June 2026 Issue of the Employment in New York State Newsletter

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by Steven Koczak, PhD, Research Specialist

The shorthand term “the top 1%” is often used to describe the super-rich. Typically used in everyday speech and sometimes in scholarship, the phrase can be misleading. The truly super-rich represent less than 1% of the population and account for an even smaller earnings percentile. In the fall of 2025, out of the 160 million Americans who worked in some capacity, there were only 1,135 billionaires.

Most of the top 1% in the U.S. are workers whose jobs offer high earnings. Examining the most recent occupational data available and observing trends over the past 20 years can identify the occupational composition of the top 1% in New York State.

This article was inspired by Gad Levanon, Chief Economist at the Burning Glass Institute, who covered this topic at the national level in his Substack blog. Using American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Levanon identified the most-populated occupational categories found among the top 1% of earners in 2005 and 2024. Aside from software developers emerging among the top five in 2024, the results showed more continuity than change overall.

ACS vs. OEWS Data
Two state level surveys — the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) of households and the Department of Labor’s Occupational and Employment Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey of businesses — show which occupations are most represented among the top 1% earners.

The ACS is an ongoing demographic survey that provides up-to-date data on how Americans live, work and spend. ACS microdata convey information on an individual’s overall occupational earnings, which is obtained by cross-tabbing two separate survey questions: primary occupation and total earnings. Since some jobs can’t be confined by one occupation, there is possibility of error. Misleading results can also occur due to self-reporting bias.

For instance, doctors or lawyers may run large, multi-location practices and function primarily as chief executives, yet still identify themselves as doctors or lawyers. Or scientists who own and manage small consulting businesses may see themselves as a chief executives, even if most of their days are spent on scientific work.

Rather than focusing on just occupational wages, our analysis considers overall occupational earnings — which reflect what individuals earn in total and may include bonuses, stock options, etc.

NYSDOL’s Occupational and Employment Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a second data option. The OEWS survey produces estimates of occupational wages (and employment), but not overall occupational earnings, for approximately 830 job titles across New York State.

With both datasets, the basic method was the same: define the percentile cutoff for the top 1%, then list and examine the occupations within that percentile.

The Top 1% (Per the ACS)
The ACS overall occupational earnings cutoff for the top 1% rose from $362,832 in 2005 to $762,453 in 2024. These figures were not adjusted for inflation. If they had been adjusted, the 2005 ACS threshold would have been $586,804, a potential sign of New York State’s increasingly “K-shaped” economy.

The top 10 occupations represented among New York’s top 1% of earners in 2024 were as follows. These figures represent the number of workers whose earnings placed them in the top 1% and the occupations they identified themselves in.

• Lawyers, judges, magistrates and other judicial workers – 16,000
• Other managers – 11,000
• Chief executives and legislators – 10,000
• Physicians – 9,000
• Financial managers – 8,000
• Securities, commodities and financial services sales agents – 7,000
• Personal financial advisors – 4,000
• Software developers – 4,000
• Management analysts – 3,000
• Accountants and auditors – 3,000

The top occupations for 2005, per the ACS, also in descending order, were as follows.

• Securities, commodities and financial services sales agents – 13,000
• Lawyers, judges, magistrates and other judicial workers – 12,000
• Physicians and surgeons – 12,000
• Chief executives and legislators – 8,000
• Financial managers – 7,000
• Miscellaneous managers including postmasters and mail superintendents – 6,000
• First-line supervisors/managers of non-retail sales workers – 4,000
• Personal financial advisors – 3,000
• Dentists – 3,000
• Accountants and auditors – 2,000

In both years, New York State’s top 1% earners were concentrated in a narrow set of occupations: law, finance, medicine, and management. The results were not surprising. Wall Street and the headquarters of multiple major national and multinational corporations are located within New York State. Many of these enterprises most likely employed many lawyers (“Wall Street lawyer”) and paid them well.

Medical occupations don’t have an equivalent to “Wall Street lawyer,” making them more complex to explain. Some doctors invest in or advise investors about medical businesses, but their numbers seem small. It is plausible that medical professions’ presence on the list reflects a combination of practice ownership and personal investment income.

As in Levanon’s national data, software developers, absent from the 2005 list, appeared on the 2024 list. According to ipumsusa.org, the occupation was included in both the 2005 and 2024 occupational listings The effect of AI on this trend is difficult to predict. It is likely that more software engineers than doctors worked in finance.

Beyond the top 10 occupations, there’s even more continuity. Management analysts, who were in the top 10 in 2024, were just outside it in 2005. Aside from software developers, the biggest difference is the positioning of dentists from the top 10 in 2005 to outside the top 20 in 2024.

The Top 1% (Per the OEWS)
Using OEWS data, the focus remained on 2024, where the threshold for the top 1% that year was $220,647 in annual occupational wages.

