New York by the numbers
In New York, the median worker earns $58,560 a year, the typical home is worth $403,000 and carries $6,450 of property tax, and the average household pays $164 a month for electricity at 29.93¢ per kilowatt-hour.
Northeast NYISO Retail choice statewide
Energy
A single statewide average badly misrepresents New York. Upstate has abundant hydro at Niagara and the St. Lawrence, plus large nuclear units in the west, and its wholesale prices are among the lowest in the Northeast. New York City and Westchester are a separate world: a transmission-constrained load pocket where in-city generation must run for reliability, land and labour costs are extreme, and the distribution network is largely underground.
Underground networks are the quiet driver of Con Edison's delivery rates. Replacing a feeder in Manhattan costs an order of magnitude more than restringing an overhead line, and the city's network reliability standards are the strictest in the country.
The closure of Indian Point removed a large, low-cost, zero-emission generator close to the load centre. Replacement energy has come substantially from gas plants further away, which raised both the energy price and the congestion charge on transmission into the city.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, New York households used 590 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $164. At the state median wage that is about 5.8 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, gas is still cheaper to run than a heat pump here, by about $11.47 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median New York worker earned $58,560 in 2024, 18.3% above the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Word Processors and Typists | 5.77× | $47,320 |
| Fashion Designers | 5.1× | $96,420 |
| School Bus Monitors | 4.04× | $37,010 |
| Proofreaders and Copy Markers | 3.85× | $54,380 |
| Signal and Track Switch Repairers | 3.7× | $92,280 |
Property tax
The median New York homeowner pays $6,450 a year on a home worth $403,000, an effective rate of 1.60% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 62 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in New York run at 107.9 where the national average is 100, ranking it #5 of 51. Goods sit at 107.3, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 122.2, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $58,560 therefore buys what $54,272 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: New York-Newark-Jersey City (112.6) , Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh (109.4) , Ithaca (103.3) , Kingston (100.7) , Albany-Schenectady-Troy (99.6) .
Housing
House prices in New York rose 3.5% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +104.5%. Prices are at or near their record level.
Metro areas tracked here: New York-Jersey City-White Plains (+5.6%) , Albany-Schenectady-Troy (+5.0%) , Buffalo-Cheektowaga (+3.6%) , Rochester (+2.2%) .
Who supplies the power
19 utilities report residential service in New York, together serving 6.8 million customers. Retail choice statewide.
New York: common questions
What does it cost to live in New York?
Prices overall run at 107.9 against a national average of 100, with rents at 122.2. The typical home is worth $403,000 and carries $6,450 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 1.60% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $164 a month at 29.93¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $58,560.
What is the property tax rate in New York?
The effective rate is 1.60% of home value, from a median bill of $6,450. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 62 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in New York?
The median wage of $58,560 buys what $54,272 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line New York falls on.
Is New York expensive for electricity?
It ranks #3 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 29.93¢ per kilowatt-hour, +62.3% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 16 of 51, because households there use 590 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in New York?
$58,560 across all occupations, about $28.16 an hour, covering 9,541,880 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in New York?
19 utilities report residential service, the largest being Consolidated Edison Co-NY Inc with 2.7 million customers. Retail choice statewide.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources