Sales tax collections for local governments and other local taxing entities in New York State totaled $23.4 billion in calendar year 2024, up 1.6 percent (or nearly $376 million) from the prior year. This increase not only marked the lowest year-over-year rate of growth in collections since the COVID-related decline in 2020, but it was less than half the average annual growth rate (3.8 percent) for the 2011 to 2019 period of recovery and expansion following the Great Recession.

New York’s child care sector continues to face lingering challenges post-pandemic including child care deserts, low wages for child care workers and high prices that are putting a financial strain on families statewide. Yet even with high prices, many providers operate on thin margins, with financial and regulatory pressures that make expansion or even operating at capacity challenging. Vigorous federal support and additional State efforts are necessary to improve the availability of child care.

This report highlights Fiscal Stress Monitoring System (FSMS) results for school districts that reported for school fiscal year (SY) 2023-24, which ended on June 30, 2024. Of the 670 districts scored, 22, or 3.3 percent, received a fiscal stress designation. This is six more than in SY 2022-23. The report also includes a look at districts that have experienced chronic fiscal stress over the twelve years since FSMS began and a brief analysis of the system’s companion set of environmental indicators.

Homelessness in New York State has grown sharply, more than doubling between January 2022 and January 2024. A key reason for the increase has been the mass arrival of asylum seekers to New York in this period. While the homelessness increase was driven mostly by New York City, the rest of the State’s regions also experienced increases during this time period.

New York City’s 65 and older population grew by nearly half a million seniors in the last two decades, an increase of 53%. Much of the growth was led by Asian, Hispanic and Black seniors calling the City home, along with more seniors born outside the U.S. The City needs to continue to monitor the trends of the aging population to ensure services remain commensurate with need and outreach is robust.