New York welfare payments hit $2.6 billion, a 30-year high in 2025
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New York City will provide more than $2.6 billion in cash assistance to city residents in 2025, according to a review by Fox News Digital. city records showed.
The money reached 864,999 people, the highest level in 30 years since former Mayor Rudy Giuliani launched a major welfare reform in the early 2000s.
The $2.6 billion figure represents a 71% increase over 2022’s $1.57 billion, the data showed.
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A sign and a SNAP logo at the supermarket entrance saying Welcome EBT customers on November 13, 2025 in Lafayette, California. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Combined with payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the city will pay more than $7 billion in benefits to residents in 2024, according to a Fox News analysis. data from the city’s Human Resources Administration (HRA).
The increase in welfare payments comes as some of New York City’s wealthiest are considering an exodus from the Big Apple due to what they describe as an unfriendly policy environment for businesses and earners.
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Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has threatened to put a major renovation on hold, particularly at the Citadel offices in Midtown, after socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani targeted him by name in a video announcing a new tax on second homes in the city.
“When I ran for mayor, I said I would tax the rich… Today we tax the rich. This tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich,” Mamdani said while recording a video outside the building where Griffin’s penthouse is located.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani (Kyle Mazza/Anatolia via Getty Images)
“This is an annual fee for luxury properties valued at more than $5 million whose owners do not live in the city full-time — like this penthouse. hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought it for $238 million.”
In critical comments, Griffin called the video “inappropriate.”
“What really upset me about the video was that it put me in danger… And endangering any citizen is inappropriate behavior for one of our political leaders,” Griffin said. in questionalso calls the video “creepy” and “scary”.
On April 15, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted a video outside Ken Griffin’s Manhattan penthouse supporting a new “tax the rich” policy. (Spencer Platt/Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Although Mamdani inherited the state of his city’s welfare system from his predecessors, his policy decisions show continued growth in payments.
The city’s nearly $126 billion new budget, which Mamdani and city councilors agreed to in June, includes $14.63 billion in spending for the HRA, which is responsible for social assistance and social services.
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The 2026 budget allocated $11.97 billion to the HRA, providing a social service allocation of more than $2.6 billion in the 2027 budget compared to the previous year.
The $14.63 billion for 2026 represents 14% of the city’s total budget.
Fox News Digital has contacted HRA and Mayor Mamdani’s office for further comment.
