And in nearly every category, New Yorkers felt worse about the city in 2023 than they did in 2017 and 2008.
How would you rate the quality of life in New York City overall?
2023: 29.8 percent of New Yorkers rated the quality of life in New York City as “excellent” or “good”
2017: 51.2 percent of New Yorkers rated the quality of life in New York City as “excellent” or “good”
2008: 50.9 percent of New Yorkers rated the quality of life in New York City as “excellent” or “good”
“The drop is stark,” said Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, even as he stressed that context matters. In 2017, New York City was “seven years into a really robust recovery,” he said. In 2023, New York City was still emerging from a pandemic that brought economic and social upheaval.
While New Yorkers largely agreed that quality of life in New York City was unimpressive, they diverged widely on how that manifested itself in their particular neighborhoods — an apparent reflection of neighborhood wealth.
Residents of Brooklyn’s Community Board 6, which includes Carroll Gardens, Gowanus, Park Slope, Cobble Hill and Red Hook, were the city’s most content, with more than 38 percent describing their local quality of life as “excellent.” The nearby communities of Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene and Dumbo clocked in next, with 37.8 percent calling their neighborhoods “excellent,” followed by Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.
“Gosh,” said Andrew Gounardes, a state senator whose district encompasses several of those Brooklyn neighborhoods. “I would guess that that’s due to a combination of factors, probably access to parks — whether it’s Prospect Park or the waterfront parks, green space, lots of strong schools, lots of vibrant nightlife and commercial corridors and restaurants and small businesses.”
In no other neighborhood did more than 30 percent rate of residents rate their neighborhood as highly.
