Central Harlem Neighborhood Profile

Neighborhood Indicators

Demographics

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019
Population
Born in New York State		57.6%	57.5%	58.5%
Disabled population			11.8%	10.6%
Foreign-born population	17.8%	20.8%	19.7%	20.5%
Population	109,091	118,143	126,558	136,351
Population aged 65+	11.3%	10.3%	10.5%	11.9%
Households
Households with children under 18 years old	34.0%	32.5%	27.8%	22.8%
Single-person households		46.9%	41.5%	42.7%
Race and Ethnicity
Percent Asian	0.8%	2.3%	3.5%	3.6%
Percent Black	77.3%	69.5%	58.6%	54.3%
Percent Hispanic	16.8%	18.4%	23.6%	23.6%
Percent white	2.1%	6.8%	11.8%	15.5%
Racial diversity index	0.37	0.48	0.59	0.62
Income and Poverty
Income diversity ratio		7.5	7.5	8.9
Median household income (2021$)	$35,340	$35,770	$42,880	$57,720
Median household income, homeowners (2021$)		$119,340	$134,820	$137,250
Median household income, renters (2021$)		$31,930	$38,140	$52,770
Poverty rate	36.4%	28.7%	28.1%	20.1%
Poverty rate, population aged 65+		34.0%	27.5%	25.2%
Poverty rate, population under 18 years old		33.7%	35.8%	26.4%
Labor Market
Labor force participation rate		60.7%	56.8%	69.0%
Population aged 25+ without a high school diploma		26.3%	21.1%	13.9%
Unemployment rate	18.61%	13.41%	15.88%	8.69%

Housing Market and Conditions

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020	2021
Housing Stock
Homeownership rate	6.6%	12.2%	13.4%	14.0%
Housing units		57,994	61,313	63,719
Rental vacancy rate			4.7%	4.6%
Serious housing code violations (per 1,000 privately owned rental units)		52.5	50.5	122.9	102.4	143.1
Severe crowding rate (% of renter households)			3.0%	2.4%
Total housing code violations (per 1,000 privately owned rental units)		285.0	243.6	439.7	319.7	556.3
Finance - Distress
Notices of foreclosure rate (per 1,000 1-4 family and condo properties)	32.9	7.7	13.3	6.4	1.6	2.0
Notices of foreclosure, all residential properties	137	42	106	50	24	21
Notices of foreclosure, initial, 1-4 family and condo properties	40	21	57	17	7	5
Notices of foreclosure, repeat, 1-4 family and condo properties	8	3	7	21	3	8
Pre-foreclosure notice rate (per 1,000 1-4 family and condo properties)				36.9	16.5	14.4
Pre-foreclosure notices, 1-4 family and condo properties				219	105	95
Properties entering REO, 1-4 family	2	0	0
Finance - Lending
FHA/VA-backed home purchase loans (% of home purchase loans)		0.0%	14.7%	0.4%	0.5%
Higher-cost home purchase loans (% of home purchase loans)		6.5%	1.3%	0.0%	0.0%
Higher-cost refinance loans (% of refinance loans)		29.8%	2.8%	2.2%	0.0%
Home purchase loan rate (per 1,000 properties)		37.8	42.9	19.9	17.7
Home purchase loans in LMI tracts (% of home purchase loans)		92.0%	6.6%	33.1%	48.2%
Home purchase loans to LMI borrowers (% of home purchase loans)		5.1%	98.5%	4.7%	2.8%
Refinance loan rate (per 1,000 properties)		28.2	9.8	11.4	28.4
Sales - Volume
Sales volume, 1 family building	3	10	3	3	1	3
Sales volume, 2-4 family building	51	55	29	21	17	30
Sales volume, 5+ family building	47	78	44	29	24	37
Sales volume, condominium	20	191	341	194	207	316
Sales volume, all property types	121	334	417	247	249	386
Sales - Median Prices
Median sales price per unit, 1 family building (2021$)		$1,314,500	$1,941,700	$2,343,350	$2,324,620	$2,850,000
Median sales price per unit, 2-4 family building (2021$)		$418,090	$372,490	$880,070	$981,510	$816,670
Median sales price per unit, 5+ family building (2021$)		$152,090	$120,140	$259,870	$135,930	$96,440
Median sales price per unit, condominium (2021$)		$721,500	$729,070	$979,900	$916,420	$925,500
Sales - Housing Price Index
Index of housing price appreciation, 1 family building	100.0	348.8	578.1			919.0
Index of housing price appreciation, 2-4 family building	100.0	331.6	201.5	534.3	654.8	623.7
Index of housing price appreciation, 5+ family building	100.0	352.6	241.4	687.3	960.9	783.6
Index of housing price appreciation, condominium	100.0	279.5	292.5	518.8	500.2	488.3
Index of housing price appreciation, all property types	100.0	325.1	297.9	568.2	582.0	560.1
Subsidized Housing
Total number of subsidized properties (properties)						1,290
HUD Financing or Insurance (properties)						18
HUD Financing or Insurance (units)						1,165
HUD Project-based Rental Assistance Program (properties)						65
HUD Project-based Rental Assistance Program (units)						3,682
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (properties)						407
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (units)						10,556
Public Housing (properties)						54
Public Housing (units)						7,529
Mitchell-Lama (properties)						6
Mitchell-Lama (units)						2,449
421-a Tax Exemption (properties)						91
421-a Tax Exemption (units)						4,816
420-c Tax Exemption (properties)						189
420-c Tax Exemption (units)						4,696
NYC Housing Production Programs and Zoning Incentives or Requirements (properties)						503
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2022 and 2027 (properties)						84
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2022 and 2027 (units)						1,898
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2028 and 2037 (properties)						160
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2028 and 2037 (units)						5,372
Eligible to expire from housing programs in 2038 and later (properties)						205
Eligible to expire from housing programs in 2038 and later (units)						7,613

