New York City is booming, with the outer boroughs leading all counties in the Empire State for increased economic activity and production, according to new federal data released Thursday.
Staten Island ranked first in the state’s 62 counties for the amount that its gross domestic product shot up between 2017 and 2018, 7.8%, from $13.46 billion to $14.5 billion, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The Bronx is also surging, as its GDP rose 7.2% from $39.8 billion to $42.7 billion.
Brooklyn ranked third in the whole state, with its economy also expanding by more than 7%, from $85.4 billion to $91.5 billion.
The Queens economy came in fourth New York state, with its GDP increasing 5.9%, from $88.1 billion to $93.3 billion.
Manhattan — whose economy is larger than most countries — contracted slightly, with its GDP falling from $601.46 billion to $600.2 billion — .2%.
By comparison, the overall New York state GDP increase was a modest 1.2%, 46th among all states in the country.
Turbo-charged Staten Island is adding even more businesses and jobs this year and into the future with a rezoning of the North Shore waterfront that has led to the opening of the city’s first mega-retail outlet, Empire Outlets, and dozens of restaurants along the Bay Street corridor, said Leticia Remauro, secretary of Staten Island Downtown Alliance.
The figures for last year also don’t fully take into account the massive Amazon distribution center that opened in the borough.
“Staten Island is moving in the right direction. The Staten Island retail sector is strong. Fewer people are driving off the island to New Jersey shop,” Remauro said.
She said higher housing costs in Manhattan are also keeping more of the borough’s younger residents staying put on the island — and spending money there.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said the figures show the city’s poorest borough has turned a corner. His office rattled off a list of new and expanded businesses — The Great Performances catering company, Bronx Kreate Space, a new bookstore called Lit Bar and Claudys Gourmet.
“The Bronx is thriving, and the rest of the world is taking notice,” Diaz Jr. said.
EJ McMahon, an analyst with the Empire Center for Public Policy, said there’s no doubt that New York City has been “the leading edge and growth spot in the New York State economy for some time.”
“The growth is hotter in New York City, and it diminishes upstate,” he said.
But McMahon had one big caveat. He said a deeper look into the numbers shows that much of the increase activity in the outer boroughs was attributable to spending by government entities, not the private sector. The GDP measures all economic activity that includes payroll and purchasing spending by the government as well as private firms, he noted.
“This shows our agenda is working. We’re building up communities too long forgotten and putting money back into the hands of working people,” de Blasio spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said in a statement.