Out of Alignment An Overview of the Mid-Hudson Valley from the Great Recession to 2030 READ THE ABSTRACT READ THE REPORT VIEW THE APPENDICES - COUNTY PROFILES VISIT THE WEBSITE The Mid-Hudson Valley is at a crossroads. The aftermath of the Great Recession has [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Climate Change: What it Means for the Hudson Valley READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF Mid-Hudson Valley communities will face a new normal of more frequent and intense flooding, heat waves and droughts caused by global warming. Since 1970, New [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Implications of Student Debt READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF American household debt is growing, and student loans are a large contributing factor to this problem. In the fourth quarter of 2008, U.S. student loan debt was just under $640 [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Connectivity with New York City READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF The Mid-Hudson Valley shares a symbiotic relationship with New York City (NYC), its neighbor and largest metropolitan area in the country, which accounted for 10% of the nation’s GDP [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Rise of the Dollar Stores READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF For decades, consumers have looked for bargains at their local Walmart. The retail behemoth advertised it had the lowest prices, and people flocked to it. But in another sign [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief AirBNB: The New Place to Stay READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF The Mid-Hudson Valley has always drawn visitors looking to explore its state parks, enjoy its farm-to-table eateries and breweries, and take in all the beauty and recreational activities [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief The Growth of Tourism READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF Tourism is booming throughout the Mid-Hudson Valley. From Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, the study area’s most lucrative tourist destination, to resorts, a casino, Hudson River cruises and pick-your-own apple farms, [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Property Taxes are Getting Higher READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF The high cost of living in the Mid-Hudson Valley is in large part due to high property taxes, a problem that has grown over the past decade. They are [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief The Challenges of Owning a Home READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF During the housing boom before the Great Recession, median home values were extraordinarily high, with homes in many Mid-Hudson Valley counties at or near the peak market price. [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Rental Housing: Rising Rents, Declining Incomes READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF There is an affordability crisis for renters throughout the Mid-Hudson Valley because of rising rents that are a result of limited supply and declining median incomes. Overall, a [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief The Changing Face of Retail READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF Retail trade, a core component of the American economy and a pillar of the American experience, has undergone seismic shifts in the last half century. In the 1960s, 70s [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief The Acceleration of Technology READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF One of the striking differences between pre-Great Recession times and today is the dramatic acceleration in the integration of technology into our daily lives. Innovations in technology have been the [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Focus on the Microeconomy READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF Historically, the vast majority of businesses in the study area have been small establishments that employ fewer than 20 people. These firms, which we call the “micro economy,” have powered [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Healthcare Expansion and Consolidation READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF Changes in the health care industry were already occurring before the Great Recession. But with the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, which insured millions of additional people, [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief New Jobs and Lower Income READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF A fundamental shift occurred in the Mid-Hudson Valley’s employment composition between 2008 and 2017. Many high-paying jobs that had anchored the middle class in the past disappeared, and more [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Regional Migration Trends READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF Just as employment and income tell us about a region’s economy, migration trends are also a gauge of its economic health. New York State loses more people to out-of-state migrations than [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Labor Force: Who's Working, Who's Not READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF There is no debate that current unemployment rates are low in the Mid-Hudson Valley and throughout the nation. Many business sectors in the Mid-Hudson Valley are having difficulties [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief A Clash of Cultures READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF The Village of Kiryas Joel, struggling to accommodate its explosive population growth and engaged in cultural and legal disputes with its neighbors, separated from the Town of Monroe in January [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Growing Hispanic & Latino Population READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF Since 2000, the number of people in the Mid-Hudson Valley that identify as Hispanic or Latino has increased significantly in all seven counties of the region. The U.S. Census [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief A Younger Generation in Change READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF In the Mid-Hudson Valley and across the country, local governments and economic development agencies are searching for ways to attract the millennial generation, the largest generation in American history, [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Fertility Rates: Lowest in Decades READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF Fertility rate trends are a useful indicator for future population growth and prosperity because changing fertility rates have implications for family size, female labor force participation, and economic growth.[1] [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief The Shrinking Middle Class READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF One of the biggest challenges tracking the prosperity of the middle class is nailing down the definition of the term itself. There is no standard definition, and being part of [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief Empty Classrooms, Higher Costs READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF Of the 65 school districts in the study area, only seven have seen their student population increase since 2000, five of which were in Orange County while Putnam and Sullivan [...]

October 2019 | Hudson Valley Out of Alignment Issue Brief The Silver Tsunami READ THIS ISSUE BRIEF The population of the United States is getting older. Increased life expectancy from advances in medicine and technology is coinciding with the aging of baby boomers, one of the largest generations [...]