Upper West Side Neighborhood Profile

Neighborhood Indicators

Demographics

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2021
Population
Born in New York State		48.5%	43.9%	44.2%	46.6%
Disabled population			5.0%	5.9%	6.8%
Foreign-born population	21.3%	20.2%	22.4%	22.0%	23.5%
Population	192,213	216,812	199,843	179,682	197,826
Population aged 65+	13.4%	14.8%	16.7%	21.3%	25.0%
Households
Households with children under 18 years old	14.6%	21.2%	18.9%	17.9%	17.8%
Single-person households		50.4%	45.9%	50.3%	46.9%
Race and Ethnicity
Percent Asian	5.6%	7.7%	7.7%	10.1%	10.9%
Percent Black	8.5%	7.0%	6.6%	4.7%	6.5%
Percent Hispanic	14.5%	10.8%	15.3%	14.0%	13.8%
Percent white	69.0%	72.7%	68.1%	68.7%	63.6%
Racial diversity index	0.49	0.45	0.50	0.50	0.56
Income and Poverty
Income diversity ratio		6.7	8.6	6.7	9.2
Median household income (2022$)	$115,650	$127,360	$115,890	$152,450	$120,770
Median household income, homeowners (2022$)		$257,620	$222,420	$278,740	$231,200
Median household income, renters (2022$)		$92,760	$80,700	$117,070	$92,040
Poverty rate	10.0%	9.0%	10.4%	8.7%	10.4%
Poverty rate, population aged 65+		13.2%	12.5%	12.2%	9.3%
Poverty rate, population under 18 years old		6.0%	6.5%	9.3%	7.0%
Labor Market
Labor force participation rate		70.7%	68.3%	68.8%	63.8%
Population aged 25+ without a high school diploma		5.9%	5.1%	4.7%	4.7%
Unemployment rate	4.77%	4.52%	7.46%	2.32%	11.53%

