There are fears efforts to tackle poverty are going backwards, with York researchers told little has changed a century on from a landmark study on the issue.
Researchers found people turning to casual labour, sex work and the black market to make ends meet and an increasing reliance on charity and community support as traditional support systems fail.
Cllr Katie Lomas, York Council's Labour finance spokesperson, said high rents, house prices, and the cost of living made living in the affluent city extremely challenging for thousands on low incomes.
Dr Kit Colliver, a researcher behind a new study on poverty in York, said its wealthy image was masking deep pockets of deprivation and making life harder for people struggling.
It follows the publication of the 'Poverty and Progress?' study from the University of York's Cost of Living Research Group this month.
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The release of the findings marks 125 years since York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree's 1901 study 'Poverty: A Study of Town Life'.
The son of confectionery tycoon Joseph Rowntree's study changed the way people saw poverty and spurred on social reform efforts that culminated in the creation of the modern welfare state.
But one unnamed participant in the latest study commenting on the current situation with housing told researchers: "I don't see much difference 125 years on."
The study, which compares living conditions in York today with Rowntree's era, found around 18 per cent of all children were living in relative poverty in the city.
Researchers also found low-income households in York were more likely to fall below the poverty line than those in London, according to data from 2024/5.
It contrasts with York being named the country's most affluent city by the Centre for Cities.
Seebohm Rowntree (Image: Supplied)
The think tank found more of its neighbourhoods fall into the UK's 20 per cent least deprived than any other major city.
House prices in York stood at £311,000 and private sector rents at £1,178 on average as of May this year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
York's latest median house price to earnings ratio was 8.5 in 2025, making it the least affordable of any major city in the North of England.
People who shared their accounts of life in York with researchers spoke of hidden poverty and homelessness with people living on friends' sofas or in their cars.
Researchers also found 'off the books' economic activity was routine in York.
People reported wearing clothes with tags on before returning them for a refund and getting visits from sellers of cheap goods for cash going door-to-door.
Others turned to cash-in-hand jobs including window cleaning or bar shifts or earning income online through social media or adult content creation.
Beef joints and champagne were among the stolen goods reported to be in circulation locally with other accounts of tools taken from work vans turning up at car boot sales.
Women spoke about engaging in sex work or selling items such as underwear online to cover basic costs, with others in poverty becoming indebted to drug dealers.
There were also reports of local families being priced out of their local communities as rents of up to £1,500 for three-bed homes become increasingly normal.
Researchers also heard from people who spoke of being trapped in awful housing under constant fear of eviction while feeling their neighbourhoods increasingly catered to visitors instead of residents.
The study stated poverty had become less visibly obvious than in Rowntree's time but people were increasingly becoming trapped within cycles of it that were almost impossible to escape.
It called for more investment in local services and infrastructure, removing barriers to support and targeting it better and more collaboration between services to make the most of available resources.
Researchers said acts of solidarity such as help from neighbours was helping to tackle the isolating effects of poverty.
Dr Colliver, of the university's Cost of Living Research Group, said the tension between York's affluence and deprivation was a central theme of the new study.
The researcher said: "While York is widely celebrated as the most affluent city in the North, the findings demonstrate that thousands of local families are quietly struggling against soaring housing and energy costs, fragmented support services, and a tourist-centric city centre that leaves many low-income residents feeling isolated and priced out of civic life.
"The city of York has changed significantly over the 125 years since Seebohm Rowntree's landmark study.
"Once typical of Northern towns in the industrial age, York now stands apart in both financial success and its high cost of living."
Council Finance Executive Member Cllr Lomas said officials were doing everything they could to tackle poverty locally but strong national action was ultimately needed.
The executive member said: "Capitalism creates wealth but, without the intervention of the state, it also creates entrenched poverty and sharp inequality.
"After Rowntree's original report society took great strides to tackle poverty, but since the rise of a free market ideology in the 1980s we have moved backwards."