New York City is seeing a surge of entrepreneurial activity and new business interest. And it’s not hard to see why.
Unmatched Scale, Unlimited Possibilities
As the 9th-largest economy in the world with a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of more than $2 trillion and a workforce of over four million—by far the nation’s largest—the city offers unmatched scale for businesses to expand. It’s a top global economic and tech hub, attracting nine percent of 2024 US college grads and boasting more than two million people with college degrees. That’s more than LA, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia—combined.
Driven by Diversity
Above all, NYC is driven—and defined by—diversity. The city’s workforce is 45 percent foreign-born, from over 150 countries, with over 200 languages spoken across NYC’s five boroughs. And that diversity of talent means companies can find the people they need faster than they can anywhere else in the world. No job is too big for New York—or for New Yorkers.
When people think about New York, a lot comes to mind. Wall Street. Media. Skyscrapers. Real estate. And it’s true—NYC is the finance and media capital of the world. But it’s so much more than that, with landmark investments in forward-focused sectors like life sciences, tech, and the green economy.
A Global Leader in Life Sciences
In life sciences, NYC has put down the marker with LifeSci NYC—a $1 billion-plus initiative to create 40,000 new jobs and establish the city as the global leader in the industry through investments in capital funding, tax incentives, and talent development and startups. Today, NYC is home to 12 active incubators and accelerators and 3.5 million square feet of commercial life sciences real estate—expected to generate $82 billion in economic impact over the next 15 years. Meanwhile, the City is committed to developing the next generation of homegrown life sciences leaders through the LifeSci NYC Internship Program, which has placed almost 1,000 interns in life sciences companies to date.
And the momentum is building: the forthcoming SPARC Kips Bay, a first-of-its-kind job and education center, will transform CUNY’s Hunter College Brookdale campus into a state-of-the-art life sciences, healthcare, and public health hub.
A Rising Tech Powerhouse
When it comes to tech, NYC is rapidly gaining on the West Coast. Boasting a $694 billion startup ecosystem, it’s already No. 2 globally, behind only Silicon Valley. The growth of the talent pool has been no less remarkable—between 2010 and 2021, the city’s tech sector added 114,000 jobs, an increase of 142 percent. NYC is now home to the second-largest pool of tech talent in the world, with a workforce of over 330,000. That workforce is the driving force behind 25,000+ tech-enabled startups supported by more than 200 coworking spaces and 100 accelerators and incubators across the five boroughs.
Building Tomorrow’s Green Economy
NYC is also committed to addressing the existential risk of climate change and driving job creation through its robust investment in the green economy. That’s why in February 2024, Mayor Adams and New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) launched the Green Economy Action Plan—a first-of-its-kind plan that lays out a roadmap to invest in jobs and sectors that will help the city combat climate change, and train and position New Yorkers—particularly those from environmentally-disadvantaged communities—to benefit from the nearly 400,000 projected “green-collar” jobs in New York City by 2040.
Critical to this plan is the creation of a new Climate Innovation Hub at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, which will help grow green technology startups and businesses, support 5,000 new permanent jobs, educate and train 2,100 New Yorkers, and generate $55 billion of economic impact.
Another example of NYC’s commitment to sustainability is Offshore Wind NYC—a $191 million, 15-year investment with the goal of delivering 100-percent clean electricity by 2040 and carbon neutrality by 2050. This will be used to develop best-in-class infrastructure, workforce and business development, and innovation in offshore wind technologies and strategies. And NYC is well placed to seize the opportunity—it offers a 1 million-strong labor pool for offshore wind operations, with a higher concentration of workers in offshore wind-related occupations than almost all other regions on the East Coast and more than 130 offshore wind firms already operating in the city.
Whether you’re looking to start up or expand in NYC, the city offers limitless opportunities for growth. Discover more at choose.nyc
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