Take everything you think you know about "affordable" alternatives to pricey neighborhoods and throw it out the window. This map from the Community Service Society (first shared by the Daily News) analyzes newly released census data that compares median rents between 2002 and 2014. The data is drawn from a New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Urban Development survey of 18,000 New Yorkers every three years who had recently moved, which "eliminates the tendency of lower rents paid by long-time tenants to smooth out market changes and mask the changes that affect tenants who are looking for a place to live," according to CSS. The report shows that rents citywide have increased 32 percent over the past 12 years, not a new or surprising figure. But it also shows drastic increases in neighborhoods that have been traditionally thought of as more affordable. Central Harlem saw the biggest jump at 90 percent; the average rent in 2002 for new residents was $821 and now it's skyrocketed to $1,560. Other no-longer-affordable neighborhoods are Bed-Stuy at a 63 percent increase and Washington Heights/Inwood at 55 percent. The other 'hoods topping the list include less surprising areas like Brooklyn Heights/DUMBO/Fort Greene at 59 percent and Williamsburg/Greenpoint at 53 percent.
More findings from the report