uniformly across all five boroughs.
Real vs. Nominal Wages
Wages are shown in constant 2025 dollars unless otherwise noted, deflated using CPI-U NY Metro (CUURS12ASA0). Nominal figures are available in toggle views where noted. Real figures should be used for any cross-year comparison.
Affordable Rent
Calculated using the federal HUD standard: 30% of gross annual wage divided by 12 months.