The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the retail trade sector unevenly, with online retailers and some essential businesses experiencing growth and other large retail segments seeing falling revenues. The impact has been most obvious in Manhattan, where foot traffic in key corridors initially fell by more than 90 percent and remains below 50 percent of its 2019 levels as tourists, commuters, office workers and residents have responded to pandemic-related shutdowns and public health concerns.

New Yorkers’ average student loan balance rose by 3.9 percent from the previous year to $37,600 as of June 2020, according to newly available data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

New York State local sales tax collections in the first quarter (January-March) of 2020 totaled $4.4 billion. This was an increase of 4.6 percent over the same period last year, mostly reflecting sales made before the statewide implementation of business and office closures and social distancing policies in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Local government sales tax collections declined by 7.1 percent, or $102 million, in November compared to the same month in 2019. The decline is steeper than in October, but not as bad as the double-digit declines in the earlier months (April-June) of the pandemic. All but five counties saw declines in overall collections in November, and New York City had a 6.5 percent, or $45 million, decline.

In the second quarter of 2020, total wages paid in New York State declined by $12.5 billion or 7.4 percent in comparison to the second quarter of 2019, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The Hunts Point Food Distribution Center, often referred to as the Hunts Point Market, is the largest food distribution center in the world.

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In recent years, the number of affordable rental apartments in New York City has declined and more households are devoting at least 30 percent of their income toward rent. These factors have exacerbated an already serious lack of affordable housing in New York City.

Long Island City and Astoria are the westernmost parts of Queens, only minutes from Midtown Manhattan. The area benefits from a strong transportation network, which has made it attractive to business and residential development.

Since the housing bubble burst in 2007, many homeowners across the nation have faced foreclosure.

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in New York State totaled 193,200 in 2007, the latest year for which data are available. This represented an increase of 85.4 percent compared with the 1997 level, or nearly three times the rate of growth in the total number of businesses in the State. 

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