Housing Market and Conditions

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2021	2022
Housing Stock
Homeownership rate	29.2%	35.6%	32.0%	35.1%	37.1%
Housing units		120,652	113,725	118,000	124,080
Rental vacancy rate			3.8%	5.3%	6.6%
Serious housing code violations (per 1,000 privately owned rental units)		13.9	14.8	41.1	34.9	42.8
Severe crowding rate (% of renter households)			1.8%	3.1%	3.4%
Total housing code violations (per 1,000 privately owned rental units)		108.6	81.8	165.6	161.7	150.5
Finance - Distress
Notices of foreclosure rate (per 1,000 1-4 family and condo properties)	0.9	1.7	3.8	1.7	0.5	1.1
Notices of foreclosure, all residential properties	15	27	77	38	11	26
Notices of foreclosure, initial, 1-4 family and condo properties	8	21	63	17	2	14
Notices of foreclosure, repeat, 1-4 family and condo properties	2	5	8	18	9	10
Pre-foreclosure notice rate (per 1,000 1-4 family and condo properties)				8.2	4.6	8.3
Pre-foreclosure notices, 1-4 family and condo properties				168	97	177
Properties entering REO, 1-4 family	0	0	0
Finance - Lending
FHA/VA-backed home purchase loans (% of home purchase loans)		0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Higher-cost home purchase loans (% of home purchase loans)		1.8%	0.7%	0.4%	0.6%
Higher-cost refinance loans (% of refinance loans)		6.0%	0.1%	0.3%	0.1%
Home purchase loan rate (per 1,000 properties)		29.8	20.5	16.1	24.3
Home purchase loans in LMI tracts (% of home purchase loans)		3.4%	1.0%	2.3%	2.1%
Home purchase loans to LMI borrowers (% of home purchase loans)		0.4%	2.7%	0.7%	1.3%
Refinance loan rate (per 1,000 properties)		11.6	38.3	15.9	30.2
Sales - Volume
Sales volume, 1 family building	4	5	8	3	11	10
Sales volume, 2-4 family building	9	11	12	1	7	15
Sales volume, 5+ family building	33	68	60	33	68	51
Sales volume, condominium	33	1,135	1,046	615	1,144	928
Sales volume, all property types	79	1,219	1,126	652	1,230	1,004
Sales - Median Prices
Median sales price per unit, 1 family building (2022$)	$11,428,480	$8,782,880	$7,033,620	$7,247,220	$6,684,460	$7,287,500
Median sales price per unit, 2-4 family building (2022$)	$1,015,390	$1,519,440	$2,366,000	$1,979,050	$2,307,730	$2,145,750
Median sales price per unit, 5+ family building (2022$)	$297,400	$477,790	$449,330	$602,080	$414,680	$481,880
Median sales price per unit, condominium (2022$)	$955,910	$1,337,950	$1,386,620	$1,711,460	$1,442,990	$1,804,530
Sales - Housing Price Index
Index of housing price appreciation, 1 family building	100.0	132.3	160.0	152.2		244.0
Index of housing price appreciation, 2-4 family building	100.0	178.8	182.4	298.2	373.1	321.6
Index of housing price appreciation, 5+ family building	100.0	182.8	232.5	330.5	355.1	419.1
Index of housing price appreciation, condominium	100.0	226.6	229.8	303.8	299.0	319.0
Index of housing price appreciation, all property types	100.0	202.7	208.4	276.4	273.3	293.6
Subsidized Housing
Total number of subsidized properties (properties)						244
HUD Financing or Insurance (properties)						10
HUD Financing or Insurance (units)						1,114
HUD Project-based Rental Assistance Program (properties)						19
HUD Project-based Rental Assistance Program (units)						1,406
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (properties)						37
Low Income Housing Tax Credit (units)						4,912
Public Housing (properties)						21
Public Housing (units)						4,729
Mitchell-Lama (properties)						11
Mitchell-Lama (units)						1,758
421-a Tax Exemption (properties)						17
421-a Tax Exemption (units)						5,602
420-c Tax Exemption (properties)						34
420-c Tax Exemption (units)						1,884
NYC Housing Production Programs and Zoning Incentives or Requirements (properties)						108
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2023 and 2028 (properties)						8
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2023 and 2028 (units)						1,490
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2029 and 2038 (properties)						25
Eligible to expire from housing programs between 2029 and 2038 (units)						2,798
Eligible to expire from housing programs in 2039 and later (properties)						26
Eligible to expire from housing programs in 2039 and later (units)						3,162

Land Use and Development

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2021	2022
Density
Population density (1,000 persons per square mile)		73.2	67.5	60.6	66.8
Development
Units authorized by new residential building permits	441	0	0	352	125	252
Units issued new certificates of occupancy	921	566	1,285	1,803	363	128

Neighborhood Services and Conditions

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2021	2022
Commute
Car-free commute (% of commuters)	83.3%	83.9%	85.7%	85.5%	85.6%
Mean travel time to work (minutes)	30.3	28.8	29.6	30.5	29.0
Crime and Incarceration
Serious crime rate (per 1,000 residents)		11.9	9.0	8.8	9.4	10.6
Serious crime rate, property (per 1,000 residents)		9.2	7.0	6.6	7.1	8.1
Serious crime rate, violent (per 1,000 residents)		2.7	2.1	2.2	2.3	2.4
Schools
Students performing at grade level in English language arts, 4th grade				78.8%		72.8%
Students performing at grade level in math, 4th grade				75.7%		73.7%

Renters

Indicator	2000	2006	2010	2019	2021	2022
Median Rent
Median rent, 2- and 3-bedrooms (2022$)			$1,790	$1,960	$2,150
Median rent, all (2022$)	$1,700	$1,880	$1,960	$2,210	$2,390
Median rent, recent movers (2022$)			$2,710	$2,790	$2,940
Median rent, studios and 1-bedrooms (2022$)			$2,090	$2,340	$2,510
Change in collected rent (2019-2020)					-3.0%
Affordability
Rental units affordable at 30% AMI (% of recently available units)			2.3%	5.9%	4.8%
Rental units affordable at 80% AMI (% of recently available units)			17.4%	26.1%	21.9%
Rental units affordable at 120% AMI (% of recently available units)			39.0%	53.5%	55.7%
Rent Burden
Moderately rent-burdened households		21.3%	22.4%	18.2%	23.8%
Moderately rent-burdened households, low income			25.9%	24.0%	25.4%
Moderately rent-burdened households, moderate income			36.5%	38.4%	33.1%
Severely rent-burdened households	16.6%		20.1%	20.3%	20.9%
Severely rent-burdened households, low income			48.2%	51.8%	52.8%
Severely rent-burdened households, moderate income			11.3%	12.9%	12.3%
Rental Subsidy
Housing choice vouchers (% of occupied, privately owned rental units)			2.1%	2.2%
Public housing (% of rental units)						7.0%

