No wonder so many New Yorkers complain about housing and transportation costs. Crain’s reported that between 2000 and 2010 in the New York area, both housing and transportation costs grew almost twice as fast as the income for median-income households, citing a study by the Center Housing Policy that surveyed the 25 largest cities in America.
In the New York area, costs for housing and transportation increased 55 percent during that decade while income posted a 31 percent growth and 56 percent of household income went into these two expenditures. Between the two, housing showed a greater burden of 34 percent.
And split in between renters and owners, homeowners spent 61 percent of their income on housing and transportation costs, whereas renters spent 52 percent.
On average, housing and transportation expenses rose 44 percent across the 25 cities and incomes rose 25 percent, according to the study.
However, there are silver linings: Household incomes rose faster than in other metro areas surveyed, and the average monthly transportation costs were cheaper in New York than in the rest of the cities. [Crain’s]