Land Use and Development

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020
Density
Population density (1,000 persons per square mile)		82.6	88.5	95.4
Development
Units authorized by new residential building permits	261	0	77	495	426
Units issued new certificates of occupancy	87	232	603	277	665

Neighborhood Services and Conditions

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020	2021
Commute
Car-free commute (% of commuters)	81.7%	83.8%	85.0%	88.0%
Mean travel time to work (minutes)	37.3	35.5	34.7	36.1
Crime and Incarceration
Serious crime rate (per 1,000 residents)		22.7	17.2	16.8	17.1	19.7
Serious crime rate, property (per 1,000 residents)		11.1	7.9	7.9	8.8	9.7
Serious crime rate, violent (per 1,000 residents)		11.6	9.3	8.9	8.3	9.9
Schools
Students performing at grade level in English language arts, 4th grade				28.6%
Students performing at grade level in math, 4th grade				22.8%

Renters

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2020	2021
Median Rent
Median rent, 2- and 3-bedrooms (2021$)			$930	$1,150
Median rent, all (2021$)	$780	$860	$960	$1,300
Median rent, recent movers (2021$)			$1,190	$1,930
Median rent, studios and 1-bedrooms (2021$)			$900	$1,080
Change in collected rent (2019-2020)					-7.7%
Affordability
Rental units affordable at 30% AMI (% of recently available units)			19.3%	18.5%
Rental units affordable at 80% AMI (% of recently available units)			59.2%	41.0%
Rental units affordable at 120% AMI (% of recently available units)			86.9%	87.5%
Rent Burden
Moderately rent-burdened households		24.8%	26.4%	18.9%
Moderately rent-burdened households, low income			29.4%	31.5%
Moderately rent-burdened households, moderate income			15.6%	23.2%
Severely rent-burdened households	24.1%		24.1%	23.7%
Severely rent-burdened households, low income			34.0%	33.7%
Severely rent-burdened households, moderate income			4.5%	1.1%
Rental Subsidy
Housing choice vouchers (% of occupied, privately owned rental units)			7.6%	7.1%	7.2%
Public housing (% of rental units)						16.8%

DEMOGRAPHICS

In 2019, there were an estimated 136,351 people in Central Harlem, of which 3.6% of the population identified as Asian, 54.3% identified as Black, 23.6% identified as Hispanic, and 15.5% identified as white.

