Binghamton is the poorest city in all of Upstate New York. Why is that?
It's apparent that Binghamton has long suffered the consequences of deindustrialization faced by most other mid-size cities in the Rust Belt- persistent population decline, blight, heightened drug epidemic, low wages, and a paucity of white collar employment. Though despite Binghamton's challenges, few would say that it's the absolute worst city to live in upstate New York- it's no Jamestown, Elmira, or Gloversville, which have more apparent signs of despair and blight than Binghamton. Though, since the 1990 census, Binghamton has maintained the highest poverty rate out of any city or town in Upstate New York, and one of the only cities to have a poverty rate above 30%. Between 1990 and 2023, Binghamton's poverty rate has fluctuated between 29 to 34% of individuals living below the poverty line, with the most recent census estimate from 2023 reporting a 32.9% poverty rate. With a median household income of $44,300, ranks the eighth lowest in New York for this metric. Binghamton's household income is almost less than half than, and it's poverty rate is about three times, the United States average. For example, this data indicates that Binghamton, NY is socioeconomically on par with cities like Flint, MI, New Castle, PA, Youngstown, OH, and Saginaw, MI.
While Binghamton's poverty rate has been stable for the last three decades (as well as in neigboring Johnson City and Endwell) Broome County, NY, has also seen it's own poverty rate increase, and Broome now has the highest poverty rate out of any county upstate- at a rate of 19.5% as of 2023, it now surpasses Oswego and Chautauqua counties, which were considered to be the poorest before 2020. It's notable that poverty has drastically increased in nearby Endicott, making it the second poorest city in upstate New York with a poverty rate of 29.6% as of 2023. Poverty in Vestal, as well as rural areas in the county outside of the metro area, have also increased.
I'm interested in some perspectives from longtime residents and anyone else who knows more about the area than me as to what factors make Binghamton the poorest city in Upstate. As aforementioned, though the city feels like a fairly typical post-industrial mid sized city in the Rust Belt (in my experience, about on par with Utica, Wilkes-Barre, PA, or Charleston and Huntington in WV), I doubt many know that it's the absolute poorest in upstate NY, and many could name cities in the state that feel worse off based on vibes (such as Jamestown, Elmira, Gloversville, maybe even Endicott these days). Has deindustrialization seemed to affect Binghamton the worst out of any upstate city? Is the city just too geographically isolated or challenged to hang on? It's unfortunate that even as the city's downtown is revitalizing and the university (albeit outside city limits) is expanding, that poverty remains as high as it is here and there seems to be no signs of that changing, or white collar/higher-paying jobs in the area moving in, in any serious numbers. I was hoping that post-pandemic, Binghamton's very low home prices and cost of living could motivate some from the NYC area or Hudson Valley to relocate here, but that doesn't seem to have happened.
Source:
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sis/resources/data-tools/quickfacts.html