The Broadway League, the national trade association for the Broadway industry, has published its latest report, “Broadway’s Economic Contribution to NYC 2024-2025.” The study examines the various ways in which Broadway impacted the New York City economy during that year, reporting on consumer habits, demographics, production costs and the “ripple effect” of the theater industry on other local businesses. The study ultimately found that Broadway contributed $21.07 billion to New York City’s economy during the 2024-2025 season, representing an 18% increase from the 2018-2019 season (the last time this analysis was conducted).
The report tracks two main contributors to the local New York City economy: indirect visitor spending by those attracted to visit NYC because of Broadway and direct spending by the employment of theatermakers and industry professionals, as well as employment of ancillary businesses.
Therefore, the League relied on two primary data streams. From June 2024 through May 2025, the League distributed questionnaires to audience members at 52 different productions at 104 individual performance times. The completed surveys represent a 51% rate of return, with theatergoers completing 10,224 of the 20,030 distributed questionnaires. An additional 202 electronic survey responses were collected. The League estimated Broadway show costs by collecting production budgets, weekly operating budgets and other financial statistics from producers and general managers, with 95% of the spending data used in the study coming directly from producers. The League estimated the remaining 5% of the production data based on news articles and the average costs of similar productions.
The $21.07 billion the League states Broadway contributed to the local economy represents not only the money spent by theatergoers on tickets, hotels, dining, etc., but also the costs of mounting and running shows on Broadway.
That $21 billion total also factors in multiple rounds of spending. The report offered an example:
“In a primary round of spending, a producer pays an actor, and a tourist who came to New York to see a Broadway show pays for a meal in a restaurant. Subsequently, in a second round of spending, the actor uses part of his paycheck on groceries in a local supermarket (money stays in NYC) and some to pay for a European vacation (money leaves NYC). The restauranteur uses some of the money she earned from the tourist to pay a local laundry service to clean her tablecloths (money stays in NYC)and some to pay federal taxes (money leaves NYC). In the third round of spending, the supermarket owner and the launderer use the money from the actor’s paycheck and the tourist’s dinner bill, respending some locally, and some elsewhere. With each round of indirect spending, some of the original money stays in the local economy and some leaves. These rounds continue until all of the original contribution has left the area.” These rounds of spending are known as a “ripple effect.” The League calculated this ripple effect using the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Regional Input-Output Modeling System for determining the potential impact of economic activities on regional economies.
The League found that nearly 81% of the $21 billion impact (approx $16.96 billion) was due to ancillary purchases by Broadway tourists, defined as out-of-towners motivated to come to the city for Broadway. Although there were fewer Broadway tourists during the 2024-2025 season than during the 2018-2019 season, their spending was 21% more. In addition to the 81% spent by tourists, 19% of the total impact (approx $4.04 billion) came from expenditures by Broadway productions.That is a 6% increase from the 2018-2019 report. Theater owners spent $65.5 million on capital improvements.
This economic activity led the League to conclude that Broadway supported roughly 114,600 full-time equivalent jobs during the 2024-2025 season, generating approximately $979 million in New York City taxes.
Broadway shows and venues were directly and indirectly responsible for approximately 13,700 of those jobs — such as actors, directors, publicists and ushers. This total is slightly higher than the 13,300 jobs they supported during the 2018-2019 season. Based on the amount of ancillary spending, the League also concluded that Broadway was indirectly responsible for another 109,900 jobs in local restaurants, taxis, etc., an increase from 2018-2019’s 83,600 jobs.
The League surveyed theatergoers about where they were from, finding that domestic visitors from outside of the New York City metropolitan and suburban areas accounted for the most significant portion of Broadway admissions during the 2024-2025 survey period (6.17 million of 14.66 million). New York City residents accounted for the second-largest portion (3.68 million), followed by international visitors (2.96 million) then visitors from New York City suburbs (1.83 million). Overall, only 6% of non-New York City theatergoers said Broadway was not important in their decision to travel to NYC.
As for production costs, the League found that the 2024-2025 season’s 44 new shows cost a total of $418 million to produce. That represents a 39% increase (adjusted for inflation) from the 2018-2019 season, which had 39 new shows. On average during the 2024-2025 season, commercial and nonprofit producers spent $9.5 million per show in New York City prior to opening. For all shows running during the 2024-2025 season, the total operating cost benefiting New York City was $1.4 billion.
As in previous years, the League reported that labor was the largest category of spending to produce shows on Broadway, accounting for 37% of an average musical’s production budget and 34% of an average play’s. Physical expenditures, including sets, costumes and lighting, were the second-highest at 22% for musicals and 25% for plays.
According to the League, labor also accounted for the largest portion of operating expenses at approximately 55% of total weekly costs for both plays and musicals, followed by advertising/publicity (19.2% for musicals and 11.5% for plays) and theater rent (13.5% for musicals and 19.7% for plays).
The League found that those direct production costs amounted to a total of $1.9 billion spent during the 2024-2025 season, which generated another $2.2 billion in subsequent rounds of spending. Theater owners also spent a total of $45.5 million on capital improvements, renovations, restorations and repairs to their venues, generating an additional $20 million in subsequent rounds of spending.
The full report is available via the Broadway League’s website.
“Broadway’s Economic Contribution to NYC 2024-2025” was compiled by Karen Hauser, the League’s director of research, and Catherine Lanier, an independent economist.
