New York Post, Sunday, November 15, 2020nypost.comBy MELISSA KLEINMore than 300,000 New Yorkers
have bailed on the Big Apple in
the last eight months, stats show.
City residents filed 295,
change-of-address requests from
March 1 through Oct. 31, accord-
ing to data The Post obtained
from the US Postal Service under
the Freedom of Information Act.
Since the data detail only when
11 or more forwarding requests
were made to a particular county
outside the city, the number of
moves is actually higher. And a
single address change could rep-
resent a household, which means
far more than 300,000 people
have fled the five boroughs.
Whatever the exact number, the
exodus — which began when
COVID-19 hit the city in early
spring — is much greater than in
prior years. From just March
through July, there were 244,
change-of-address requests to
destinations outside of the city,
more than double the 101,342 dur-
ing the same period in 2019.
The escape from New York is
fueled not only by pandemic fears,
but economic worries, school
chaos and rising crime, experts say.
Michael Hendrix, director of
state and local policy at the Man-
hattan Institute, which has com-
missioned surveys about the state
of the city, was not surprised by
the data.
“I think people are afraid,” Hen-
drix said. “They’re afraid of
catching a deadly virus, and
they’re afraid of crime and otherquality-of-life concerns. One
thing we also hear is about trash
and cleanliness of the city.”
The institute’s survey of six-fig-
ure earners in July and August
found that 44 percent had consid-
ered moving outside the city in the
prior four months. They cited cost
of living as the biggest reason.
Thirty-eight percent said they
thought the city was heading in
the wrong direction, and only 38
percent rated the quality of life as
good or excellent. Fifty-three per-
cent said they were very con-
cerned about sending their kids
back to school.
“The biggest reason for people
leaving the city is uncertainty
about when the pandemic will be
over and how quickly the New
York economy will recover,” said
Kathryn Wylde, head of the Part-
nership for New York City.
“More than half a million city
residents who were employed in
the retail, restaurant, services
sectors have lost their jobs and
cannot afford city rents. The late
decision on reopening public and
private schools forced many fami-
lies to relocate so they could
make enrollment deadlines in dis-
tricts where they were living dur-
ing the pandemic.”
The partnership was behind a
September plea from top busi-
ness leaders urging Mayor de
Blasio to crack down on crime
and quality-of-life concerns.
The postal data show that many
fleeing New Yorkers simply
crossed the border to Long Is-
land, Westchester or New Jersey.The USPS received 21,362 change
requests to Suffolk County, 18,
to Nassau County and 15,850 to
Westchester County. A total of
9,356 wanted their mail sent to
Hudson County, NJ.
The Hamptons — where many
families have stayed in second
homes and enrolled their kids in
schools — was a desired destina-
tion, with 6,500 requests to six
East End ZIP codes. Easthampton
topped the list of requests with
2,769, and Southampton had 1,398.
Popular locales closer to New
York City were Jersey City and
Hoboken and the posh suburbs
Scarsdale and Greenwich, Conn.
Some New Yorkers went far
afield — 8,587 asked for their mail
to go to Los Angeles and 421 to
Honolulu. There were 13,009 re-
quests for Florida’s Palm Beach,
Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
The data do not show whether
the requests were permanent.
The stats back up what New
Yorkers are seeing in the
streets. Moving trucks have dot-
ted city neighborhoods, with mov-
ers saying residents were packing
up for the suburbs and beyond.
Three ZIP codes on the Upper
West Side — where residents
have protested two new homeless
shelters and complained about
rising crime — had a total of
9,076 mail-forwarding requests,
the biggest chunk in the city.
Murray Hill, a popular Midtown
neighborhood for young people,
saw 2,889 requests, suggesting
many residents may have gone
back to childhood homes.address filings reveal NYC exodus
WHEREWHERETHEYTHEYTHEYFLEDFLEDFROMFROMToToToTopppZIPZIPcodescodescodescodesNewNewYoYoYoYorkrkrkrkrkrkrkrkrkrkrkersersersersersersexitedexited
betwbetwbetwbetwbetwbetwbetwbetwbetwbetweeneeneeneeneeneeneenMarMarMarMarMarMarMarMarMarchchchch 1 andandOct.Oct.31,31,2020,2020,
withwithwiththethethenumbernumbernumbernumberofofchange-of-change-of-
addraddraddraddraddraddraddraddraddressessessessrererequestsquestsquestsforforeacheachararararea:ea:ea:ea:1.UpperWestSide,10023:
3,
2.UpperWestSide,10025:
3,
3.MurrayHill,10016:2,
4.UpperWestSide,10024:
2,
5.Chelsea/Chelsea/Chelsea/GrGreenwich
Village,10011:2,
6.UpperEastSide,10128:
2,
7.DowntownBrooklyn,
11201:1,
8.Gramercycycy/East/EastVillage,
10003:1,
9.UpperEastSide,10028:
1,
10.MidtownEast,10022:
1,
11.MidtownWest,10019:
1,
12.UpperEastSide,10021:
1,
13.Chelsea,10001:1,
14.WestVillage,10014:
1,
15.ParkSlope,Brooklyn,
11215:1,
16.RoseHill/PeterCooper
Village,10010:1,
17.Midtown,10018: 987
18.Tribeca/ibeca/ibeca/ChinatoChinatown,
10013: 899
19.Midtown,10036: 837
20.EastVillage,10009: 728Morethan2,80 0Morethan2,10 0Morethan1,40 0Morethan 70015379264810201412161811151319 17Source:UnitedStates
PostalServiceWHERE THEY LANDEDTop destinations for
NewYorkers who left
the city between March
and October, with the
number ofchange-of-
addressrequests for
each ZIP code:16.GreatNeck/Manhasset,NY,11021: 380
17.HamptonBays,NY,11946: 344
18.Darien,CT,06820: 326
19.MountVernon,NY,10550: 325
20.LongBeach,NY,11561: 32311.PortWashington,NY,11050: 414
12.WesthamptonBeach,NY,11978: 409
13.Princeton,NJ,08540: 395
14.Woodstock,NY,12498: 392
15.NewCanaan,CT,06840: 3896.Scarsdale,NY,10583: 812
7.WaterMill,NY,11976: 577
8.Greenwich,CT,06830: 558
9.Yonkers,NY:10701, 567
10.JerseyCity,NJ,07310: 4341.EastHampton,NY,11937:2,
2.JerseyCity,NJ,07302:1,
3.Southampton,NY,11968:1,
4.Hoboken,NJ,07030:1,
5.SagHarbor,NY,11963: 9611537926481020121618111517191314NJ
NY CT
Nassau
CountySuffolk
CountyL o n g I s l a n d S o u n deacheacheacheacheacheachNJ