Orlando last year passed New York as the world’s and nation’s top tourist city, but it also has the lowest median pay of the top 50 U.S. cities, with many of the theme park employees among those living at or below the poverty line, according to Bloomberg News. Disney, with 70,000 employees, is the leading area employer. Almost 40% of jobs in Orlando pay less than $25,000 a year.
Partly as a result, area tax collections haven’t been sufficient to cover costs and maintenance for area governments, resulting in property tax increases (17.7% in Orlando) that drive the circle further. Read more HERE
I am not sure if an employee working in tourism in NYC would have a higher quality of life even if paid more. Orlando at least is cheap. Also many folks in the tourist trade make a lot of their earnings from tips which rarely are fully reported as income.
So I never know what to make of studies like this