New Report Provides the First Comprehensive Data on New York City’s Iconic Street Vendors

Today, the Immigration Research Initiative released Street Vendors of New York, the results of the first comprehensive survey of over 2,000 street vendors spanning 150+ NYC zip codes, 15 languages, and representing 60 countries of origin, presenting for the first time a detailed analysis of who the street vendors are, where they’re from, and what challenges they face.

Despite being a quintessential component of New York City streetscapes and daily life, before this report, little was known about who street vendors are. The impact of having empirical data for this often-overlooked community cannot be understated.

A few key findings from Street Vendors of New York

• There are an estimated 23,000 street vendors working throughout the five boroughs, the overwhelming majority of whom work as mobile food vendors, 20,500.

• The top five countries of origin for all street vendors are Mexico (30 percent), Ecuador (24 percent), Egypt (20 percent), Senegal (7 percent), and the United States (4 percent).

• Women play a big role as vendors but are less likely to have licenses or permits - only 27 percent of mobile food vendor permit holders are women. This is higher than the findings for women who are general merchandise vendors. Of general merchandise vendors, only 14 percent of those who are licensed are women

• Having a license/permit makes a huge difference in profitability for street vendors. 

• In most cases, street vending is a longtime profession and primary source of income. 81 percent of all vendors see vending as their primary source of income

• Of the military veterans who are vendors, 59 percent are Black, and 25 percent are Latino/a/x. 70 percent are U.S.-born and 30 percent are immigrants, and 87 percent are men.