In 2024, the occupations with the highest wages were as follows, along with the estimated number of people in each occupation. Note that the number is irrelevant to how many people are in the top 1%; the unit of analysis has shifted to the occupational level. For example, the wage of any given radiologist can vary, but the average for that occupation still places it in the top 1%, and there were 1,950 Radiologists in 2024.

• Physicians, All Other – 13,280
• Chief Executives – 7,830
• Psychiatrists – 3,850
• Radiologists – 1,950
• Anesthesiologists – 1,850
• Orthopedic Surgeons, Except Pediatric – 1,450
• Neurologists – 1,130
• Physicians, Pathologists – 940

The OEWS data registered only eight occupations in the top 1%, likely resulting from how OEWS measures only occupational wages, not total earnings. One seeming result is a list that’s dominated by medical occupations. The only non-medical occupation on the list was Chief Executive.

Pay in medicine tends to be relatively set compared with other professional fields, due in part to public health plan payment structures and professional standards. There are no profit bonuses or contingency fees in medicine, unless the practitioner is also doing something beyond practicing medicine, such as owning medical businesses, investing, or consulting on medical investments. In that instance, we are back to earnings and ACS microdata.

What We’ve Learned
Many of these top earners listed in ACS data share one commonality: their occupations offer more opportunities for non-wage income, such as equity, bonuses, business ownership, or similar sources. This creates differences between the top 1% lists produced by these two datasets.

For readers thinking about careers, it might be tempting to use these data as a guide to a future of high earnings. Entering a high-earning occupation, however, does not guarantee high earnings for any one individual. As a recent article on a related topic in this newsletter noted, there are many paths to fulfillment and prosperity, and joining the top 1%, or entering an occupation associated with the top 1%, isn’t a requirement for either.

“Since 2016, New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward program have awarded $140 million to municipalities across the Southern Tier region.”

by Christian Harris, Labor Market Analyst, Southern Tier region

New York's Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) and NY Forward (NYF) are companion economic development programs that provide millions of dollars in state funding to transform local downtowns into vibrant, walkable, and sustainable communities. To date, these two important New York State programs have invested a total of $140 million in communities across the Southern Tier. Here, we review some of the awards received over the past four years.

Background
Established in 2016, the DRI focuses on revitalizing neighborhoods and downtown areas. The program’s goal is to attract investment, redevelopment, business, jobs, and economic and housing diversity to these communities. Launched in 2022, NYF targets smaller and rural downtowns, ensuring communities of all sizes can access support.

DRI Awards
The Village of Johnson City (Broome County) received $10 million in the sixth round of the DRI (2022-23). With its funding, the community hopes to preserve historic assets, generate new housing opportunities “and continue to develop the unique sense of place in downtown Johnson City.”

The Village identified 15 initiatives to fund with DRI. One is the construction of a new mixed-income apartment building with a daycare center. Another will transform a former high school into a mixed-use facility with apartments and commercial spaces.

Located in Delaware County, the hamlets of Roxbury and Grand Gorge were awarded $10 million in the seventh round of the DRI in 2023-24. Their joint proposal focused on promoting economic activity and improving downtown infrastructure. Both hamlets identified 13 key projects. Some examples include the revitalization of the Grand Gorge Civic Center and its recreational fields, improvement of downtown sidewalks and streetscapes, and the redevelopment of the former historic Reed Hotel in downtown Roxbury into a mixed-use building.

In 2024-25, the City of Binghamton (Broome County) was awarded $10 million in the eighth round of the DRI. The City’s proposal focused on 17 projects in the Clinton Street Neighborhood Business District. Some high-profile projects included renovation of streetscapes and sidewalks, the installation of public art, expansion of the Boys & Girls Club site, and the transformation of a neglected production facility into a modern light industrial center.

Receiving $10 million in the ninth and latest round of the DRI (2025-26), the City of Ithaca (Tompkins County) was a repeat award winner. City leaders aim to cultivate an urban center that fuels innovation, supports local entrepreneurship, and secures economic vitality for generations to come. The funding will support numerous housing projects either under construction or imminently planned.

NY Forward Awards
The first four rounds of the NY Forward program injected a total of $40.5 million into various smaller, rural communities located in five counties throughout the region. Each of the following villages was granted $4.5 million by the state.

• Village of Waverly (Tioga County)
• Village of Montour Falls (Schuyler County)
• Village of Groton (Tompkins County)
• Village of Hammondsport (Steuben County)
• Town of Urbana (Steuben County)
• Village of Bath (Steuben County)
• Village of Dryden (Tompkins County)
• Village of Stamford (Delaware County)
• Village of Margaretville (Delaware County)

Several projects include revitalization and improvement of downtown areas, housing development, support for local businesses, recreation and community amenities, preservation adaptation of historical structures, and improvements to infrastructure and accessibility.

