According to The New York Times, half of New York City's dwellers say they're just barely making ends meet, if at all.

This is all according to a poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College, which, as we could have guessed, relayed great disparities in qualities of life among the city's five boroughs. 

The weight of economic stress fell more heavily on residents in the Bronx, where residents reported concern about access to jobs and educational opportunity, and Staten Island, where 20% of residents reported recently experiencing vandalism or theft.

Still, the pervasive economic anxiety stretched throughout all five boroughs: 51% of New Yorkers responded to the survey saying they were either just getting by, or finding it difficult to do so.

In Manhattan, 58% of residents polled said they were doing all right or thriving financially, which was the highest measure of economic success in the five boroughs. 

Still, stress about money does not evade Manhattan as 30% of Manhattan residents said they were just getting by.

In Brooklyn and the Bronx, economic insecurity was reported as the most pronounced indicators, and, perhaps, as a result, both boroughs also reported the lowest confidence in both the local government and the police.

In Brooklyn and the Bronx, almost three in five residents said they were struggling to make ends meet. 

36% of residents in the Bronx said there were times in the past year where they didn't have enough money to buy food for their families. Only 1 in 5 Bronx residents said they and their neighbors had good or excellent access to suitable jobs.

Sadly, only 6 in 10 Bronx residents said it was likely that a young person in their neighborhood would graduate from high school. 44% of Bronx residents said it was probably that the children around them would grow up having a relative who is incarcerated.

The city-wide number of residents who reported the likelihood of a resident who's incarcerated is about one-third, but saddest of all, that number rises to 52% among African-Americans.

via The New York Times

Here's something surprising and heartening among all these unfortunate findings: the less privileged areas of the city reported the most positive outlook on the future.

4 in 10 Brooklyn residents said their neighborhood was getting better, and 36% of Bronx residents said the same.

Residents of Manhattan and Staten Island were more likely to say things were getting worse in their area.

In Staten Island, residents had a strongly favorable view of Staten Island as a place to raise children. They also expressed clear confidence that their children would graduate from high school.

Still, through all this, pride in NYC remains. 65% of New Yorkers said NYC is still the greatest city in the world.

Check out 7 Places in NYC to Give Back to Your Community This Thanksgiving.