The rich have been enjoying unprecedented wealth gains, while workers struggle against sluggish wages and a high cost of living. And the gap is especially stark in one of the country’s most billionaire-dense states.
New York is home to 154 billionaires boasting a collective fortune of $975.7 billion, according to a new report from Oxfam America. Thanks to the state’s position as a financial and investing hub, it’s home to many ultra-rich residents, including Mike Bloomberg ($109 billion) and Stephen Schwarzman ($41.9 billion). And their eye-watering net worths are only growing bigger; over the past year, the wealth of the state’s billionaires increased 11.6%, three times greater than the hourly wage of New York’s private-sector workers. The disparity is worsened by the fact that real average hourly earnings in the state’s private sector have largely stagnated and were even slightly lower in 2025 than before the pandemic, the Oxfam report pointed out.
