New York City residents saw their wealth drop 13% in the last year
Westend61/Getty Images
As Bloomberg's Jack Pitcher reports, a new report from Webster Pacific and New World Wealth found that, looking at wealth levels from June 2020, the combined wealth of New Yorkers shrank by around $336 billion over the past year.
According to Bloomberg, New York saw the greatest drop among major cities in the past year.
From 65 billionaires in a 2019 report, New York City had 60 in 2020.
The number of millionaires also shrank: while 380,000 lived in New York in 2019, there were only 347,600 as of this June.
In March, New York City became the epicenter of the country's coronavirus pandemic, although the city has now had three straight days without any confirmed coronavirus deaths, NBC New York reports.
The US' second-wealthiest city — San Francisco — wasn't as hard hit; per Bloomberg, it only lost 5% of its wealth — around $105 billion.
Overall, the report found that total wealth in the US decreased by 9% during the first six months of 2020.
It attributes that drop to an increase in household debt, falling income levels, job losses, declining stocks, and a weaker property market.
However, while the US remains the wealthiest country in the world, over 30 million people in the US are receiving unemployment benefits.
The stimulus package from March just lapsed — leaving the unemployed short of an extra $600 in benefits and around 23 million people at risk of being evicted as foreclosure moratoriums lapsed.
The increase in benefits ended last week, although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled that he would support an extension of it if President Donald Trump backs it.
While the worst of the coronavirus pandemic recession has likely passed, Business Insider's Carmen Reinicke reports that there are still major hurdles to recovery ahead — including surges in cases and deaths.
Read the original article on Business Insider
