NEW YORK, NY— When congestion pricing took effect in January 2025, New York City researchers began tracking whether the toll would change air pollution inside Manhattan's congestion relief zone, or push more pollution into surrounding neighborhoods as drivers sought to avoid it.
Their conclusion: Pollution held steady or improved slightly, and researchers could not attribute significant changes to congestion pricing.
That finding applies to the congestion relief zone in Manhattan and nearby neighborhoods where officials feared diverted traffic could increase pollution.
Vehicle traffic produces about 14 percent of New York City's fine-particle pollution and 20 percent of its nitrogen oxide pollution, according to the Health Department.
So even with fewer cars, other pollution sources can keep overall air quality from changing much.
The Health Department compared 2025 pollution levels with estimates of what they would have been without congestion pricing.
Researchers accounted for weather, seasonal changes and long-term pollution trends and tracked four pollutants: fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide and black carbon. Several can harm people's health.
Inside the congestion relief zone, pollution was about the same or slightly lower in 2025 than in 2024.
Researchers found no significant change linked to congestion pricing, even as traffic entering the zone fell 11 percent.
Officials also monitored six areas near major roads where they feared drivers might avoid the toll and bring more traffic and pollution:
Black carbon and nitric oxide levels fell, while fine-particle pollution stayed about the same. Researchers found no evidence that congestion pricing caused pollution to rise in those areas.
New York's congestion pricing system charges most passenger vehicles $9 once a day when they enter Manhattan's Congestion Relief Zone during peak hours. The zone covers Manhattan south of and including 60th Street, with the FDR Drive and West Side Highway excluded.
The toll varies depending on when and how a driver enters the zone:
Peak hours run from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. Drivers pay the passenger-vehicle toll only once per day, even if they enter the zone multiple times.
Some drivers can receive credits or discounts, including a crossing credit of up to $3 for passenger vehicles entering through certain Hudson River and East River crossings during peak hours.
Low-income drivers and certain vehicles can also qualify for discounts or exemptions.
The toll is designed to do two things at once: discourage driving into the busiest part of Manhattan and raise money for public transportation.
The MTA is required to put the congestion-pricing revenue toward its capital program, which funds major transit improvements rather than everyday operating expenses.
That money is helping fund major transit upgrades across the City, including:
The MTA reported more than $6 billion in congestion-pricing-funded capital projects are already active, with additional projects expected to be awarded in 2026.
The report covers the program's first full year, and the Health Department plans to continue monitoring the six environmental justice locations monthly through the end of 2026.
After that, officials plan to monitor them four times a year through the New York City Community Air Survey, which has tracked pollution at 86 locations since 2009.
The continued monitoring will help researchers determine whether the first-year findings persist as traffic patterns, vehicle fleets and other pollution sources change.
The report also did not measure greenhouse gas emissions, meaning it cannot determine how much congestion pricing has affected the City's contribution to global warming.
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