Research

New York State is deploying several thousand contact tracers, workers tasked with interviewing COVID-stricken residents and notifying the people they may have infected. But Governor Andrew Cuomo is taking a notable step that will likely make the effort faster and more efficient: he’s having someone else do the hiring. Read More

The final set of pre-pandemic U.S. Census population data for cities, towns and villages provides localized details on a familiar New York pattern: widespread decline upstate, and a few small pockets of growth amid the general stagnation downstate. Read More

A review of federal emergency payments to New York health-care providers reveals a striking disparity: Four of Manhattan's most prosperous private hospitals collected more individually than the 11 city-owned hospitals combined. Read More

Measured by COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths, New York's coronavirus crisis has been overwhelmingly concentrated downstate—but upstate has hardly been immune to the consequences of the widespread economic shutdown ordered to contain the spread of the virus. Read More

New York State's fiscal outlook is easily the worst since the Great Depression—but that hasn't stopped Governor Cuomo from inflating the state's already awful budget numbers. Read More

New York's spending on public elementary and secondary education hit a new all-time high of $24,040 per pupil during the 2017-18 school year, topping all other states in the latest U.S. Census annual data. Read More