New York City handed out welfare checks to 864,999 people in the 12-month period ending May 30th — a record-breaking surge that sent taxpayer-funded cash assistance soaring to $2.71 billion for the current fiscal year.
That’s a 72.6% spending increase from fiscal year 2022, when the city paid out $1.57 billion in cash welfare, according to a New York Post analysis of city agency records.
The number of welfare recipients climbed 55.7% since 2022 — reaching levels New York City hasn’t seen in nearly three decades.
Combined with food stamps, NYC paid out $7 billion in welfare to residents in 2024.
The crisis landed on the desk of Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was sworn in this January. Since then, little has changed — except the mayor’s rhetoric.
Mamdani recently celebrated a new “pied-à-terre tax” targeting luxury properties worth more than $5 million whose owners don’t live in the city full-time.
“When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. Well, today, we’re taxing the rich,” Mamdani said. “I’m thrilled to announce we’ve secured a pied-à-terre tax, the first in New York’s history.”
He specifically cited a penthouse hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million.
Republican Councilwoman Joann Ariola warned the strategy would backfire — badly.
“This is the Communist Playbook 101: make everyone reliant on the government, so the masses have no choice but to support the people signing their checks. This is only going to get worse as the Democratic Socialists of America ramp up their tax-the-rich rhetoric and drive even more jobs out of the city. With every job they force out, the far left gets one more person dependent on them. It’s all part of the plan.”
Wealthy residents are already fleeing. The New York Post noted that more high earners could leave — taking their jobs with them — if Mamdani continues the “tax the rich” push.
New York and California have already faced billions in lost revenue as residents migrate to lower-tax states offering better quality of life and relief from crushing cost-of-living burdens.
The city’s Human Resources Administration oversees the cash-assistance programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that together accounted for the $7 billion 2024 payout.
