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Business & Economy

Business & Economy in New York

The local economy beyond Wall Street: the small businesses, the labor fights, the development money, and the policy that shapes where the work is. Who is hiring, who is leaving, and who pays for it.

Desks we analyze here: Crain's New York Business, City Limits, Bloomberg CityLab.

The coverage, newest first

16 stories
  1. October 4, 2026 Chip City closes every store Chip City, the cookie chain born in Astoria in 2017, shut all 22 of its remaining locations Friday, days after its co-founder sued it for unpaid... Queens
  2. October 3, 2026 Chip City closes all 24 shops overnight The Astoria-born cookie chain emailed staff Thursday evening that they would not be needed Friday morning, and shut every store in New York, New... Queens
  3. September 23, 2026 DoorDash's $131.5 million payout to delivery workers DoorDash will pay at least $131.5 million after the city found it underpaid or paid late more than 260,000 delivery workers, the largest labor... Citywide
  4. September 8, 2026 Lyft's Citi Bike profit hits $24 million The bike share you keep paying more to unlock is no longer losing money. It cleared roughly $24 million last year, and the city took a cut of that... Citywide
  5. August 26, 2026 The city finally raises its street vendor permit cap The number of legal food cart permits has barely moved since 1983. In October, 21,500 more arrive. Citywide
  6. August 25, 2026 The lawsuits over city-run grocery stores The bodega owners suing City Hall are not arguing about socialism. They are arguing about who can afford to lose money on a gallon of milk. Manhattan
  7. August 23, 2026 HPD says New York needs 700,000 homes, and names the districts Every neighborhood now has a number attached to it, and almost none of them are hitting it. Citywide
  8. August 18, 2026 Flatbush's immigrant businesses are losing their walk-ins A Flatbush spa that used to get five to ten walk-ins a day is down to about four visitors a week, and the owner blames fear nobody can quite point to. Brooklyn
  9. August 10, 2026 New York's paycheck problem The average New York salary grew. The gap under it grew faster. Citywide
  10. July 28, 2026 Mamdani Unveils 30% Grocery Discounts at City-Owned Stores The mayor's fix for grocery sticker shock won't ring up a single sale until 2027 at the earliest. Citywide
  11. July 25, 2026 The city's grocery stores skip the butcher counter Mamdani's $70 million answer to grocery prices arrives without a butcher, a hot bar, or a fourth site. Citywide
  12. July 3, 2026 When the New Power Line Went Dark The $8 billion blackout insurance failed on its first day under contract, in 105° heat. Queens
  13. June 27, 2026 The Historic NYC Rent Freeze Seven Mamdani appointees voted to hold 1 million rents flat at El Museo del Barrio on Thursday night, and landlord groups were already calling their...
  14. June 27, 2026 Monitor Point Rezoning Clears Committee in Greenpoint After five years of Lincoln Restler saying no, Gotham hit 50 percent affordable and 662 subsidized apartments are now heading to the Greenpoint...
  15. June 26, 2026 NYC Rent Guidelines Board Freezes Rents on One- and Two-Year Leases Mamdani got his rent freeze. Now the landlords say they're getting their lawyers.
  16. Saturday, June 20, 2026 City Council passes a $112 billion budget, restoring library cuts The Council clawed back the cuts the Mayor proposed, and the branch libraries stay open six days.

Business & Economy, explained

The questions New Yorkers actually ask.

Is New York’s economy really just Wall Street?

No, and assuming it is misses most of the city. Finance is huge, but so are health care, the biggest private employer here, plus tech, tourism, small business, and a vast immigrant economy. We cover the money where it touches jobs and prices, not just the Dow.

Why does the cost of living here keep climbing?

Rent is the engine, but it compounds with everything from the price of a slice to childcare to the MTA fare. We track the specific costs and the policy behind them: who is raising prices, who is hiring, and who is getting priced off the block.

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