BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned on Monday that New York City will “lose a lot of companies” if it doesn’t deal with its crime problem, and lower the cost of living and education.
Fink made the comments during an Economic Club of New York seminar, telling attendees that the city has been on the decline, according to a Bloomberg report.
“The city is on the verge of losing a lot of companies. I don’t believe the city has the vitality that it did before,” he said.
Fink, whose investment firm has $11.6 trillion in assets and is located in Manhattan, stated that “more and more” of his employees are asking about moving to other places, “because they’re worried about, OK, the cost of housing here, the crime, the cost of education — all the things that are facing us.”
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He also noted that BlackRock’s New York City office isn’t growing, adding, “That’s not how it should be.”
Elsewhere, Fink pointed to the city’s regulatory policy aimed at limiting “pay-to-play” corruption as a major reason keeping companies from helping the city.
According to Fink, these policies limit political contributions from companies or figures that do business with New York City, which in return can’t help address the city’s problems.
“In New York, because we’re so dominated by the financial services area, we are not able to do anything related to helping shape the narrative of this city,” he said. “This is one of the reasons why I think the city has been so harmed.”
In recent years, the city has already lost over $1 trillion in managed assets, with Wall Street banks fleeing for a more business-friendly environment. Florida was the top destination for companies that left New York, with the Sunshine State drawing the likes of Icahn Capital Management and AKR Investment Management.
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According to a report released in December 2023 by the U.S. Census Bureau, in addition to businesses fleeing the city, 101,984 people moved out of New York that year.
Fink shared how he came to the city during its rough patch in the ’70s, calling the period “pretty dreadful.” However, he said he felt that the culture at the time was worth sticking around for.
“I believed that my taxes were used to help build out the city,” Fink said. “I don’t feel that way anymore.”
The New York Post reported that certain violent crimes have fallen in the city for the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period last year. Murders have fallen by 34%, and shootings have fallen by over 23%. Additionally, subway crime has gone down 18.1%.
However, major felony crimes are still up 32% compared to where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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In terms of housing costs, an October 2024 report from Realtor.com noted that the median asking rent price in Mahattan was a whopping $4,415. That means a renter would have to bring home at least $176,604 a year to live comfortably. The report also stated that the typical renter in New York City could comfortably afford a home valued at roughly $600,000 elsewhere.
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