In 2023, about 14.2 percent of New York's population lived below the poverty line. This accounts for persons or families whose collective income in the preceding 12 months was below the national poverty level of the United States. The poverty rate of the United States can be found here.

Graph and download economic data for Estimated Percent of People of All Ages in Poverty for New York County, NY (PPAANY36061A156NCEN) from 1989 to 2023 about New York County, NY; New York; NY; percent; child; poverty; and USA.

How does your organization use this dataset? What other NYSERDA or energy-related datasets would you like to see on Open NY? Let us know by emailing OpenNY@nyserda.ny.gov. The Low- to Moderate-Income (LMI) New York State (NYS) Census Population Analysis dataset is resultant from the LMI market database designed by APPRISE as part of the NYSERDA LMI Market Characterization Study (https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/lmi-tool). All data are derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files for 2013, 2014, and 2015. Each row in the LMI dataset is an individual record for a household that responded to the survey and each column is a variable of interest for analyzing the low- to moderate-income population. The LMI dataset includes: county/county group, households with elderly, households with children, economic development region, income groups, percent of poverty level, low- to moderate-income groups, household type, non-elderly disabled indicator, race/ethnicity, linguistic isolation, housing unit type, owner-renter status, main heating fuel type, home energy payment method, housing vintage, LMI study region, LMI population segment, mortgage indicator, time in home, head of household education level, head of household age, and household weight. The LMI NYS Census Population Analysis dataset is intended for users who want to explore the underlying data that supports the LMI Analysis Tool. The majority of those interested in LMI statistics and generating custom charts should use the interactive LMI Analysis Tool at https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/lmi-tool. This underlying LMI dataset is intended for users with experience working with survey data files and producing weighted survey estimates using statistical software packages (such as SAS, SPSS, or Stata).

Graph and download economic data for Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Madison County, NY (S1701ACS036053) from 2012 to 2023 about Madison County, NY; Syracuse; NY; percent; poverty; 5-year; population; and USA.

Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in New York County, NY was 15.80% in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in New York County, NY reached a record high of 17.90 in January of 2015 and a record low of 15.60 in January of 2020. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in New York County, NY - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Chautauqua County, NY (S1701ACS036013) from 2012 to 2023 about Chautauqua County, NY; NY; percent; poverty; 5-year; population; and USA.

The New York State Department of Labor's State Data Center designates Environmental Zones ("En-Zones") in which Brownfield Cleanup Program tax credits are enhanced. The most recent five-year American Community Survey (in this case the 2016-2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates) is used to designate tracts that meet the En-Zone requirements of either census tracts with a poverty rate of at least 20 percent and an unemployment rate of at least 125 percent of the New York State unemployment rate, or a poverty rate of at least double the rate for the county in which the tract is located.View Dataset on the Gateway

In 2021, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the city with the highest poverty rate of the United States' most populated cities. In this statistic, the cities are sorted by poverty rate, not population. The most populated city in 2021 according to the source was New York city - which had a poverty rate of 18 percent.

Graph and download economic data for Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Steuben County, NY (S1701ACS036101) from 2012 to 2023 about Steuben County, NY; NY; percent; poverty; 5-year; population; and USA.

Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Sullivan County, NY was 15.20% in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Sullivan County, NY reached a record high of 18.20 in January of 2013 and a record low of 13.30 in January of 2020. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Sullivan County, NY - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Ulster County, NY was 14.30% in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Ulster County, NY reached a record high of 14.70 in January of 2022 and a record low of 12.30 in January of 2014. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Ulster County, NY - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Schoharie County, NY was 10.80% in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Schoharie County, NY reached a record high of 14.10 in January of 2016 and a record low of 10.10 in January of 2022. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Schoharie County, NY - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

ESD provides capital grant funding from the Regional Council Capital Fund available for the State’s Regional Economic Development Council Initiative, which helps drive regional and local economic development across New York State in cooperation with ten Regional Economic Development Councils (“Regional Councils”). Capital grant funding is available for capital-based economic development projects intended to create or retain jobs; prevent, reduce or eliminate unemployment and underemployment; and/or increase business or economic activity in a community or Region. One of the program categories within the program will provide enhanced incentives for projects located in economically distressed areas (census tracts) where investments are needed to spur economic growth. The definition of economically distressed areas (census tracts) can be found below.

