Here are the top 10 statistics of the week to get you thinking:
- A published federal study concludes that the strain placed on the housing market by illegal immigrants constituted 20% of the recent rent increases and 30% of the increase in purchasing a home. https://abcnews4.com/news/nation-world/fed-working-paper-links-surge-in-illegal-immigration-to-higher-home-rent-prices
- Far more people around the world die from the cold than from the heat. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25999465/
- The top one percent earned 21% of the country’s income, yet paid 38.5% of federal individual income taxes. That is more than the entire bottom 90% combined, which comprises about 30% of federal revenue. The top 50% of taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of $41,740 or more paid 97% of federal taxes. https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/who-pays-federal-income-taxes-tax-year-2023/?utm_content=380021652&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-19219803864
- A study in Pennsylvania shows that a person who was on public assistance as far back as 2012 could accumulate the equivalent of $57,000 a year by staying home and taking advantage of different government programs, including food stamps, Medicaid and Section 8 housing. https://www.budget.senate.gov/newsroom/budget-background/the-welfare-cliff-how-the-benefit-scale-discourages-work
- After welfare reform in the 1990s was implemented, there was a 60% reduction in basic welfare caseloads as people went back to work and got off the rolls. https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/welfare-reform-works-explaining-welfare-caseload-decline-1996-2000
- But the SNAP level of 17 million in 2000 skyrocketed to 47 million in 2011, in large part due to a relaxation of the rules. Even after the real estate recession, the number remained relatively high, given that they were 42 million people on the rolls in 2024. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research
- The main UN model shows that, even if all the rich countries were to cut their carbon emissions to zero, it would avert less than 0.2° F of projected warming by the end of the century, while imposing massive hits of up to 18% on the rich countries’ GDP by 2050. https://nypost.com/2025/12/14/opinion/climate-backlash-builds-around-the-world-setting-dems-up-for-trouble/
- Former Mayor Eric Adams, who opposes the City Council’s bill to abolish the gang database, says the database helps cops solve and actually prevent gang shootings: “96% of the victims of shootings in the city are people of color,” Adams said. “Let’s keep them in mind.” https://nypost.com/2025/04/23/opinion/how-legal-aids-pro-crime-push-puts-all-of-us-in-danger/
- Circa 2025: A cluster of 63 career criminals continues to wreak havoc in the city’s underground, racking up more than 5,000 busts between them — yet only five of them are currently behind bars, https://nypost.com/2025/09/07/us-news/meet-the-worst-transit-terrors-on-loose-in-nyc/
- NYPD Police Commissioner Tisch herself flagged another grim statistic: Violent crime among kids has exploded since the state’s Raise the Age law made it near-impossible to try those under 18 in Criminal Court. From 2018 to 2024, the number of underage shooters spiked 192%, and the number of kids getting shot jumped 81%, while underage gun busts soared 136%. https://nypost.com/2025/06/03/opinion/cheer-for-tischs-major-crime-dropbut-the-city-isnt-out-of-the-woods-yet/