NYC Economic Trends & Insights

New York City’s commercial and retail real estate markets have improved with vacancy rates declining this year.
New Yorkers are earning and spending more on average than last year, translating to record retail and dining sales.
Foot traffic in New York City continues to increase with midday foot traffic along major retail and tourism corridors surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
Travel to New York City airports surpassed 2024 levels in August, and a new high in hotel occupancy rates show continued strength in New York’s tourism sector.
New York City companies have already eclipsed 2024 volumes of venture capital fundraising, with AI companies doubling their fundraising levels.
Available employment statistics through August show a slowdown in hiring, but a declining unemployment rate and upward revisions of job gains point to strong retention amongst employers.

Overall commercial vacancy rates are continuing to decline this year, indicating that businesses are bullish on New York City’s employment outlook and post-pandemic return to office trends.
- This year, commercial building rents have increased very slightly (by 9¢), beginning to reverse the downward slide of commercial building rents in 2024.

Over 3 million square feet of retail space has been leased through September 2025, with retail space availability in Manhattan approaching historic lows.

Average individual income rose 2% through September, slightly outpacing the rate of increase over same period in 2024 (1.9%).
Through September, sales tax revenue, a proxy for retail spending, increased 4.9% year-over-year compared to 2024.
- Retail sales are expected to rise $900 million over 2024’s total volume.
More people are dining out than before, as the number of diners in restaurants each week this year averages 11% more than in 2024.

According to the results of the New York City Department of Transportation’s foot traffic survey in May (released in October), overall Manhattan foot traffic has recovered to 90% of 2019 levels, up from 70% in May 2024.
- While impossible to fully isolate, a 7% year-over-year decline in travelers arriving to New York City-area airports and a 1% decline in hotel occupancy in May 2025 point to decreased tourism overall. Conversely, Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road weekend ridership increased 12% in May 2025 compared to May 2024, indicating that the increased foot traffic in Manhattan and alongside retail corridors was due to New Yorkers and visitors from the metro area frequenting these areas.
The map below compares the midday foot traffic at surveyed locations around Midtown Manhattan in 2025 to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
- On Broadway between 50th and 51st streets, May 2025 midday foot traffic levels were 104% of those observed in 2019.

In August, the total number of passengers to New York metro area airports was 2.6% above 2024 levels, and the total number of flights was 3.9% higher.
Luxury travel has remained strong, with luxury hotels experiencing the biggest gains in occupancy and average daily room rates through September. (The average client of a luxury hotel spends $1,710 per night.)
- Luxury travel tourists generate three times more of an economic impact than other tourists, translating to greater direct spending and retail revenue.
New York City experienced the highest hotel occupancy levels among the top 25 markets in the country in September, at 86.6%. This is above the city’s 2024 year-end occupancy rate of 84.2%.
Broadway ticket sales and attendance for the 2025-2026 season beginning in June have remained higher than the previous season, at 11% and 6% respectively.

Wonder, a food takeout and delivery service, raised $1.1 billion through September 2025, the third-largest deal of the year so far. Wonder opened a new location in Coney Island in September, its 20th across New York City, and plans to open a new location across the East Coast each week throughout the remainder of the year. (Wonder is a member of the Partnership for New York City.)
AI companies have raised over $9.3 billion in VC funds through November 21st. This is more than double the amount raised in 2024, and the largest fundraising year on record.
New York City has a more diverse portfolio than competitor cities. The city’s top five deals by monetary size account for 22.8% of all VC funding raised this year, while Silicon Valley’s top five deals account for over 54% of the region’s VC. investments.

All other private sector industries not included above have lost jobs, including key industry sectors such as financial services (-8,400), professional services (-8,000), and education (-810).
- In comparison, within the first eight months of 2024 only two industry sectors lost jobs — administrative services (-700) and employment services (-200) —while the rest posted employment gains.
New York City’s 0.3% private sector growth translates to an addition of 58,414 jobs through August 2025, which is the lowest positive job growth over this period since 1995.
- New York City’s overall private employment gain is half of New York state’s 0.6% increase, but close to the national rate of 0.4% employment growth.
- An upwards revision of +13,500 jobs in July from initial reports may signal a reversal of this slowed growth.
After 18 months of rising or stagnant unemployment rates, New York City’s unemployment rate declined 0.6% from January-August, now at 4.9%.
- Decreasing unemployment rates amongst the slowdown in hiring points to strong employee retention.