For more information and full program guidelines, please see the full program guidelines within the 2025 Available Resources at: https://regionalcouncils.ny.gov/

Economically distressed area shall mean the following based on the census tract for where the project is located:

Severely distressed census tracts shall have at least 25 households receiving public assistance income in the 2023 ACS 5-year estimate and meet at least five of the criteria listed below:Moderately distressed census tracts shall have at least 25 households receiving public assistance income in the 2023 ACS 5-year estimate and meet at least three of the criteria listed below:Slightly distressed census tracts shall have at least 100 households receiving public assistance income in the 2023 ACS 5-year estimate and meet at least two of the criteria listed below:o
Population loss between the 2023 ACS 5-year estimate and the 2019 ACS 5-year estimate – an absolute loss in population.o
Unemployment rate (2023 ACS 5-year estimate) higher than the State’s rate.o
Private sector employment growth rate (2023 ACS 5-year estimate) over the preceding 5 years was lower than the State’s OR private sector employment (2023 ACS 5-year estimate) as a percentage of total employment was less than the State’s.o
Percentage of households receiving public assistance (2023 ACS 5-year estimate) was greater than the statewide percentage.o
Poverty rate (2023 ACS 5-year estimate) was greater than the State’s poverty rate.o
Per Capita Income change (2023 ACS 5-year estimate) over the preceding five years was less than the growth in the consumer price index (CPI) for all urban consumers nationally OR per capita income was less than the State’s per capita income.

Attributes:

Field Name

Data Type

Description

Census Tract

Number

The 11 digit geoid associated with each census tract in New York State. Census tracts are small, relatively permanent statistical subdivisions of a county that average about 4,000 inhabitants.

Stress Level

Number

The stress level number (1-4) associated with the census tract.

Stress Level Description

Text

The stress level description (Not Distressed, Slight Distress, Moderate Distress, Severe Distress) associated with the census tract.

Stress Level Color

Text

The stress level color (Gray, Light Orange, Dark Orange, Red) associated with the census tract.

Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Niagara County, NY was 13.00% in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Niagara County, NY reached a record high of 13.70 in January of 2013 and a record low of 12.40 in January of 2020. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Niagara County, NY - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

"Enrollment counts are based on the October 31 Audited Register for the 2017-18 to 2019-20 school years. To account for the delay in the start of the school year, enrollment counts are based on the November 13 Audited Register for 2020-21 and the November 12 Audited Register for 2021-22. * Please note that October 31 (and November 12-13) enrollment is not audited for charter schools or Pre-K Early Education Centers (NYCEECs). Charter schools are required to submit enrollment as of BEDS Day, the first Wednesday in October, to the New York State Department of Education." Enrollment counts in the Demographic Snapshot will likely exceed operational enrollment counts due to the fact that long-term absence (LTA) students are excluded for funding purposes. Data on students with disabilities, English Language Learners, students' povery status, and students' Economic Need Value are as of the June 30 for each school year except in 2021-22. Data on SWDs, ELLs, Poverty, and ENI in the 2021-22 school year are as of March 7, 2022. 3-K and Pre-K enrollment totals include students in both full-day and half-day programs. Four-year-old students enrolled in Family Childcare Centers are categorized as 3K students for the purposes of this report. All schools listed are as of the 2021-22 school year. Schools closed before 2021-22 are not included in the school level tab but are included in the data for citywide, borough, and district. Programs and Pre-K NYC Early Education Centers (NYCEECs) are not included on the school-level tab. Due to missing demographic information in rare cases at the time of the enrollment snapshot, demographic categories do not always add up to citywide totals. Students with disabilities are defined as any child receiving an Individualized Education Program (IEP) as of the end of the school year (or March 7 for 2021-22). NYC DOE "Poverty" counts are based on the number of students with families who have qualified for free or reduced price lunch, or are eligible for Human Resources Administration (HRA) benefits. In previous years, the poverty indicator also included students enrolled in a Universal Meal School (USM), where all students automatically qualified, with the exception of middle schools, D75 schools and Pre-K centers. In 2017-18, all students in NYC schools became eligible for free lunch. In order to better reflect free and reduced price lunch status, the poverty indicator does not include student USM status, and retroactively applies this rule to previous years. "The school’s Economic Need Index is the average of its students’ Economic Need Values. The Economic Need Index (ENI) estimates the percentage of students facing economic hardship. The 2014-15 school year is the first year we provide ENI estimates. The metric is calculated as follows: * The student’s Economic Need Value is 1.0 if: o The student is eligible for public assistance from the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA); o The student lived in temporary housing in the past four years; or o The student is in high school, has a home language other than English, and entered the NYC DOE for the first time within the last four years. * Otherwise, the student’s Economic Need Value is based on the percentage of families (with school-age children) in the student’s census tract whose income is below the poverty level, as estimated by the American Community Survey 5-Year estimate (2020 ACS estimates were used in calculations for 2021-22 ENI). The student’s Economic Need Value equals this percentage divided by 100.

Due to differences in the timing of when student demographic, address and census data were pulled, ENI values may vary, slightly, from the ENI values reported in the School Quality Reports.