Graph showing the racial and ethnic composition of Central Harlem in both 2000 and 2015-2019.

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In 2019, the household income group with the largest share (25.4%) of households was <= $20,000. In 2000, the same household income group had the largest share as well, with a slightly higher share of 34.1%.

Graph showing the distribution of household income in Central Harlem in both 2000 and 2015-2019.

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Median household income in 2019 was $57,720, about 21% less than citywide median household income ($72,930). The poverty rate in Central Harlem was 20.1% in 2019 compared to 16.0% citywide.

The poverty rate in Central Harlem was 20.1% in 2019 compared to 16.0% citywide.

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The rent distribution shows the share of apartments by their size (according to the number of bedrooms), and then for each apartment size in the community district, the share of apartments according to their monthly gross rent. This distribution compares 5-year ACS figures from 2010 to 5-year ACS figures from 2019. This is a new figure made for the 2021 State of the City report.

Graph showing the distribution of rents in Central Harlem in both 2010 and 2015-2019.

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HOUSING

Renters

Real median gross rent in Central Harlem increased from $860 in 2006 to $1,300 in 2019. In 2019, 23.7% of renter households in Central Harlem were severely rent burdened (spent more than 50% of household income on rent). 41.0% of the rental units were affordable at 80% Area Median Income, 18 percentage points lower than the share in 2010. 16.8% of rental units were public housing rental units, as of 2021. The overall rental vacancy rate in Central Harlem was 4.6% in 2019.

Real median gross rent in Central Harlem increased from $920 in 2007 to $1,300 in 2019.

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16.8% of the rental units in Central Harlem are public housing rental units in 2021.

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Homeowners

In 2019, the homeownership rate in Central Harlem was 14.0%, lower than the citywide share of 31.9%. The homeownership rate in the neighborhood has increased by 0.6 percentage points since 2010. In 2020, the home purchase loan rate was 17.7 per 1,000 properties (owner-occupied 1-4 family buildings, condominiums, or cooperative apartments) and the refinance loan rate was 28.4 per 1,000 properties in the neighborhood. Out of all the first-time home purchase loans and refinance loans in Central Harlem, 0.0% and 0.0% were high cost loans, respectively. 21 properties had a filing of mortgage foreclosure in Central Harlem in 2021. There were 2.0 mortgage foreclosure actions initiated per 1,000 1-4 family properties and condominium units.

There were 2.0 mortgage foreclosure notices per 1,000 1-4 family properties and condominium units in Central Harlem in 2021

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Development

Department of Buildings issued new certificates of occupancy to 665 residential units in new buildings in Central Harlem in 2020, 388 more than the number of units certified in 2019.

Department of Buildings issued new certificates of occupancy to 665 residential units in new buildings in Central Harlem last year, 388 more than the number of units certified in 2019.

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Over the last decade, 2,841 units in 4+ unit buildings were built in Central Harlem. 54% were market rate, compared to 37% low-income. We use data from a variety of sources to count the number of income-restricted units targeted to households earning between 80% and 165% of AMI. However, due to restricted availability of granular data our calculations of income-restricted units should be read as conservative estimates. Read more about our methdology in the technical appendix of the 2021 Focus Report.

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NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES AND CONDITIONS

The serious crime rate was 19.7 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 2021, compared to 12.2 serious crimes per 1,000 residents citywide.

The serious crime rate was 19.7 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 2021, compared to 12.2 serious crimes per 1,000 residents citywide.

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Data Notes: See CoreData User Guide for more information about indicator definitions and methods.

Indicators: The rental vacancy rate, severe crowding rate, and the severely rent-burdened households indicators use five-year American Community Survey (ACS) estimates. Data under the 2010 heading comes from the 2006 – 2010 ACS and data under the 2019 heading comes from the 2015 – 2019 ACS.

Rankings: We report rankings out of all neighborhoods for which the indicator can be calculated. Rankings are listed for community districts, though some indicators are reported at the sub-borough area level.