Original data report
NYC Frontline Wages and Borough Rents — 2026 Report
How May 2025 New York metro occupational wages compare with 2024 median gross rent across New York City’s five boroughs.
Published August 28, 2026. Data checked August 28, 2026. Wage estimates: BLS OEWS May 2025. Borough rent estimates: Census ACS 2024 1-year. Housing-program benchmark: HUD FY2026.
Both files are public, stable, and generated from the same pinned source artifact as this page.
- detailed occupations
- 20
- borough rent estimates
- 5
- occupation–borough comparisons
- 100
What this report adds
The June 2026 report Making Growth Matter examines citywide and regional labor-market, housing, and economic trends. This Bespree report is a narrower companion lookup: one common metro wage series for 20 detailed occupations compared with paid gross-rent estimates for each borough, with transparent formulas and 100 downloadable rows. It does not reproduce or replace that report.
The 20 occupations are every role marked “core” in Bespree’s candidate-tools taxonomy at the data freeze, after requiring a complete May 2025 New York metro OEWS artifact. This curated product subset is not representative of all frontline work or all occupations in New York City.
The borough rent estimates
ACS B25064 measures median gross rent paid by cash-rent renter households. Gross rent combines contract rent with renter-paid utilities and fuels. It spans bedroom counts and is not asking rent or a one-bedroom estimate.
| Borough | County equivalent | Median gross rent | 90% margin of error |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bronx | Bronx County | $1,456 | ±$28 |
| Brooklyn | Kings County | $1,837 | ±$22 |
| Manhattan | New York County | $2,212 | ±$60 |
| Queens | Queens County | $1,914 | ±$25 |
| Staten Island | Richmond County | $1,718 | ±$67 |
Each borough is represented by its coextensive county or county equivalent. Dollar amounts are monthly.
Hourly wages for 20 frontline occupations
Every wage below is the May 2025 OEWS estimate for the same New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ metro area. These are not borough wage estimates.
| Occupation | SOC | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th | Metro employment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 43-6014 | $18.00 | $21.70 | $24.73 | $29.40 | $33.73 | 122,680 |
| Bartenders | 35-3011 | $16.54 | $19.13 | $29.43 | $38.10 | $45.50 | 38,510 |
| Cashiers | 41-2011 | $15.79 | $16.50 | $17.28 | $18.33 | $22.12 | 173,830 |
| Nursing Assistants | 31-1131 | $20.79 | $22.80 | $23.69 | $26.53 | $29.10 | 79,480 |
| Childcare Workers | 39-9011 | $16.52 | $17.27 | $18.21 | $21.02 | $22.58 | 48,780 |
| Construction Laborers | 47-2061 | $16.50 | $21.85 | $29.46 | $44.40 | $50.14 | 50,870 |
| Customer Service Representatives | 43-4051 | $17.75 | $20.70 | $23.84 | $29.78 | $37.16 | 125,570 |
| Driver/Sales Workers | 53-3031 | $16.04 | $17.24 | $21.50 | $26.88 | $30.07 | 19,040 |
| Electricians | 47-2111 | $22.20 | $29.81 | $37.99 | $60.59 | $63.54 | 36,550 |
| Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators | 53-7051 | $17.88 | $20.54 | $22.56 | $28.92 | $36.53 | 24,720 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 31-1120 | $17.77 | $18.60 | $19.08 | $21.05 | $22.39 | 644,700 |
| Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 37-2012 | $16.93 | $18.03 | $21.16 | $27.01 | $39.68 | 40,030 |
| Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers | 49-9021 | $24.37 | $29.49 | $37.50 | $44.88 | $52.30 | 21,820 |
| Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 37-2011 | $16.83 | $17.66 | $20.60 | $24.63 | $29.78 | 183,030 |
| Cooks, Restaurant | 35-2014 | $15.89 | $17.66 | $21.03 | $22.75 | $26.08 | 69,250 |
| Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters | 47-2152 | $23.02 | $29.76 | $37.79 | $51.91 | $69.94 | 21,040 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | 35-3031 | $16.26 | $16.98 | $22.89 | $31.00 | $45.97 | 138,720 |
| Retail Salespersons | 41-2031 | $16.67 | $17.58 | $18.40 | $21.67 | $29.30 | 202,080 |
| Security Guards | 33-9032 | $17.00 | $17.76 | $21.15 | $24.77 | $29.19 | 142,760 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 53-7065 | $16.48 | $17.13 | $18.56 | $22.05 | $27.43 | 131,080 |
Home health and personal care aides use the official combined OEWS occupation 31-1120. BLS does not publish a standalone home-health-aide estimate for this metro geography.
Gross-pay hours equal to one month of borough median rent
For each cell, Bespree divides the borough’s ACS median gross rent by the occupation’s common metro median hourly wage. Whole hours are shown here; the download retains at most six decimal places.