In previous years, student census tract data was based on students’ addresses at the time of ENI calculation. Beginning in 2018-19, census tract data is based on students’ addresses as of the Audited Register date of the given school year.

In previous years, the most recent new entry date was used for students with multiple entry dates into the NYCDOE. Beginning in 2018-19, students’ earliest entry date is used in ENI calculations.

Beginning in 2018-19, students missing ENI data are imputed with the average ENI at their school. " In order to maintain student privacy, schools with % Poverty and ENI values below 5% or above 95% have had their exact values for each category replaced with "Below 5%" and "Above 95%", respectively. Before the start of the 2017-18 school year, the New York State Education Department implemented a new data matching process that refined the methods to identify families eligible for free lunch. This new matching system provides a more efficient and accurate process for matching students across a range of forms that families already complete. This new matching process yielded an increase in the number of students directly certified for free lunch (in other words, matched to another government program) and therefore increased the direct certification rate. As such, the increase in the percent of students in poverty and the Economic Need Index for the 2017-18 school year and later reflects this new matching process, which allows the City to better identify students eligible for free lunch. Approximately 25% of charter schools in NYC do not use NYC DOE School Food to provide meal services. The NYC DOE Office of School Food does not collect documentation on students’ eligibility for Free or Reduced Price Lunch from schools that do not utilize NYC DOE School Food. As a result, the Poverty figures may be understated for approximately 25% of charter schools. New York State Education Department begins administering assessments to be identified as an English Language Learner (ELL) in Kindergarten, but students in Pre-K are still included in the denominator for the ELL calculations. Also, Pre-K NYC Early Education Centers do not use NYC DOE School Food to provide meal services, but are included in the denominator for Poverty calculations.

Graph and download economic data for Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Erie County, NY (S1701ACS036029) from 2012 to 2023 about Erie County, NY; Buffalo; NY; percent; poverty; 5-year; population; and USA.

U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts statistics for New York. QuickFacts data are derived from: Population Estimates, American Community Survey, Census of Population and Housing, Current Population Survey, Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, State and County Housing Unit Estimates, County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners, Building Permits.

Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Allegany County, NY was 16.80% in January of 2023, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Allegany County, NY reached a record high of 17.10 in January of 2012 and a record low of 16.30 in January of 2021. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for Percent of Population Below the Poverty Level (5-year estimate) in Allegany County, NY - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

When analyzing the ratio of homelessness to state population, New York, Vermont, and Oregon had the highest rates in 2023. However, Washington, D.C. had an estimated ** homeless individuals per 10,000 people, which was significantly higher than any of the 50 states. Homeless people by race The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development performs homeless counts at the end of January each year, which includes people in both sheltered and unsheltered locations. The estimated number of homeless people increased to ******* in 2023 – the highest level since 2007. However, the true figure is likely to be much higher, as some individuals prefer to stay with family or friends - making it challenging to count the actual number of homeless people living in the country. In 2023, nearly half of the people experiencing homelessness were white, while the number of Black homeless people exceeded *******. How many veterans are homeless in America? The  number of homeless veterans in the United States has halved since 2010. The state of California, which is currently suffering a homeless crisis, accounted for the highest number of homeless veterans in 2022. There are many causes of homelessness among veterans of the U.S. military, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse problems, and a lack of affordable housing.

Listing of SONYMA target areas by US Census Bureau Census Tract or Block Numbering Area (BNA). The State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) targets specific areas designated as ‘areas of chronic economic distress’ for its homeownership lending programs. Each state designates ‘areas of chronic economic distress’ with the approval of the US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). SONYMA identifies its target areas using US Census Bureau census tracts and block numbering areas. Both census tracts and block numbering areas subdivide individual counties. SONYMA also relates each of its single-family mortgages to a specific census tract or block numbering area. New York State identifies ‘areas of chronic economic distress’ using census tract numbers. 26 US Code § 143 (current through Pub. L. 114-38) defines the criteria that the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development uses in approving designations of ‘areas of chronic economic distress’ as: i) the condition of the housing stock, including the age of the housing and the number of abandoned and substandard residential units, (ii) the need of area residents for owner-financing under this section, as indicated by low per capita income, a high percentage of families in poverty, a high number of welfare recipients, and high unemployment rates, (iii) the potential for use of owner-financing under this section to improve housing conditions in the area, and (iv) the existence of a housing assistance plan which provides a displacement program and a public improvements and services program. The US Census Bureau’s decennial census last took place in 2010 and will take place again in 2020. While the state designates ‘areas of chronic economic distress,’ the US Department of Housing and Urban Development must approve the designation. The designation takes place after the decennial census.