Cover Image Credit: / at Wikipedia School districts presenting budgets to voters on Tuesday, May 19, plan to spend an average of $37,033 per student, up 4. Read More
Reports
104 employees made over $500k in 2025 total annual pay. 2,450 employees were paid more than Gov. Kathy Hoc Read More
Each year, hundreds of newly retired government workers across New York garner a benefit that would be unheard-of in the private sector: pensions that exceed the salaries they received while still on the job. This is possible only because most cur Read More
Executive Summary New York’s Litigation Environment In a wide range of areas, New York law subjects residents and businesses to greater liability than other states. Consider, for example, that: Unlike most other states, New Y Read More
Despite the robust growth of state revenues in recent years, many of New York's elected officials are pushing to further increase the tax burden on the state's residents and businesses. Read More
January 2026 Summary and Insights Electricity. In October 2025, average residential electricity price in New York was 26.95 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and ranked 8th highest in the U.S., exceeding the national Read More
In the effort to improve transparency and accountability of New York’s education system, the Empire Center ha Read More
Ninety employees from New York’s school districts (outside New York City) received more than $300,000 during fiscal year 2025, according to , the Empire Center’s transparency website. The public educator pay data are based on salary informatio Read More
Most parts of New York remain less populated in 2024 than they were in 2020 as the state struggled to recover from Covid-19, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data. Thi Read More
Newly retired1 “full career”2 members of the New York Police Department (NYPD) collected an average of $103,859, according to , the Empire Center’s transparency website. The data, received from the New Read More
Two New York City employees received more than $300,000 in overtime payouts, according to fiscal year 2025 , the Empire Center’s government transparency website. The city paid a total of $2.9 billion in overtime during fiscal year Read More
K-12 SOS is a pilot project of the Empire Center to inform parents, politicians, and decision-makers about the state of K-12 education in New York State. Determining why certain schools perform better than others is beyond the scope of this resea Read More