Recap
Since 2016, New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative and NY Forward program have awarded $140 million to municipalities across the Southern Tier region. These projects have brought hope and renewal to areas throughout the region. Cities, towns and villages in the region will continue to use these state funds to transform the lives of current and future residents and businesses.

In April 2026, New York State’s seasonally adjusted private sector job count decreased over the month by 10,200, or 0.1%, to 8,451,200. In addition, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady at 4.6% in April 2026, while New York’s seasonally adjusted labor force participation rate decreased from 61.8% to 61.7%.

Capital
Over the past year, the private sector job count in the Capital Region decreased by 1,200, or 0.3%, to 437,800 in April 2026. Employment gains occurred in the following sectors:

• professional and business services (+1,300)
• leisure and hospitality (+600)

Over-the-year job losses were largest in the following sectors:

• education and health services (-900)
• trade, transportation and utilities (-800)
• natural resources, mining and construction (-500)
• manufacturing (-400)
• information (-300)

Central NY
The number of private sector jobs in the Syracuse metro area decreased over the past year by 1,100, or 0.4%, to 258,200 in April 2026. Job gains occurred in these sectors:

• leisure and hospitality (+1,100)
• professional and business services (+500)

The largest over-the-year job losses were in the following sectors:

• trade, transportation and utilities (-1,500)
• manufacturing (-400)
• financial activities (-300)
• education and health services (-200)
• other services (-200)

Finger Lakes
From April 2025 to April 2026, the number of private sector jobs in the Rochester metro area decreased by 600, or 0.1%, to 440,400. Job gains occurred in the following sectors:

• natural resources, mining and construction (+1,500)
• leisure and hospitality (+1,200)
• trade, transportation and utilities (+600)

Over-the-year job losses were largest in the following sectors:

• manufacturing (-1,600)
• professional and business services (-1,600)
• financial activities (-400)
• information (-200)

Hudson Valley
Over the past year, the number of private sector jobs in the Hudson Valley grew by 7,500, or 0.9%, to 850,300 in April 2026. Job gains were largest in the following sectors:

• education and health services (+2,700)
• trade, transportation and utilities (+1,700)
• financial activities (+1,200)
• professional and business services (+600)
• leisure and hospitality (+500)
• natural resources, mining and construction (+400)
• manufacturing (+300)

Long Island
From April 2025 to April 2026, the number of private sector jobs on Long Island increased by 4,300, or 0.4%, to 1,176,300. Employment gains occurred in the following sectors:

• education and health services (+10,100)
• leisure and hospitality (+1,100)

Over-the-year job losses were largest in the following sectors:

• natural resources, mining and construction (-2,300)
• manufacturing (-1,500)
• trade, transportation and utilities (-1,200)
• other services (-700)
• financial activities (-500)
• professional and business services (-400)

Mohawk Valley
For the 12-month period ending April 2026, the number of private sector jobs in the Mohawk Valley region decreased by 300, or 0.2%, to 142,300. The following sectors had the largest over-the-year employment gains:

• education and health services (+400)
• financial activities (+300)

Over-the-year job losses were centered in the following sectors:

• professional and business services (-700)
• manufacturing (-400)

New York City
New York City’s private sector job count increased over the past year by 27,700, or 0.7%, to 4,206,900 in April 2026. Employment gains occurred in the following sectors:

• education and health services (+21,100)
• professional and business services (+10,000)
• financial activities (+8,400)
• information (+1,900)

The job count fell over the year in the following sectors:

• leisure and hospitality (-6,100)
• other services (-2,700)
• manufacturing (-2,300)
• trade, transportation and utilities (-1,600)
• natural resources, mining and construction (-1,000)

North Country
The number of private sector jobs in the North Country region increased over the past year by 1,100, or 1.0%, to 106,900 in April 2026. Employment gains were largest in the following sectors:

• education and health services (+500)
• leisure and hospitality (+400)
• natural resources, mining and construction (+300)

Southern Tier
For the 12-month period ending April 2026, the number of private sector jobs in the Southern Tier region decreased by 600, or 0.3%, to 207,800. Employment gains were focused in the following sectors:

• education and health services (+700)
• natural resources, mining and construction (+400)

Job losses were largest in the following sectors:

• trade, transportation and utilities (-600)
• professional and business services (-400)
• leisure and hospitality (-200)
• other services (-200)

Western NY
Over the past 12 months, the number of private sector jobs in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga metro area rose by 2,400, or 0.5%, to 469,000 in April 2026. Over the past year, employment gains were greatest in the following sectors:

• professional and business services (+800)
• education and health services (+700)
• financial activities (+500)
• leisure and hospitality (+500)
• natural resources, mining and construction (+300)

Job losses were largest in the following sector:

• manufacturing (-500)

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