More Than Discomfort: Black New Yorkers Twice as Likely to Die of Heat Stress This Summer
The City has officially exited its fourth extreme heat wave of Summer 2024, with still over a month to go. A new report highlights the racial and economic disparities in heat-related deaths.
| 05 Aug 2024 | 01:51
Sunbathers at Central Park, one of the City’s premier cooling stations on the Cool It! map. Emergency Management has updated citywide cooling features to prevent premature heat-related death as temperatures rise. (
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Overcrowded benches in City parks, street sellers up-charging on water bottles and long stretches of blocks avoided due to sun exposure—these factors all define Summer 2024 in NYC, with temperatures climbing well into the nineties consistently in June and July. And officials warn that in a congested area, an ambivalence to heat-preventing measures can cost you your life.
The racial health inequity in NYC is no secret, but the stats on heat-related deaths are eye-opening: a Black New Yorker is twice as likely to die of heat stress than a white New Yorker.
In recent years, the City has been reporting over 300 heat related deaths per year.
The city records an average of 13 heat-stroke deaths and 450 heat-related emergency room visits, for ailments like heat exhaustion or dehydration, according to city statistics eported recently by The CITY. Extreme heat struck the City hard this year, and with many weeks of summer still left, NYC Emergency Management is taking measures that hopes keeps citizens safe from unnecessary heat exhaustion. NYCEM has improved the City’s response to extreme heat, ensuring features like cooling stations hit the streets.
Last year, 350 New Yorkers died of heat illness due to dangerous weather but experts said most of those deaths were preventable with proper measures. This is directly on par with the consistent citywide average, reaching about 340 heat-exacerbated deaths and about seven heat-stress deaths each year.
New Yorkers of color face inequality in systems like health care, housing and energy, contributing to the deaths from heat related causes, according to The CITY, the not for profit news service.
Of those who died from heat stress, most were found in an un-air-conditioned home. The City Council reported that households in non-white neighborhoods of the Bronx, compared to all other NYC neighborhoods, are the ones most likely to live without air conditioning.
Death rates are historically higher in poorer neighborhoods, where more residents live below the poverty line, according to an NYC report. Although heat-related death occurs across all age groups, older generations are typically most affected. Those with chronic conditions, like cardiovascular disease, substance abuse, diabetes or cognitive issues, are most at risk.
The City defines extreme heat by temps of at least 10 degrees higher than normal, lasting for at least several days. A summer heat wave has come four times now, and the City braces itself for the possibility of another.