More than 300,000 New Yorkers have left the city in the last eight months amid lockdowns spurred by the coronavirus and an uptick in crime.
Just over 295,000 people made change of address requests from March 1 through Oct. 31, the New York Post found via United States Postal Service data.
The outlet reported the actual number of New Yorkers who have left is much higher, as each address change request only accounts for one household, not all of the people within the household. The data also only shows when 11 or more change of address requests were made in a certain county outside of the city.
“I think people are afraid,” Michael Hendrix, director of state and local policy at the Manhattan Institute, said. “They’re afraid of catching a deadly virus, and they’re afraid of crime and other quality of life concerns. One thing we also hear is about trash and cleanliness of the city.”
