BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Says New York Is Losing Its Edge as 'Other States Are More Attractive Now' — Housing Costs, Crime and Education Have People Rattled
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New York City has always sold itself on momentum — the sense that even when it stumbles, it still moves faster than everywhere else.
But in April, during a conversation hosted by the Economic Club of New York, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink suggested the city may finally be losing some of that edge. Bloomberg TV posted a clip of the event, and his comments were unusually direct.
"The potential of the city to even have a brighter future, you can feel it," Fink said in the clip, "but are we losing it?" Inside BlackRock, he noted a shift: more employees asking whether they can relocate to other states because they're worried about "the cost of housing here, the crime, the education, all the things that are facing us."
Then came the line that set the tone. "And right now," he said, "there are other states, quite frankly, that are more attractive now."
When the head of an $11.6 trillion asset manager headquartered in Manhattan expresses that kind of concern, it isn't a throwaway remark. And Fink wasn't talking as a detached executive.
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He moved to New York in the mid-1970s, when the city was grappling with a fiscal crisis, and remembers the determination it took to rebuild. This time, he questioned whether the city is showing that same resolve. "I believed that my taxes were used to help build out the city," he said. "I don't feel that way anymore."
Some of the issues he highlighted are clearly visible in the numbers. New York has lost nearly 40% of its drugstores over the past decade, according to The Center for an Urban Future's annual "State of the Chains" report, with about 10% of those closures happening in 2024 alone.
Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid have all downsized, citing theft and rising operational costs. Foot Locker announced it would move its headquarters to another state to cut expenses. And a growing list of companies have shifted satellite offices or expansions to lower-cost regions.
Residents feel the pressure too. According to the Citizens Budget Commission's Straight From New Yorkers 2025 survey, 76% of New Yorkers say affordability is a "very important" reason they'd consider leaving the city, with safety close behind. Those concerns map directly onto the issues Fink raised: housing costs, crime and education remain central pain points.
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