Essay Example on Explore NYC: America's Largest and Most Influential Metropolis

Introduction

New York City, also officially known as the City of New York, is situated at the source of Hudson River, southeastern New York State in the northeastern United States. It is the most influential and largest U.S metropolis and includes the western area of Long Island, Staten Islands, and Manhattan as well as a small part of New York state mainland located in Manhattan North. In reality, the City of New York is a collection of different neighborhoods spread around its five boroughs, which include Staten Island, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, where each exhibits its distinct lifestyle (Donnelly, 2019). It is also the most international and populous in America. New York City, furthermore, has approximately 4,919 census tracts, 350,169 census blocks, and 15, 464 block clusters (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). It is essential to comprehend its neighborhood to improve the lives of its population.

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Assessment

New York City has a population of approximately 8,175,133 individuals, according to the U.S census conducted in 2010. It also has a population percentage increase of 2.0% that is 8,336,817 people as of projection-based in 2019 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). Among this population, 6.5% are below five years, while those below 18 years are 20.9%, and individuals aged 65 years and above are 53.3%, and only 26.8% are between 18 and 65 years (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). Therefore, following the projected increase, it may be expected that as New York City continues to grow, the number of aged population that is individuals above 65 years will also increase.

The data also illustrates that the majority of the people in New York City are Whites at 42.7% of its total population, followed by African Americans or Blacks at 24.3%, and American Indians take the least percentage at 0.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). Regarding their origin, individuals from White alone comprise of the highest percentage at 32.1%, while those from Latino or Hispanic origin take the second and third rank at 29.1%, and 3.5% of its population are from two or more races (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). This data reveals that races are continuing to intermarry, which could increase their number of individuals with two or more races.

The median household revenue, according to data undertaken from 2014 to 2018, was estimated to be approximately $60,765 annually, with a poverty level of 18.9% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). However, the poverty level has a significant drop of 1.7%, in comparison to data collected in 2014. This may be attributed to an increase in average income from the mean poverty salary of $40,688. Despite such a drop in the poverty level and an increase in average income, poverty is still a massive problem in New York City. Therefore, there is a need to reduce poverty levels.

The median occupied units in New York was estimated to be approximately 32.7% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). The media value of the owner-occupies was $570,500, while the mean for monthly occupied units that are mortgaged and not mortgaged are valued $2665 and $871, respectively (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). The mean gross rent, on the other hand, was valued at $1396. This data illustrates that majority of the individuals in New York that is 67.3% are unable to afford housing (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). This may be attributed to the high value of housing, such as owner-occupied value and rent, as shown by the gross rent.

Furthermore, based on education characteristics on 2010 census data, most individuals aged over 25 years have earned at least a high school graduate. They comprise of 81.6% and only 37.4% of people aged 25 years have earned at least a bachelor’s degree (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). This illustrates that the majority of the individuals in New York are unable to further their education. However, this may be attributed to education being expensive. Besides, most of these populations earn a low income, as shown by a per capita income of $37,693 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). Therefore, these factors may make education unaffordable for a large population.

Conclusion

Based on the assessment of the social-economic and housing data, it is evident that the majority of the population in New York are unable to afford housing and education. This has been attributed to high poverty levels and low per capita income. Therefore, this is a need to formulate a policy to help lower poverty levels and increase the per capita income of the New York population. One of the most effective policy community leaders in New York City should fund or push is that which increases the minimum wage (Semenova & Paget, 2018). Currently, according to the Minimum Wage Act, every employee in New York should be paid a minimum of $11.80 per hour. If all the community leaders join hands and push a policy that requires employees to receive $15.00 per hour, this may lower the poverty level by approximately 4% from the current 18.9%. This policy may further increase the per capita income to the projected $75,472 in 2020 (Semenova & Paget, 2018). Therefore, most individuals in New York, regardless of their race and education level, would afford to further their education beyond a bachelor’s degree. They would also afford housing, which would, in turn, increase the median occupied units despite their value and median gross rent.

We invite the opportunity to extensively discuss this policy aimed at raising the minimum wage to help New York City reduce its poverty level and make both housing and education affordable for every individual living within its neighborhood. Thank you

References

Donnelly, F. (2019). Finding NYC Neighborhood Census Data. https://faculty.baruch.cuny.edu/geoportal/resources/census/census_nbhd.pdf

Semenova, A., & Paget, S. (2018). Adapting to $15: as the minimum wage approaches $15 in NYC, business owners are finding ways to make it work. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/304/

U.S. Census Bureau. (2020). Quick facts: New York City, New York. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/newyorkcitynewyork