Cornell’s Empire State Poll Finds New Yorkers Concerned about the Cost of Living and the New York State Economy

New data from the 2026 Empire State Poll (ESP) reveals substantial economic concerns among New York State residents. 42.9% of respondents consider cost of living to be the most important issue facing New York State as a whole. This is a considerable increase from 2024 ESP data, wherein 28.8% of respondents said that cost of living was the most important issue. The other top issues in 2026 are also related to cost of living, including taxes (8.6%), economic inequality (7.3%), and housing (6.6%).

Two-thirds (66.2%) of respondents say that the New York State economy has gotten worse, while 27.7% say it’s stayed about the same, and only 6.1% say it has gotten better. These findings are similar to those from the 2024 ESP data: 62.5% said the NYS economy had gotten worse, 29.4% said it had stayed about the same, and 8.1% said it had gotten better. 

This negative outlook largely extends to the upcoming year, with 46.3% of respondents saying they think that the state economy will get worse over the next year, while 36.8% think it will stay the same and 16.9% think it will get better. 2026 data shows more pessimism compared to 2024 data, wherein 40.6% of respondents thought the NYS economy would get worse, while 40% thought it would stay about the same, and 19.3% said it would get better. Further, a plurality (40.3%) of respondents in 2026 responded that they think the state economy got worse over the last year and will continue to get worse over the next year, compared to 36.6% of respondents in 2024. 

ABOUT THE EMPIRE STATE POLL: 

The Empire State Poll (ESP) is a survey of labor and employment across New York State conducted by the Center for Applied Research on Work at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The survey was administered online in English and Spanish. The data were collected by SSRS between June 24 to July 8, 2026. A total of 2,629 respondents participated in the 2026 poll. The ESP uses a blended sampling design that combines randomly selected respondents from SSRS’s probability-based Opinion Panel (n = 1,005) as well as opt-in respondents from their nonprobability panel partner, Dynata (n = 1,624). Respondent recruitment was targeted to ensure a representative sample of NYS residents by age, education, race, and region across both sample sources. SSRS’s Encipher Hybrid calibration methodology weights each respondent to correct for selection bias based on their sample source. Respondents were further weighted on several key indicators[1] to calibrate results to definitive demographic sources[2] in order to improve the generalizability of results to the residential adult population of New York State.

[1] In addition to sample source, key weighting indicators included: age, civic engagement, disability status, education, gender, internet usage frequency, interview mode, nativity, political party identification, race/ethnicity, and region.

[2] The ESP was calibrated to the 2024 American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau), the 2023 Current Population Survey (U.S. Census Bureau), the 2023 Current Population Survey Volunteering and Civic Life Supplement (U.S. Census Bureau), and the National Public Opinion Reference Survey (Pew Research Center).