Priced Out of NYC, Latinos Are Moving to the Suburbs

For Selvin Pogoada, arriving in New York City in 2022 marked the end of a difficult chapter, after having fled Honduras to seek asylum in the United States. It also marked the beginning of new opportunities for him. In New York, he found work as a construction day laborer earning $800 a week. But the job proved unsteady and he would sometimes go weeks without work. To make ends meet, he began delivering food for Uber Eats, working 12-hour shifts.

But even with the extra delivery work, he could not make enough to live, the 40-year-old told Documented in Spanish. As rent and other costs of living mounted, Pogoada struggled to keep up. “To survive a month in New York… I would rent [a shared apartment] in Chinatown so that it would be cheaper for me,” he said. “That was about $600 to $800 dollars a month, plus about $250 or $300 dollars on food.” At one point when he did not have enough money for rent, he was kicked out and had to look for housing in one of New York City’s shelters. 

In July of 2024 a friend told him about steadier construction work in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Pogoada decided to leave the city. “The rent [in Pennsylvania] is much cheaper because it’s a town, not such a big city,” he said. There, he rents a room for $600 including utilities and it is larger than the one he rented in Chinatown. 

Pogoada’s experience is not singular — in fact, his story reflects a broader demographic trend. Other migrants from Latin America told Documented that they too have considered moving outside of New York City, in search of a higher quality of life, more space and lower costs. According to a new report by the Center for Latin American, Caribbean & Latino Studies at CUNY, while the Latino population in New York State has grown overall between 2000 and 2024, their settlement patterns tell a more interesting story. In 2000, 60% of all Latinos in the region lived in New York City, but by 2024, this percentage had declined to 46%, meaning that most Latinos in the region now live outside the city. And while the Latino population has been increasing across the board, it has done so at sharply different rates — rising only 12% in New York City compared with an increase of 42% in the suburbs. 

Historians say this shift, often referred to as “urban exodus,” mirrors a familiar pattern: high cost of living pushes some out of the city, while a tandem search for more space, better opportunities and higher quality of life further draws people out to the suburbs. A 2026 report by RobinHood, which uses poverty tracking data to document trends in income poverty, found that Latino New Yorkers were more than twice as likely to live in poverty than White New Yorkers at 33% compared to 16%. It further reported that even those that lived above the poverty level struggled to keep food on the table and pay rent. 

Although working for the delivery app provided more consistency during the slow months of construction, Pogoada’s take-home money was never enough to sustain himself in the city, especially while sending a total of $200 of weekly remittances to his mother and 20-year-old son, a university student, both of whom are in Honduras — and also to his partner who is in Mexico. 

When things would get really tight, Pogoada says that he would sometimes instead ask for money from his partner in Mexico. “When the situation gets too overwhelming, and I can’t find anything else, she’s always made a sacrifice to send me even just $100, something so I could get by.”

Leaving the city was also a matter of public and personal safety, Pogoada said. “Where I was renting, these guys on a motorcycle with a gun tried to rob me. One in the back pulled up alongside and told me it was a robbery,” he said, adding that he worried for his life. “I kicked the one behind me, he fell off the motorcycle. And then he shot me in the feet and pointed the gun at my face.”

“I didn’t have a choice anymore. He told me he was going to — that he was going to kill me.”

Laird W. Bergad, historian and director of Center for Latin American, Caribbean & Latino Studies, says that there are two overarching reasons that have led to more Latino growth in New York’s suburbs: The cost of living and a better quality of life. 

Bergad authored a recent report, “Where do Latinos Live in the New York City Metropolitan Area? Changing Settlement Patterns 2000 – 2024”, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). His findings show that between 2000 and 2024, the Latino population grew the most in the suburbs north of New York City, like Westchester and Rockland Counties, followed by Long Island at 122% and New Jersey counties at 84%. 

Bergad said that the shift — from urban centers to suburban areas — is often driven by a desire to access better schools systems for their children and more affordable housing. “So I think you have two parallel processes. Those at the bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy that can’t afford to live in the city anymore,” he said, adding that Latinos who obtain higher levels of education have also moved to the suburbs to pursue homeownership and better quality of life.

Jennifer N., a 34-year old migrant from Colombia who has been living in Queens for nearly 8 years, says she considered leaving the city earlier this year after her lease — $3,200 for a two story house with 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a garage and basement in Forest Hills — ended in January. 

“[The landlord] explained to us that it’s not because of non-compliance, because we are very punctual, nor because of, let’s say, disorder or anything like that, but that his son is going to start a family and he has to support him with a house to live in,” she told Documented. She said the landlord let the family stay in the house until they could find a place to move.

Jennifer — who requested not to share her last name for privacy concerns — explained that she lives with her husband, her retired in-laws and two dogs. She works as an office assistant and her husband works in construction and also takes on independent contractor work on the weekends. 

Searching for a new house that was similar in size in Forest Hills, Maspeth, Elmhurst or Woodhaven was futile: listings were for rent upwards of $5,500 a month. And sometimes, she said, the listings at that price point were for houses with less rooms or space.

“We are working to live. That’s the reality.” 

—Jennifer N., Colombian immigrant and resident of Queens for nearly 8 years

In her search for a new home, Jennifer lamented that real estate agents have asked for proof of six months rent in her bank account. “That’s impossible because right now we are working to live. That’s the reality.” 

Earlier this year, Jennifer said her family was considering moving to a house in Elmont, Long Island which would have cost them $4,200 a month. “That’s how it is, if we want to live somewhat decently,” she said. She knows of families that have moved to other states and rented entire houses for $1,500. 

After three months of searching and countless listings, she finally found a house in Queens with enough rooms to accommodate her family and a garage, for 34% more than what she currently pays, at $4,300.” They moved in on April 1.

For Pogoada, moving to Scranton nearly two years ago opened up more opportunities for jobs — including landscaping, warehouse work, and even working at a bakery. “I know a lot of people that have moved,” he said. “If it was already difficult to find a job before, imagine now with these immigration issues and the fines that the government has imposed on companies that hire people without documentation.”