Brooklyn’s economy has rebounded more quickly from the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic than each of the four other boroughs of New York City, a new analysis has found.

A 20-page report by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli released Monday showed that while Brooklyn had reported the highest total number of COVID-19 cases and deaths as of March, the borough regained over 100,000 jobs from the beginning of the city’s reopening to late 2021 — a higher rate than the city as whole. 

“The pandemic halted Brooklyn’s booming economy in 2020 and exacerbated some existing inequities,” DiNapoli said. “As the economy has gradually improved, however, Brooklyn is showing a return to its pre-pandemic job growth.

“To help the borough bounce back stronger than ever, we must address long-standing issues, like housing affordability, child poverty and food insecurity,” he added.

The report found that from 2010 to 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic hit New York City in March 2020, Brooklyn’s 48% employment growth as it added 216,460 total private-sector jobs outpaced the citywide rate of about 29%. The borough’s job growth was driven primarily by the “staggering” 109% growth in the hospitality sector, according to the analysis.

During that time period, the number of private-sector businesses in the borough grew by almost 32% “mainly” because of “microbusinesses,” defined as workplaces with fewer than 10 employees. There were 1.6% more small businesses in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the start of the pandemic as the number of total businesses of all sizes declined by 5.6%.

According to the report, 84.7% of all Brooklyn businesses in 2019 employed fewer than 10 people. 

Meanwhile, the median household income climbed from $42,150 in 2010 to $66,900 in 2019, the report found. 

Between the first and second quarter of 2020 as COVID spread, the amount of private sector jobs fell “slightly,” but increased by the third quarter of 2021, totaling one-half percent above the start of the pandemic.  

In that span, the city lost 812,500 private-sector jobs. In Brooklyn, the coronavirus-induced shutdown prompted private sector employment in the second quarter of 2020 to plummet by 145,000 jobs. 

But the report revealed that the speed of job recovery in Brooklyn, determined by the change from the first quarter of 2020 employment level, is “ahead” of the five boroughs. As of the third quarter of 2021, New York City is home to 10% fewer jobs than from the start of the pandemic, while Kings County’s jobs were down just 6.1% — meaning the borough’s economy has regained the jobs it lost during the pandemic more quickly than that rest of the city.  

“If anyone knows one thing about Brooklyn it’s how resilient it is thanks to the incredibly determined and adaptable people who call the borough home,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who succeeded Mayor Eric Adams in January. “Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Brooklyn is outpacing other boroughs in New York in its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Randy Peers, head of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, said that while Brooklyn’s “resiliency” has allowed the borough to “weather the COVID storm better than most … our small businesses still have a ways to go.” 

“Inflationary pressures due to supply chain issues, a soft labor market, and lingering commercial rent arrears are the top challenges we will face in the year ahead,” he said. 

Among the report’s other findings: Brooklyn’s population is slightly younger than the entire Big Apple. The median age in Kings County was 35.6 years in 2019, while the citywide median was 37.2 years that year.

Additionally, immigrants made up 35.4% of the borough’s population as of 2019, second only to Queens, where 47.6% of residents are foreign-born, the report found. But the immigrant share of Brooklyn’s population declined in Brooklyn by 4.5% from 2010, as its non-immigrant population grew by 6%, according to DiNapoli’s analysis.

Brooklyn was notably the only borough to experience a decline in its foreign-born population, according to the report.

The foreign-born population decline came as rents in the borough soared by 37.5% from 2010 to 2019 — the fastest rent growth of the five boroughs.   

And while poverty in Brooklyn declined during the decade by 4.2%, 17.3% of households in the borough were impoverished in 2019, slightly higher than the 16.4% citywide poverty rate, the analysis found.