Reports

As required by Section 196 of the Navigation Law, the Comptroller prepares an annual report to the State Legislature and the Governor. The report includes: a description of the costs and damages paid by and recovered for the Fund; the monies spent pursuant to Section 186 (including amounts spent for oil spill prevention, training activities and equipment purchased), and the economic and environmental impacts on the State.

The New York State Legislature amended the State Finance Law in 2015 by adding a new Section 8-c providing for the establishment of a statewide electronic system to help detect and prevent fraud, waste and abuse in government spending and to help avoid improper payment of public funds.

State taxpayers supported worthy causes by contributing to programs through personal income tax checkoffs, but too much money is sitting idle instead of helping nonprofit organizations or research and other efforts. This analysis found that while some of New York’s tax checkoff funds reported increased spending in State Fiscal Year 2026, over half had no spending at all.

In State Fiscal Year 2025-26, the Office of Unclaimed Funds returned a record $651 million to rightful owners.

New York State’s overall homeless population declined in the past year, even as many communities outside New York City saw troubling increases.

The estimated $277 billion Enacted Budget for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2027 is an increase of 7% from SFY 2026, with the state Division of the Budget projecting that disbursements will exceed receipts in each year of the Financial Plan, raising questions about long-term fiscal sustainability.

Comptroller DiNapoli has launched a new taxpayer migration dashboard that allows users to track the number of personal income tax filers moving in and out of New York. Using data from the Department of Taxation and Finance, the dashboard provides the latest information on part-year resident tax filers and will be updated annually to allow the public the ability to analyze trends on taxpayers moving into and out of the state each year.

The Procurement Stewardship Act Report is prepared annually by the Office of the New York State Comptroller as required by New York State Finance Law, Section 163.14. The Report provides information on state agency contracts, agency purchases from centralized contracts, bid protests and use of consultants during the past fiscal year. 

For State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2025-26, agencies paid vendors $4,239,678 in interest for reasons including: delays in encumbrance processing, and agency backlog or agency processing delays.

The New York State Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) Asset Management and Financial Institution Strategy was enacted to codify and replicate best practices for providing MWBEs that are asset managers, investment banks and financial and professional service providers with the opportunity to offer services to fiduciary-controlled entities established by New York State law. 

Of the total contracts reported by State agencies in 2025, 76 percent were processed after their start or renewal dates, a decrease from 78 percent in 2024.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-year Estimates, median household income in every county in New York increased from 2019 to 2024. However, adjusting for inflation reveals that for many New York counties, incomes are not keeping pace with expenses, compounding affordability challenges.

This report examines the usage and significance of New York State’s park system, managed by the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Sites saw 86 million visits in 2025. This marks a 10-year increase of 16.7 million visits, (24 percent), or 45,701 more per day, since 2016.

New York lost 500 farms and 100,000 acres of farmland between 2024 and 2025, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in February 2026. While the U.S. also experienced losses in this time period, the 1.6 percent loss of farms in New York was double the national rate of 0.8 percent, and the 1.5 percent decline in farmland was five times the national rate.

New York State agency overtime costs increased 22.7% in 2025 for a total of $1.6 billion, while the number of overtime hours increased by 5.9%, or 1.4 million hours higher than the previous year. The size of the state workforce, not including SUNY and CUNY, grew for a third straight year in 2025 increasing by 2.7%, or 4,139 positions, from 2024, to an average annual total of 155,448.

New York had one of the steepest drops of any state in international tourism in 2025, with overseas travelers falling 3% — a loss of over 176,000 visitors — second only to California. The decline is hurting the state’s economy, as fewer visitors means less spending and a smaller number of jobs in hotels and restaurants.

Over the course of 2025, tariff levels were in flux; 43 executive orders were issued modifying tariffs on specific types of products or on specific countries. In addition, trade agreements were either made or amended which also modified tariff levels. These varying tariff policies injected uncertainty into the economy. As a result of the new policies, U.S. exports declined to over one-third of the nation’s trading partners and to almost one-half of New York’s trading partners in 2025

This report details how vital small businesses are to New York’s economy, generating nearly $1 trillion in sales and revenues with more than 3.7 million employees at over 422,000 establishments in 2023. New York ranked fourth among states in the number of small businesses and third behind California and Florida for its share of small businesses, but trailed the rest of the country in some key metrics, including small business creation and employment.

This report uses federal-state employment and wage data, as well as occupational data and industry outlooks, to discuss the distribution of jobs by industry sector in New York State and the impact that some of the largest sectors have had on 21st-century jobs in the state’s nine economic development regions outside of New York City.

The long-term decline in the number of individuals in State prisons has led to a demographic shift towards an older incarcerated population and necessitates increased attention to policies and costs associated with this population. This report reviews demographic changes in New York’s prison population, changes in prison admission trends and recent policy changes that impact the level of incarceration in the State. Careful evaluation of crime trends, rehabilitation and the heightened healthcare costs for this older population is necessary to determine an approach that protects taxpayers and ensures public safety, while also promoting humane care and reducing incarceration wherever possible.