DAILYMAIL.COM
Five percent of New York City’s population, or 420,000 people, left between March 1 and May 1 amid the coronavirus pandemic
Some neighborhoods such as the Upper East Side, SoHo and the West Village emptied by at least 40%
The majority fled to vacation homes in places such as Long Island, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, the Jersey Shore and Florida
Residents who fled typically were white, had rents of more than $2,000 per month, had college degrees or higher and earned incomes of more than $100,000
New York City is home to 8.399 million people, according to 2018 census data
Five percent of New York City’s population has fled since the coronavirus pandemic gripped the city, new smartphone data reveals. From March 1 to May 1, about 420,000 residents of the Big Apple – home to nearly 8.4 million people – particularly from the wealthiest neighborhoods, reported The New York Times. While there was relatively little change in some zip codes, others such as SoHo, the West Village, Morningside Heights, the Upper East Side, the Financial District, Midtown, Gramercy and Brooklyn Heights emptied by at least 40 percent. Meanwhile, Manhattan’s overall population has fallen by almost 20 percent as the lockdown enters its third month. Income was perhaps the strongest indicator of how many residents in a particular neighborhood had fled. NYC has been the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak with more than 186,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 15,300 confirmed deaths with at least 5,000 more probable deaths.
