NYC Workers Paid Under $30 an Hour
Aggregate statistics from the article “After inflation, New York City's minimum wage nearly doubled since 1989, and about half its wage-earners still make under $30 an hour, as they did then”
No synthetic records. Published or computed tabulations containing no person-level records.
- Records
- Aggregate statistics
- Place
- New York City
- Version
- 1.0,
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0; code MIT
Through September 2026, 52% of wage-earning New Yorkers earned under $30 an hour. Since 1989 the floor nearly doubled after inflation; the median ended near where it began.
The article's own data file, aggregate statistics cut to what it analyses, and the script that computes every figure in it. Computed from: Census 1990 and 2000 samples (1989 and 1999 pay); ACS one-year microdata 2005-2024; CPS basic monthly files January to September 2026 (earnings sample); NY-metro CPI-U to August 2026; the State and federal minimum-wage histories; Labor Law § 652; the Governor's releases of 2016 and 2023 and program bill memo of October 2026; Int 0757-2026 as introduced.
Files
| File | Rows | Size | What it holds |
|---|---|---|---|
| data.csv | 124 | 13 KB | The aggregate statistics the article's figures are computed from. |
| analysis.py | 49 KB | The script that computes every figure in the article (MIT). |
Columns
data.csv: The data (7 columns)
table, year, survey, group, value, moe, measure. The article and its script
define each one.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey one-year public-use microdata (PUMS), 2005-2024, One-year files 2005-2024 (the 2020 file experimental); the 2025 file not yet released
- U.S. Census Bureau — 1990 and 2000 Census, 5% public-use microdata samples, 1990 PUMS A (pay in 1989) and 2000 PUMS 5% (pay in 1999), New York
- U.S. Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics — Current Population Survey, basic monthly public-use files, January to September 2026, the outgoing rotation groups (the earnings sample)
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, New York-Newark-Jersey City, and the research series R-CPI-U-RS, Monthly to August 2026 (no October 2025); R-CPI-U-RS annual averages to 2025
- New York State Department of Labor — History of the Minimum Wage in New York State, Read 13 October 2026
- New York State Department of Labor — New York State Minimum Wage (rates as of 1 January 2027), Read 13 October 2026
- Office of the Governor — New York State Minimum Wage 2027, Undated page, read 13 October 2026
- Office of the Governor — Program Bill #44 memorandum: refining the off-ramp methodology for minimum wage adjustments, Undated memo posted in October 2026; read 18 October 2026
- New York State Senate — Labor Law § 652, Minimum wage, The consolidated law as displayed on 18 October 2026
- Office of the Governor — Governor Cuomo Signs $15 Minimum Wage Plan and 12 Week Paid Family Leave Policy into Law, Press release of 4 April 2016, read from the Internet Archive's copy of 10 January 2017
- Office of the Governor — Governor Hochul Reminds New Yorkers of Upcoming Minimum Wage Increase, Press release of 27 December 2023, read 18 October 2026
- U.S. Department of Labor — History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938-2009, Read 13 October 2026
- New York City Council — Int 0757-2026, establishment of the minimum wage (Legistar), Introduced 10 March 2026; in the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection; read 13 October 2026
- New York State Senate — S3952 (2025-2026), local wage authority for New York City, Re-referred to the Labor Committee 7 January 2026; read 13 October 2026
- Economic Policy Institute — A '$30 by 2030' minimum wage in New York City is a bold proposal (Working Economics Blog), Published 28 August 2025; read from the Internet Archive's copy of 18 July 2026
- WABC-TV — New York City Council considers bill to raise minimum wage to nation-leading $30, Report of 10 March 2026, read 18 October 2026
Licence and credit
Data CC BY 4.0; the script MIT. Records we counted from government files stay under their publishers' terms. Public-use microdata are disclosure-protected records derived from survey responses, published by the issuing agency so that no respondent can be identified; synthetic records are generated by SparkyData and correspond to no real person, household or address. Neither may be used to identify anyone.
Credit it as:
SparkyData (2026). NYC Workers Paid Under $30 an Hour (version 1.0). Data CC BY 4.0.
https://sparkydata.dev/data/nyc-workers-paid-under-30-an-hourThe article gives the charts, the uncertainty of each comparison and a changelog. Corrections and questions: sparkytech.dev@gmail.com, or see corrections.