Sales tax collections for local governments and other local taxing entities in New York State totaled $11.9 billion in the first half of 2025, up 3.7 percent ($423 million) over the same period last year. Over the past few years, since the end of the dramatic pandemic-related swings in collections from 2020 to 2022, first-half sales taxes are showing similar patterns of growth as in the years following the recession-related dip in 2009. All of the state’s 10 regions saw year-over-year growth in first-half collections.

In State Fiscal Year 2024-25, the Office of Unclaimed Funds returned a record $633 million to rightful owners, a 25% increase over the previous year.

New York State agency overtime costs increased 10.2% in 2024 for a total of $1.3 billion, while the number of overtime hours increased by 7.8%, or 1.8 million hours higher than the previous year. This was the second year in a row the workforce increased to an average annual total of 151,309, but headcount is still below where it was in 2019 and markedly lower than 15 years ago when it was over 177,000.