Reports

Seven villages were designated in fiscal stress under the Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (FSMS) for their fiscal year ending in 2025. One village was designated in “significant fiscal stress,” four in “moderate fiscal stress,” and two as “susceptible to fiscal stress.”

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.

New York City’s Department for the Aging is facing rising demand for home care and case management services that help older residents remain independent, resulting in a growing waitlist for assistance. This report highlights challenges such as funding uncertainty that may affect the agency’s ability to meet increasing needs.

This report examines New York City’s expanded efforts to address the rise in it’s unsheltered (street homeless) population. The analysis recommends the City make better use of data collected through outreach, placement, and service programs to more clearly show where it has been most effective at helping people move into permanent housing. It also highlights the need to improve the efficiency of shelter placements as funding for street homeless programs is projected to remain largely flat after Fiscal Year 2026.

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.

This analysis of the proposed Executive Budget warns that the trajectory of projected State spending is estimated to increase at a rate faster than expected revenues, creating cumulative outyear budget gaps estimated by the Division of Budget to total $27.5 billion through SFY 2030 while reserves remain stagnant. Actions taken in Washington, including federal reductions in aid, create increased fiscal strains that are likely to affect the State’s economy, finances and safety net, necessitating increased caution when developing a spending plan. The proposed Budget also limits government accountability by eroding current contract oversight requirements.

New York’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) has not kept pace with inflation or rising tuition costs since the 2008-09 academic year. Undergraduate TAP recipients dropped by 77,000 (21%), with steep declines among two-year programs (45%), private-sector schools (40%), and the lowest income households (38%). Recent State actions to expand eligibility for TAP helped lead to an increase in TAP beneficiaries in AY 2024-25; however, continued attention to the program is critical as students face mounting debt levels and federal support is reduced.

Sales tax collections for local governments and other local taxing entities in New York State totaled $24.4 billion in 2025, up 4.5 percent ($1 billion) over the prior year. This growth was close to three times the year-over-year increase for 2024 (1.6 percent) and higher than the 3.8 percent average pre-pandemic rate. All of the state’s 10 regions saw year-over-year increases in collections in 2025. New York City’s sales taxes grew by 5 percent ($521 million), while collections in the counties and cities in the rest of the state experienced 3.9 percent ($451 million) aggregate growth. | Regional Table

This report explores publicly available School Safety and Educational Climate (SSEC) data from the New York State Education Department for School Years (SY) 2017-18 through 2023-24. Included is a trend analysis of several “violent and disruptive” incidents (e.g., assault, sexual offenses, weapons possession, bullying, cyberbullying and drug and alcohol incidents), the impact of the SY 2021-22 SSEC incident definition changes for several serious categories, and schools that reported no violent and disruptive incidents. | Download School-Level Data

New York City’s Open Streets program, initiated in 2020 to transform streets into public spaces, partly to support local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, helped support the recovery of more than 67,000 retail and restaurant jobs between the first and most recent year of operation, though the gains were concentrated in areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn. This report analyzes labor force trends between 2020 and 2024 to understand the extent of how employment growth in Open Street corridors fared against non-Open Street corridors.

This report highlights Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (FSMS) results for school districts that reported financial data for school fiscal year (SY) 2024-25, which ended on June 30, 2025. Of the 669 districts scored, 4.6 percent (31 districts) received a fiscal stress designation. This was nine districts more than in SY 2023-24. The report also analyzes the several indicator categories (e.g., low fund balance, operating deficit, etc.) that measure fiscal stress, the number of districts that have been in chronic stress since FSMS began in SY 2012-13, and the environmental indicators (e.g., high teacher turnover, high poverty, etc.) that can provide context for understanding why a district may be designated in stress.

This analysis offers a snapshot of New York City’s existing child care and Early Childhood Education services, the program characteristics unique to each, and an estimate of their total overall cost to the City.

A look back at some of the major accomplishments of the Office of the New York State Comptroller in 2025.  

This listing includes all final audit reports related to State agency and public authority operations issued during the five-year period from October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2022, and is a companion to the 2024–2025 Annual Report on Audits.

This annual report summarizes the results of all the State agency and public authority audit reports issued by the Office of the State Comptroller from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025.

New York City’s budget gaps may reach as high as $10 billion in FY 2027 and grow to $13.6 billion by FY 2029, based on risks including slowing economic growth, rising costs and the restructuring of the funding relationship between the federal government, states and their localities. Mindful of the current economic trajectory and what is transpiring in Washington, the City must make balanced and sustainable fiscal choices this year to manage its substantial operational needs and encourage employment and business growth.

The New Yorkers’ Financial Snapshot brings together recent data from national and State sources to provide an overview of household financial health. This snapshot examines key indicators such as income, assets, debt, and financial stress, offering insight into how New Yorkers have fared in recent years and how they compare to national trends.

New York’s young adults — some members of Generation Z (born 1997-2012) and Millennials (born 1981-1996) — are facing a complex economic landscape, including higher unemployment rates, increasing costs, and larger debt burdens, that threatens their financial well-being. Rising household expenses, particularly for food, housing, and transportation, have outpaced growth in income. These conditions raise concerns about the State’s ability to retain its young workforce, critical for sustaining long-term growth.

New York City Health + Hospitals will see pressure on key sources of revenue as Medicaid and low-income patients that rely on federal support lose health insurance, while reimbursement rates for health care programs are cut by Washington, making it harder for the largest public health system in the country to reach its financial goals.