These New Yorkers Use More Welfare Than Anyone Else

Contrary to what many will consider the popular opinion, the economic outlook in many parts of America is taking a downturn, and it may be just a short time before we're looking at a recession.

During the last recession, which was spurred by the COVID-19 Pandemic, it had a big impact on our communities. From urban to rural and everywhere in between, people of all kinds were struggling financially. Over the last 6 years, many have recovered, but not everyone has.

Due to this, a lot of states around the nation saw increases in the number of people using public benefits like welfare, food stamps, utility and rental assistance, and more. With the current federal administration cutting back on services for those who need them the most, it raises an important question.

These New Yorkers Use More Welfare Than Anyone Else

With services like HEAP, Food Stamps, Public Assistance, Medicaid, and more available to people, the Empire State spends quite a bit of taxpayer cash to take care of people. However, have you ever wondered who is actually using the services?

Monthly, the Empire State publishes all sorts of data on how it spends our money. That includes who is getting public benefits and what it's going towards. Looking over the Open NY Data website, which breaks down exactly how much money was spent by the state, the data from June 2025 is quite surprising:

In June, more than 700,000 New Yorkers received Public Assistance Cash Benefits, and nearly 3 million received food stamps, which cost taxpayers more than $900 million in just the month of June.

That is a lot of money, but who in New York is getting most of those benefits?

With nearly half of the population living in New York City, it should come as no surprise that the largest chunk of people receiving assistance is there. However, believe it or not, the next four counties are all rural counties in New York.