Brooklyn experienced a 12 percent decline, and the Bronx underwent a severe demographic erosion of 18 percent. An in-migration of small households of professionals and an out-migration of the middle classes to the suburbs, especially to the rapidly growing metropolitan fringe, have characterized demographic change in New York City.
In addition to deindustrialization, New York City has never suffered from a continuing lack of hotel rooms. Seeking to lower operating costs by relocating from Manhattan, major corporations have removed their clerical back offices and even some headquarters. The number of Fortune 500 listings for New York City corporate-headquarters locations
dropped from 131 in 1968 to 69 in 1983, to 48 in 1988, and to 29 in 1993. The overwhelming dominance of New York City as a corporate-headquarters center eroded most rapidly during the 1970s. The virtual bankruptcy of the city during the fiscal crisis of 1975 reflected a seriously weakened economic base, imperiled by both corporate relocation
and industrial decline, in the face of mounting municipal expenditures. Many commentators concluded that New York City was economically doomed. Yet a surge in foreign investment and the deregulatory boom in Wall Street financial markets during the 1980s generated a host of new white-collar employment opportunities to replace lost industrial, wholesale, and corporate positions. Despite the recent loss of corporate headquarters to other places, continuing vitality in insurance, brokerage, banking, advertising, and other commercial service has strengthened the competitive position of New York City. In terms of both headquarters and subsidiaries of major corporations,
New York City remains the "dominant corporate command-and-control center in the urban system of the United States". In many ways New York City is well positioned in the postindustrial economy, as reflected in the 1995 Fortune list, which was revamped in format for the first time in forty years to include services as well as industries.