| Occupation | Bronx | Brooklyn | Manhattan | Queens | Staten Island |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 59 hours | 74 hours | 89 hours | 77 hours | 69 hours |
| Bartenders | 49 hours | 62 hours | 75 hours | 65 hours | 58 hours |
| Cashiers | 84 hours | 106 hours | 128 hours | 111 hours | 99 hours |
| Nursing Assistants | 61 hours | 78 hours | 93 hours | 81 hours | 73 hours |
| Childcare Workers | 80 hours | 101 hours | 121 hours | 105 hours | 94 hours |
| Construction Laborers | 49 hours | 62 hours | 75 hours | 65 hours | 58 hours |
| Customer Service Representatives | 61 hours | 77 hours | 93 hours | 80 hours | 72 hours |
| Driver/Sales Workers | 68 hours | 85 hours | 103 hours | 89 hours | 80 hours |
| Electricians | 38 hours | 48 hours | 58 hours | 50 hours | 45 hours |
| Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators | 65 hours | 81 hours | 98 hours | 85 hours | 76 hours |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 76 hours | 96 hours | 116 hours | 100 hours | 90 hours |
| Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 69 hours | 87 hours | 105 hours | 90 hours | 81 hours |
| Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers | 39 hours | 49 hours | 59 hours | 51 hours | 46 hours |
| Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 71 hours | 89 hours | 107 hours | 93 hours | 83 hours |
| Cooks, Restaurant | 69 hours | 87 hours | 105 hours | 91 hours | 82 hours |
| Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters | 39 hours | 49 hours | 59 hours | 51 hours | 45 hours |
| Waiters and Waitresses | 64 hours | 80 hours | 97 hours | 84 hours | 75 hours |
| Retail Salespersons | 79 hours | 100 hours | 120 hours | 104 hours | 93 hours |
| Security Guards | 69 hours | 87 hours | 105 hours | 90 hours | 81 hours |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 78 hours | 99 hours | 119 hours | 103 hours | 93 hours |
Read a cell as: the borough’s 2024 median gross rent equaled approximately this many hours of gross pay at the May 2025 New York metro median wage for the occupation. It does not say what a typical worker in that borough earns or pays.
Separate administrative benchmark
HUD FY2026 one-bedroom Fair Market Rent
$2,655 per month
HUD’s $2,655 one-bedroom Fair Market Rent for the New York, NY HMFA is a 40th-percentile housing-program benchmark.
It is shown separately because its bedroom universe, geography, percentile, and construction differ from the ACS borough medians. It is not directly comparable and is not an estimate of average rent.
How career counselors and job seekers can use the table
- Compare the same occupation consistently across borough rent contexts without implying that wages differ by borough.
- Use the wage percentile table to discuss the spread of metro pay, not only the median.
- Use the figures to frame questions about hours, location, benefits, and take-home pay; do not treat them as a personal budget or offer estimate.
Methodology
1
Pin one wage geography
The generator reads May 2025 BLS OEWS wage percentiles for 20 occupations in the New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ metro. The same metro estimate is used in all five borough comparisons.
2
Pin official borough rent estimates
The five 2024 ACS 1-year B25064 estimates and 90% margins of error were extracted from the official table-based summary file using the boroughs’ county-equivalent GEOIDs.
3
Apply one transparent formula
For each occupation and borough: ACS median gross rent ÷ OEWS median hourly wage = gross-pay hours whose wages equal one month of reported median rent.
4
Keep the mixed vintages explicit
The calculation combines nominal May 2025 wages with nominal 2024 rent estimates. Neither series is inflation-adjusted to the other source’s vintage.
5
Keep the interpretation narrow
The calculation uses gross pay before taxes. It is not an individual rent-burden measure, an asking-rent comparison, or a claim about borough wages.
6
Use the current combined care occupation
The home-health role uses OEWS 31-1120, Home Health and Personal Care Aides. A standalone home-health-aide estimate is unavailable at this geography.
Limitations
- The wage geography covers 22 counties in New York and New Jersey, while each rent estimate covers one NYC borough county equivalent.
- May 2025 wage estimates and 2024 rent estimates are combined in nominal source-vintage dollars without an inflation adjustment.
- The 20 occupations are a curated Bespree candidate-tools subset and are not a representative sample of all frontline work.
- ACS median gross rent covers cash-rent renter-occupied units across bedroom counts and does not represent current listings or asking rents.
- The calculation does not account for taxes, benefits, household income, hours actually worked, subsidies, housing size, or an individual worker’s rent.
- ACS rent estimates are survey estimates. The published 90% margins of error are included in the page and download.
- HUD Fair Market Rent is retained only as a separate program benchmark and should not be compared as if it were another borough observation.
Download and cite the data
The main CSV contains one row for every occupation–borough pair. The dictionary defines every field, unit, source, and interpretation.
Suggested citation
Bespree. “NYC Frontline Wages and Borough Rents — 2026 Report.” 2026 edition. BLS OEWS May 2025; Census ACS 2024 1-year B25064; HUD FY2026. Data checked August 28, 2026. https://bespree.com/reports/nyc-frontline-wages-vs-rent-2026
Sources and provenance
- BLS OEWS May 2025 New York metro occupation table · BLS OEWS technical notes
- Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after retrieval.
- Official ACS 2024 1-year B25064 table-based summary file · ACS B25064 table page · ACS gross-rent methodology
- Values were extracted from the official Census summary file; this report does not claim use of the Census Data API.
- Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B25064; retrieved August 28, 2026. Bespree's presentation and derived analysis are not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.
- HUD Fair Market Rents · HUD FY2026 FMR schedule
- Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FY 2026 Fair Market Rents. This product is not endorsed or certified by HUD User.
- Making Growth Matter
- All hours-to-rent figures are Bespree calculations from the pinned source estimates.
Refresh changelog
— Initial data freeze and publication: May 2025 OEWS wages, 2024 ACS 1-year rents, and HUD FY2026 benchmark. Published August 28, 2026.
Continue with the underlying local pay data
Review occupation salary pages for wage context, then use Bespree’s free resume tools when you are ready to apply.