It's Not You: NYC Rents Rising Faster than Income

A new report from the NYU Furman Center finds that most New Yorkers rent, and median rents are rising faster than median incomes.

"It's a huge problem," said Ingrid Gould Ellen, faculty director of the NYU Furman Center.

According to the annual study, between 2005 and 2013 median rent levels increased by almost 12 percent, while the median income for people who rent increased by just 2 percent.

And if you have an apartment, it's probably cheaper to keep it than to try to find a new place.

"People who are actually already living in apartments are paying somewhat lower rents than if you actually tried to go out and either move to a new apartment or move to New York," added Gould Ellen.

She said median asking rent is $2,900; that's more than double the rent paid by all renters in the city.

The report also considered how dense New York City is; it found that neighborhoods with the smallest amount of square feet per person include Fordham and University Heights in the Bronx, Bushwick and Sunset Park in Brooklyn and Jackson Heights and Elmhurst Corona in Queens.  

The neighborhoods with the most room to sprawl, inside anyway, include the Upper East Side, the Financial District and Stuyvesant Town.