New York City doled out more than $2.6 billion in cash assistance to city residents in 2025, a review of city records showed. The money reached a record 864,999 people, a 30-year high not matched since before former Mayor Rudy Giuliani instituted major welfare reform in the early 2000s.
Welfare Payments on the Rise
The $2.6 billion figure represents a 71% increase from 2022’s $1.57 billion, data showed. When coupled with payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the city paid out more than $7 billion in welfare programs to residents in 2024, according to a review of data from the city’s Human Resources Administration (HRA).
The rise in welfare payments comes as some of New York City’s wealthiest contemplate a Big Apple exodus due to what many have described as a policy environment unfriendly to businesses and moneymakers. Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin notably threatened to put a major Midtown renovation on hold for his Citadel offices after socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani targeted him by name in a video announcing a new tax on second homes in the city.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
