Brooklynites Face Lower Incomes With Higher Housing Costs: Study

BROOKLYN, NY — Brooklyn residents make less than the median income than other city dwellers, but spent the most income on mortgage payments and rent than other boroughs, a new report found.

An analysis of census data by the real estate website StreetEasy found that Brooklynites had some of the highest costs of living in the city with the average resident spending 38 percent of their income on housing a year. Only Bronx renters fared worse with 45 percent going towards their apartments, the study shows.

Brooklyn homeowners had the second highest average housing costs a year, only slightly lower than Manhattan, but made nearly $60,000 less than residents there.

"Much of the coverage of Brooklyn on StreetEasy and local media sites describes the borough as increasingly comparable, for renters and buyers, to Manhattan," the study reads.

"The findings, however, also indicate that on average, Brooklyn renters and buyers earn less than the New York City median income, despite facing higher respective housing costs — a fact that is often overlooked."

The average annual income for Brooklyn homeowners was $83,737, the third highest in the city, but they spent $31,908 on housing costs a year. Renters didn't fare much better with the average spending $15,144, the third highest in the city, but only earning $40,128.

StreetEasy's study found that Manhattanites had the highest rents and mortgage payments, but they earned 46 percent above the median income for the rest of the city. The average yearly housing cost for homeowners in the borough was $36,252 but they made $142,046 a year, only using 26 percent of it to live.

Renters in Manhattan made far less a year, $62,173, but only used 30 percent of it for housing, $18,900, the lowest in the city, according to the study.

Residents of the Bronx also dealt with high costs of living compared to the rest of the city with homeowners using 37 percent of their income a year and renters 45 percent, the analysis shows.

Renters in Staten Island have the second lowest incomes in the city, few rental units, and used 38 percent of housing costs a year, $14,292. Homeowners live much better with the second-highest average income, $94,177, and the second-lowest housing costs in the city, $28,752.

Middle-class residents have the best luck in Queens with housing costs closest to the citywide median than any other borough, the study found. Renters spend an average of 36 percent of their income to live, and homeowners using 37 percent.

Image: Nicholas Rizzi/Patch