Tri-state population growth far exceeds housing development

As lawmakers and activists debate Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to boost housing development in New York, most everyone seems to acknowledge that supply has long lagged behind population growth.

The latest U.S. Census estimates for the tri-state area show just how large that gap has grown.

While New York City’s population rose 4.25 percent (or more than 350,000 people) over the past decade, the number of housing units in the five boroughs increased at less than half that pace — rising from 3.52 million units in 2010 to 3.59 million in 2020, an increase of just 2 percent.

The trend was even more pronounced on Long Island, where the populations of Nassau and Suffolk counties grew by 2.7 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, while their housing supply increased only 0.53 percent and 0.27 percent — the lowest gains in the tri-state area.

In New Jersey, Essex and Hudson counties saw the biggest population increase between 2010 and 2020, with both growing by more than 6 percent. But Hudson County was unique in that it was the only county in the region where housing supply increased significantly more than population did, rising by more than 8 percent.

The tables below provide a more detailed look at the ratio of people to housing units in New York City and its surrounding suburbs:

This is one of the hundreds of data sets available on TRD Pro — the one-stop real estate terminal for all the data and market information you need.