Congressional District
Congressional District 3 (119th Congress), New YorkBeta·Data under review
60,984 people in the cliff zone (8.0%) · Pop. 760,640· #24 of 26 in New York by cliff exposure
Key metrics
Cliff zone by income band
How the 60,984 people in Congressional District 3 (119th Congress), New York’s cliff zone are distributed across FPL income bands. Higher concentration in the 100–124% band means more people are near the sharpest benefit cliffs.
Income band · 760,640 in poverty universe
Education
Education level shapes which wage paths stay in or near the cliff zone. Below a bachelor’s degree, most wage paths don’t clear the phase-out range.
Of 558,001 adults age 25+ in this community, those without a bachelor’s degree typically earn in the range where benefit cliffs concentrate. An associate degree adds about $17K in annual earnings — but for a family of three, that still lands near the cliff zone ceiling.
Housing burden
49.6% of renters in this district spend more than 30% of income on housing, and 25.7% spend more than 50%. High housing costs leave less buffer when a benefit cliff triggers a loss.
Families that spend more on housing have less capacity to absorb benefit losses at cliff thresholds. Research shows severely burdened renters (50%+ of income on rent) spend 39% less on food and 42% less on healthcare than unburdened families at similar income levels.
26% of renter households spend over half their income on housing. A family of four at 150% FPL takes home ~$4,125/month. At 50% housing burden, that leaves $2,062/month for everything else. Losing a $200 SNAP benefit or $400 childcare subsidy at that margin doesn’t just hurt — it can make continued employment impossible.
Data accuracy notice
The CLIFF Index is in beta. District-level estimates are derived from Census ACS data and may differ from county-level figures due to geographic apportionment. Send feedback to luke@thepovertysolution.com