It’s the story of the little big borough that could.
For decades, the business and commercial sector had given up on The Bronx as the city abandoned us along with the arson by landlords trying to unload quickly devaluing properties.
But through it all, we persevered and rebuilt ourselves the best way we could—by ourselves with the sweat equity of volunteers community leaders, orgs and everything in between.
New York’s strong economic recovery is breathing new life into the Bronx. As Manhattan and Brooklyn struggle to cope with housing affordability, more and more people are moving to the Bronx, enticed by its strong transportation access and affordable housing stock.
In 2015 alone, more than 13,500 people relocated to the Bronx. Since 2010, the borough’s population has increased by 70,300 people, or 5.1 percent. The Bronx has led not just the city of New York, but also the entire state, in terms of growth.
The Bronx’s Creative Class—workers who make a living using their minds, whether in science, technology, law, and medical industries, or academia, media, management, and finance—contains just over 86,000 workers, or about 32 percent of the borough’s workforce. On average, creative workers in the Bronx earn an annual salary of $77,875 per year—4 percent more than those working in Brooklyn. Just two out of every ten residents in the Bronx—around 130,000 workers—are members of the Creative Class.
The Bronx’s creative workforce pales in comparison to the size of its Service Class, which consists of routine jobs in food preparation and service, retail trade, personal care, and clerical and administrative positions. With 132,000 employees, the Service Class accounts for nearly half of the Bronx’s workforce, or approximately 272,000 residents. Service workers in the Bronx earn just $30,400 annually—34 percent less than those working in Manhattan.
While many still think of the Bronx as a manufacturing center, the Bronx’s Working Class accounts for just 18.2 percent of its total workforce—50,000 workers. Members of the Working Class in the Bronx earn an average annual salary of $39,000—more than the Service Class, but just half the average salary of the Bronx’s Creative Class. Altogether, an estimated 140,000 blue-collar workers call the Bronx home—around 25.7 percent of the borough’s total residents.
The Bronx’s Creative Clusters
While dominated by the Service Class, the Bronx boasts a number of competitive strengths in the creative economy. The chart below breaks down the borough’s creative clusters by employment, ten-year projection, annual salary, and location quotient.
Read the full story at Huffington Post: The Bronx Is Back: Health Care And Education Jobs Spur New Growth
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