In the New York Times article "Gap Between Manhattan’s Rich and Poor Is Greatest in U.S., Census Finds," Sam Roberts investigates demographic trends with data and analysis from Social Explorer and Andrew Beveridge.  Newly released data from the American Community Survey reveal that "Manhattan is becoming an island of extremes."

The mean income of the top 5 percent of households in Manhattan soared 9 percent in 2013 over 2012, giving Manhattan the biggest dollar income gap of any county in the country, according to data from the Census Bureau.

The top 5 percent of households earned $864,394, or 88 times as much as the poorest 20 percent, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which is being released Thursday and covers the final year of the Bloomberg administration.

“The recovery seems to be going to those at the top, much more than those in the middle, while those at the bottom may even be losing ground,” said Andrew A. Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College of the City University of New York. He attributed the disparity to the surging costs of housing and the lack of housing subsidies and other forms of public assistance available to many needy families.

Among the latest New York City demographic trends:

• Median income rose to $52,223 from $51,640, but that is still well below the 2008 level of $55,307.
• Non-Hispanic whites had the highest median income at $75,145, while Hispanics had the lowest income at $36,196.
• Household income climbed in every borough except Staten Island.
• The citywide poverty rate stagnated at about 21 percent.
• About 1.7 million New Yorkers were living below the official federal threshold for poverty.
• About 45 percent of New York City households said they spent 35 percent or more of their income on housing.

Click here to read the full article.

Social Explorer will soon add the new 2013 American Community Survey data.  In the meantime, explore wealth and poverty neighborhood by neighborhood in the following map.  The two Manhattan maps compare the mean income of the top five percent of households (on the left) and the poverty rate (on the right) based on American Community Survey data from 2008-12 at the census tract level.