{"id":1447,"date":"2020-08-06T21:07:11","date_gmt":"2020-08-06T21:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/data\/?page_id=1447"},"modified":"2026-03-11T20:37:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T20:37:23","slug":"emergency-food-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/data\/emergency-food-in-nyc\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency Food in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Poverty and Food Insecurity in NYC<\/h2>\n

New York City has a poverty rate of almost twice the national average<\/a> \u2014 New York City had a poverty rate of 25% in 2024, where the nation overall poverty rate was only 10.6%. According to the NYC Mayor\u2019s Office of Food Policy annual 2022 Food Metrics Annual Report<\/a>, an estimated 1.2 million (14.6%) New York City residents were food insecure.<\/p>\n

The federal poverty line is the estimate of the price of a minimum food diet for a given family size, multiplied by three. This measure is exactly the same across the country \u2014 in 2024 a family of four is counted as living in poverty if their income is below $31,200, regardless of if they live in Manhattan or in a rural area.<\/p>\n

In reality, costs vary dramatically across the country, and even within the City. When we use a measure of “True Cost of Living” (that accounts for different rent and food costs across the city, and includes other basic needs like medical and childcare) a total of half of households in New York City are earning below their True Cost of Living<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even using the national poverty measure, which doesn’t account for the high cost of living in NYC, New York City has a higher poverty rate<\/a> than the nation at large in four boroughs:<\/p>\n