ALBANY — From Empire State to Exodus State.

More than one-third of young New Yorkers are packing their bags to escape crushing taxes, sky-high living costs and a deteriorating quality of life, according to an alarming new poll out yesterday.

The ominous NY1/YNN-Marist survey found that 36 percent of residents younger than 30 — and 26 percent of all New Yorkers — are planning their exit strategy, bolstering warnings by Gov. Cuomo and others that the state’s decades-long brain drain could accelerate without dramatic policy changes.

Sixty-two percent of those planning to leave blame economic woes such as taxes, living costs or a lack of job opportunities, the poll found. The remaining 38 percent cite personal reasons like retirement, overcrowding, school quality or proximity to family.

“Right now, many young people do not see their future in New York state,” said Marist pollster Lee Miringoff. “Unchecked, this threatens to drain the state of the next generation.”

Among older New Yorkers, some 26 percent between the ages of 30 and 44 and 29 percent between 45 and 59 plan to switch their state of residence. Just 16 percent of those older than 60 plan to leave.

The urge to flee resonates strongest in the suburbs, where 33 percent say they’re looking for greener pastures, compared to 24 percent in the Big Apple and 26 percent upstate.

The lower city flight figure will be music to the ears of Mayor Bloomberg, who has long boasted that the Big Apple is a population magnet, particularly for young people and immigrants.

Overall, 77 percent of adults perceive New York as too expensive for an average family. Some 55 percent describe the state as “not very affordable” and 22 percent think it’s “not affordable at all.”

New York’s population grew at a sluggish 2.1 percent over the last decade — ahead of only Michigan, Rhode Island and Ohio — as new immigrants barely offset a broad exodus, according to Census data.

A 2009 analysis of IRS data by the business-backed Manhattan Institute found that 1.5 million New Yorkers fled for other states between 2000 and 2008.

The exodus will reduce the Empire State’s congressional delegation by two seats to 27 next year, further eroding its national influence.

The shock poll came as Cuomo pushed a 2 percent cap on local property-tax hikes during a visit to hardscrabble Buffalo, which shed 11 percent of its population over the last decade.

The governor has successfully fought to eliminate a special income tax on the wealthy as part of the state budget.

“The simple truth is that New York has no economic future as the tax capital of the nation,” Cuomo told a crowd of more than 400.

brendan.scott@nypost.com

