Income Disparity

The median household income in Borough Park is $37,438. This is probably because Boro Park is home to people from all income levels. Although some families within the neighborhood have an average of income significantly higher than others, they all reside in the same neighborhood.

It was really interesting to clearly see the income gaps while walking through the residential areas in Boro Park. On one block there would be large, beautiful houses with balconies, and the next block would have houses significantly smaller in size and extravagance. According to City-Data, families with median household incomes as low as $20,000 could live only a few yards away from families with median household incomes as high as $80,000.

This is unique because communities are commonly segregated and split based on income levels, similar to neighborhoods in Manhattan. However, in Borough Park, people from all economic classes live together. Children from poor, middle, and wealthy income families all attend the same schools, churches, facilities, and live relatively similar lives. That shows that this community, rather than being segregated based on income, is distinguished more by its cultural aspect.

Barry Spitzer explains that actually a large percentage of people living in Boro Park earn incomes below the poverty line; there may be a small number of people who are well off, but the large majority of residents are living with public assistance. He says, “The idea that Boro Park is affluent is not correct, most of the community is not rich.” In addition, because Hasidic Jews generally have larger families, making a sustainable income for a family of 5 or 6 is also quite difficult.

This reinforces the idea that Boro Park is not an extremely wealthy neighborhood, and it accepts people based on religion rather than on financial status. Boro Park is a place where everyone lives relatively the same lives. Mr. Spitzer explains that the majority of the community seems to be in the lower income side because in his opinion, generations of Hasidic Jews before him were not educated in American universities, so they turned to small businesses and manufacturing. Presently, the residents maintain many blue color jobs and labor jobs. With that being said, this could mean that little change is going to happen in the neighborhood; the same small businesses are going to stay and serve the community because these small shops are the only ones they can maintain.