High costs, tight job market push Long Island grads to build futures elsewhere

Delaney Hallahan, a senior studying history at SUNY New Paltz, dreams of working at a nonprofit museum after graduation. 

But federal cuts to arts funding, economic uncertainty tied to tariffs and executive orders targeting agencies such as the Institute of Museum and Library Services have her questioning her path forward.

The 22-year-old Ronkonkoma native, who started at Suffolk County Community College to save money and works during school breaks to cover basic expenses, also doubts she’ll stay on Long Island because of the high cost of living and competitive job market.

"I'm willing to shift where I need to,” she said.

Hallahan’s outlook is common among Long Island’s young adults, who are navigating a competitive job market and an affordability crisis. New York lost 2.7% of its residents between 2020 and 2023, with young adults twice as likely to leave as other age groups, a Fiscal Policy Institute study found.

Economists warn if Long Island can’t offer college graduates a viable path to stability, the region risks losing not just a generation but the future workforce, homebuyers and civic leaders needed to sustain its economy and identity.

“We'll have an aging population and declining workforce, and that will be bad for the Long Island economy generally,” said John Rizzo, an economics professor at Stony Brook University. “We might get to a tipping point and it really becomes a critical situation.”

It’s not just a Long Island problem. Nationally, recent college graduates have faced higher unemployment rates than all workers since at least 1990, according to U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The rate spiked to 13.4% in June 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 recession. It has since fallen, but at 5.8% as of March it remains well above the pre-pandemic level of 3.8%.

Shital Patel, an economist with the New York State Department of Labor, said the current job market is the most competitive it’s been in years, with hiring slowing to levels not seen since the last recession. She cited “economic uncertainty” as a key reason many employers are freezing or delaying hires, creating a ripple effect that keeps workers in their current jobs and limits openings for new graduates.

“That leads to a challenging environment for recent college graduates,” Patel said. “There's no real clarity on what's going to happen three to six months down the road.”

Meanwhile, the cost-of-living gap has left many young adults questioning whether they can afford to stay on Long Island. In 2024, the average weekly wage was $1,527 in Suffolk and $1,494 in Nassau, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Median gross rent was $2,228 in Nassau and $2,045 in Suffolk — far higher than the national median of $1,406. 

Some graduates, NYU economics Professor Nicholas Economides said, might consider relocating to cheaper regions such as the Midwest, where housing is more affordable.

“These are not easy choices but they might be the most appropriate choices,” Economides said.

A key factor in Long Island's housing crisis is that it is already heavily developed, said Jonathan Miller, CEO of the real estate consulting firm Miller Samuel. When new projects are proposed, developers often aim for the luxury market because high land and material costs — along with tariffs — strain supply chains.

“The mantra for making housing more affordable is 'build more housing,' but most new developments skew toward the upper half of the market,” Miller said. He also cited restrictive zoning laws and the NIMBY, or “not in my backyard,” movement — local pushback against development over property values, traffic or noise — as key barriers to affordability.

Addressing the problem will require cooperation between government, private companies and academic institutions, said Matthew Cohen, president and CEO of the Long Island Association. Expanding access to affordable child care, creating more well-paying jobs in growth industries, and bolstering Long Island’s research and academic institutions could all help keep young professionals from leaving, he said.

“If we're not growing, we're dying,” Cohen said.

Living ‘close to the edge’

Aaron Diaz, 23, of Westbury, estimates he has applied to between 100 and 150 positions since graduating from Hofstra University in December.

“It’s been difficult. A lot of these [employers] want so many years of experience when I’ve only been to college for four years,” Diaz said.

While job hunting, he works part time at his family’s supermarket and is preparing to begin repaying $16,000 in student loans. He also has an unpaid summer internship at the Worldwide Sports Radio Network, a Long Island-based sports network, creating short-form social media videos for its podcast. He hopes the internship will open doors to his next opportunity.

“Everyone has to start somewhere,” Diaz said.

After graduating from Union College in 2020 with degrees in biology and music, 27-year-old Marina De Luca returned to her childhood home in Greenport to figure out her next steps.

Living rent-free allowed her to explore different paths — from a recording project at Monk Music Studio in East Hampton to an entry-level role at the environmental nonprofit Group for the East End. But when she was ready for independence, she found even affordable housing units on Long Island were out of reach.

In January, she relocated to Williamsburg, Brooklyn — not typically a cheaper option, but one with more opportunities to perform as a solo singer-songwriter and network with other artists in New York City’s music scene. She now works as a front desk assistant at Workshoppe Fitness while she waits for a break in the industry.

De Luca said she lives “exceptionally frugally” to afford groceries and $1,500 in rent. Still, she said city life can be cheaper in some ways than living on Long Island — roommates split costs and public transit replaces long, gas-heavy commutes.

“I really love this darn music thing,” she said. “I'd rather live close to the edge and hate my life a little bit … and have it all go bust.”

Jake Iaccino, 23, of Huntington, described his post-graduation job search as a “full-time job” in itself. He recently earned a master’s in public administration from Baruch College and plans to remain on Long Island during his fellowship.

“I’ve read articles … saying that this is one of the worst job markets for new graduates in recent history. And I’ll be honest, I was feeling that,” Iaccino said.

After a four-month application and interview process, he secured the New York Excelsior Service Fellowship, a two-year paid program that places recent graduates with advanced degrees in executive branch agencies across state governments.

While he also applied for full-time roles, Iaccino saw the fellowship early in his search as a strong fit for his career goals, offering high-level policy work and connections with professionals in state government.

Asked if he was worried about reentering the job market after the fellowship, he acknowledged it could be challenging no matter the degree. Still, he’s confident the program will give him transferable skills for a wide range of roles.

Hallahan, who will graduate this spring, is already bracing for what comes next.

She’s polishing graduate school applications, scanning job boards and preparing to take on internships or side gigs to stay competitive.

She once assumed a college degree would be enough.

Now, she sees it as just one step in a longer — and murkier — process. What hasn’t changed is her passion for history and culture. What’s less certain is whether she can afford to turn that passion into a career that pays enough for her to survive and be comfortable.

On Long Island, she’s already decided the answer is no.

“I’m probably not going to find a job on Long Island,” she said. “I just know that.”

That mindset, shared by many other young graduates, worries Cohen, of the Long Island Association. He believes retaining young professionals like Hallahan is essential to the region’s long-term health.

“We have to have a sustainable culture here, a sustainable economy that remains vibrant,” he said. “And we can't do that if a lot of young, highly skilled professionals are leaving.”