Brooklyn Is the Second Most Expensive Place to Live in the U.S.

Brooklyn rents grew at an average rate of nearly 6.58 percent last year, compared with 0.37 percent in 2010.

By Jorge Rivas Sep 07, 2012

Brooklyn is the second most expensive place to live in the entire country — topped only by Manhattan — according to the latest report from the Washington-based Council for Community and Economic Research. [Raanan Geberer at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle explains the report’s findings and methodology: ](http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/expensive-brooklyn-boro-ranks-2-all-usa) > The council ranks 300 American cities based on a variety of factors including prescription drug prices, utilities, transportation, grocery prices, as well as housing. Using the number 100 to represent the national average, Brooklyn ranked at 183.4 overall — 129.9 in gro > Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President Carlo ScissuraBrooklyn Chamber of Commerce President Carlo Scissura > rocery items, 126.4 in utilities, 104 in transportation costs and 111.1 in healthcare costs, and a whopping 344.7 in housing. Manhattan’s average was 233.5. > > This means that housing costs in Brooklyn are more than three times that of the average American city, which, according to the survey, is someplace like Erie, Pa., or Charlottesville, Va. Wondering what this means for many of Brooklyn’s historically black communities? [The Center for Urban Research at CUNY analyzed Census data over the last decade and explains the demographic changes:](http://www.urbanresearchmaps.org/plurality/) > Black losses were substantial in several communities with historically large Black populations. The Black population declined by 10,000 in Crown Heights North (a loss of almost 12% of the Black population), 8,400 people in Flatbush (decline of 14%), 7,258 people in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens (decline of 12%), and almost 6,000 people (-5,936) in Bedford (decline of almost 15%). [Note: The City Planning Department created two separate "neighborhood areas" for the community commonly referred to as Bedford-Stuyvesant. We use the Planning Department’s "neighborhood area" delineation for this analysis.] > > Communities in northern Brooklyn such as Bedford, Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, and Clinton Hill in 2000 straddled the area of central Brooklyn with substantial Black population plurality and the Park Slope/Brooklyn Heights area with substantial White population plurality. By 2010, Black population concentration had declined and White concentration had increased. In Bedford, the White population had the greatest percentage increase of any of the major groups citywide — 633% (an increase of almost 16,000 people), increasing the White population share in that neighborhood from 4% in 2000 to 25.5% in 2010. In Prospect Heights, the White population share increased from just over one-quarter in 2000 (28.2%) to almost half (47.2%) in 2010 (an increase of 3,818). In Clinton Hill, the White population share more than doubled from 15% in 2000 to just over 35% in 2010 (an increase of 7,419). Brooklyn rents grew at an average rate of nearly 6.58 percent last year, compared with 0.37 percent in 2010, according to the latest Brooklyn Rental Market Report. Manhattan rents have stayed steady in the past year, according to [NY.Curbed.com](http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/08/23/manhattan_rents_stayed_steady_inventory_spiked_in_july.php) Brooklyn has also seen high foreclosure rates. In 2008, [one in four homeowners with subprime mortgages in the 11233 zip code](http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/brooklyn-neighborhoods-top-subprime-foreclosures-nation-article-1.346312#ixzz25nkNGcX0), which spans Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights neighborhoods, lost their homes, the Fed said.