DEMOGRAPHICS

In 2021, there were an estimated 197,826 people in Upper West Side, of which 10.9% identified as Asian, 6.5% identified as Black, 13.8% identified as Hispanic, and 63.6% identified as white.

Graph showing the racial and ethnic composition of Upper West Side in both 2000 and 2017-2021.

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In 2021, the household income group with the largest share (31.5%) of households was > $250,000. In 2000, the household income group with the largest share (31.7%) of households was $100,001 - $250,000.

Graph showing the distribution of household income in Upper West Side in both 2000 and 2017-2021.

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Median household income in 2021 was $120,770, about 67% more than citywide median household income ($72,150). The poverty rate in Upper West Side was 10.4% in 2021 compared to 18.0% citywide.

The poverty rate in Upper West Side was 10.4% in 2021 compared to 18.0% 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 2021.

Graph showing the distribution of rents in Upper West Side in both 2010 and 2017-2021.

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HOUSING

Renters

Real median gross rent in Upper West Side increased from $1,880 in 2006 to $2,390 in 2021. This represents a 27.1% increase over the same period. As of 2021, the change in median gross rent outpaced the change in median household income by 27.9 percentage points. In 2021, 20.9% of renter households in Upper West Side were severely rent burdened (spent more than 50% of household income on rent). 21.9% of the rental units were affordable at 80% Area Median Income, 4 percentage points higher than the share in 2010. 7.0% of the rental units were public housing rental units, as of 2022. The overall rental vacancy rate in Upper West Side was 6.6% in 2021.

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Graph showing the change in real median gross rent and median renter household income in Upper West Side from 2006 to 2021.

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7.0% of the rental units in Upper West Side are public housing rental units in 2022.

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Homeowners

In 2021, the homeownership rate in Upper West Side was 37.1%, which is higher than the citywide share of 33.3%. The homeownership rate in the neighborhood has increased by 5.1 percentage points since 2010. In 2021, the home purchase loan rate was 24.3 per 1,000 properties (owner-occupied 1-4 family buildings, condominiums, or cooperative apartments) and the refinance loan rate was 30.2 per 1,000 properties in the neighborhood. Out of all the first-time home purchase loans and refinance loans in Upper West Side, 0.6% and 0.1% were high cost loans, respectively. 26 properties had a filing of mortgage foreclosure in Upper West Side in 2022. There were 1.1 mortgage foreclosure actions initiated per 1,000 1-4 family properties and condominium units.

There were 1.1 mortgage foreclosure notices per 1,000 1-4 family properties and condominium units in Upper West Side in 2022

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Development

The Department of Buildings issued new certificates of occupancy to 128 residential units in new buildings in Upper West Side in 2022, 235 fewer than the number of units certified in 2021.

Department of Buildings issued new certificates of occupancy to 128 residential units in new buildings in Upper West Side last year, the same as the number of units certified in 2022.

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Over the last decade, 5,249 units in 4+ unit buildings were built in Upper West Side. 85% were market rate, compared to 15% that were income-targeted. 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 methodology in the technical appendix of the 2021 Focus Report.

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NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES AND CONDITIONS

The serious crime rate was 10.6 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 2022, compared to 14.2 serious crimes per 1,000 residents citywide.

The serious crime rate was 10.6 serious crimes per 1,000 residents in 2022, compared to 14.2 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, data under the 2019 heading comes from the 2015 – 2019 ACS and data under the 2021 heading comes from 2017 – 2021 ACS .