A new sign of gentrification: more dogs in the neighborhood.

I live with my dog, Macie. She's basically a public figure. 

Her and I were having a conversation while making dinner the other night. 

Recently, I had heard there were more dogs in New York than there are people in Cleveland, OH. 

Crazy enough- the facts check out:

As of October 2022 there are ~600,000 dogs in NYC. 

Cleveland, OH on the other hand houses about 370,000 people. 

Macie then brought up a great follow up question:

(I live with only Macie so yes, she converses with me). 

How do all these people afford dogs?

Living in New York is so expensive, and dogs aren’t cheap (let me tell ya…).

I was even thinking about how many dog related products exist: subscription services for fresh dog food, the “affordable” subscription fresh dog food, toy subscriptions, bathing subscriptions, hair cuts, doggy day care. And it's all customizable.

I even get a newsletter from Macie’s vet with affiliate links in it.   

People spend around $4.5K a year on their dogs. Seems pretty low for NYC.

BUT!! Here’s the most wild finding of all this googling:

NBC actually suggested the growth in dog population in a given neighborhood would indicate rental rises in that neighborhood. Especially when looking at the breeds. 

Based on social media trends and dog sizes, different neighborhoods welcomed different dogs. 

For instance: Clinton Hill, Brooklyn saw a 66% increase in housing prices from 2012-2016. Simultaneously, there was an increase in pit bull ownership. The trend in this area is to rescue dogs and pit bulls fill most shelters. 

The South Bronx saw an increase in the Shih Tzu. The West Village, Soho and Hell’s Kitchen all brought in the French Bulldog and the Upper West Side’s building owners changed most of their rentals to pet friendly. 

I am no real estate investor, but if I were – this would 110% be my metric for where to invest. 

Rationally though, this kind of makes sense. Pets are expensive, continuing to be more expensive so why couldn’t you correlate rising housing prices and dog population.

Speaking of expensive dog costs: 

I use Lemonade Pet Insurance, if you don’t have pet insurance — Do it now. Macie is fine, just a wrap. It comes off on 2/10 afternoon. Poor girl stepped on some glass. Send love her way!