The State of Safety in New York 2023

The SafeWise team is pleased to release the fifth annual State of Safety report.

According to our 2023 State of Safety report, New York is more worried about safety and crime than most states. 62% of respondents to our survey told us they have high levels of concern every day—12 points higher than the national average of 50%. Survey participants also noted a small dip in personal experiences with violent crime and gun violence compared to the previous reporting year.

New York didn't provide enough data to the FBI this year so we're unable to update state crime rates. Here's the latest data available, from 2022:

New York's violent crime rate held steady in 2022 at 3.6 incidents per 1,000 people, lower than the US rate of 4.0. In contrast, the state's property crime rate went up from 13.9 incidents per 1,000 people to 14.1, but that’s still five incidents fewer per capita than the US rate of 19.6.

Among all 50 states, New York had the eighteenth-highest violent crime rate, tied with West Virginia and Indiana. When it comes to property crime, New York had the ninth-lowest property crime rate.

For better crime reporting in New York in the future, we recommend telling local lawmakers and law enforcement agencies that this information matters to you.

Reports of personal experience with violent crime in The Empire State fell from 29% to 26% year over year. New York residents also had fewer experiences with gun violence this survey year.

• 66% of survey respondents reported a high level of concern about violent crime—the third-highest percentage in the country behind Illinois and Georgia.

• 44% of survey participants use some kind of personal protection like a stun gun or pepper spray, compared to 39% nationally.
• The most popular types of personal protection used by New York respondents this survey year were pepper spray (59%) and pocket knives (50%)—higher than their respective national averages.
• 55% say their personal safety has been affected by the pandemic (US 44%).

• 68% said gun violence is the safety concern they worry about most on a daily basis (US 47%). This is the third highest in the nation behind Illinois and Louisiana.
• The number of respondents with a personal gun violence experience (16%) dropped by 7 percentage points since the previous survey year (US 12%).
• There were 31 mass shooting incidents in New York in 2022, a 14% decrease from the 36 incidents in 2021.
• For every police officer killed or injured by a gun in New York in 2022, 2.8 suspects experienced the same.
• There were 7 self-defense shooting incidents in New York in 2022—15 less than the previous year.

While New Yorkers worry more about property crime and package theft than the average American, neither issue concerns them as much as violent crime and gun violence.

• Just as many New Yorkers (25%) reported personal experiences with property crime this survey year as they did in the last survey.
• Just 30% of New York residents reported feeling safe in their home state (US 50%)—this is lower than every other state except Illinois.

• 71% of New York residents use some form of property protection (US 76%) with security cameras on top at 46%.
• 44% of New Yorkers said they added or increased security measures in the 12 months prior to the survey (US 35%).
• 32% say the security of their property has been affected by the pandemic (US 28%).

• 44% of survey respondents in New York reported experiencing package theft in the 12 months prior to the survey (US 34%)—only Louisiana reported more experiences.
• 62% of participants expressed a high level of concern about package theft (US 53%).
• The preferred methods of package protection in New York are video doorbells (33%) and verified delivery (29%).

For the purposes of this report, the terms “dangerous” and “safest” refer explicitly to crime rates as calculated from FBI crime data—no other characterization of any community is implied or intended.

We couldn’t rank the safest cities in New York this year due to limited information reported to the FBI. Only 35 cities that met our criteria provided data to the FBI for 2021 (the most recent year for which data is available). Crime rates for those cities are detailed below.

• Best Home Security Systems
• Best Home Security Cameras
• Best Video Doorbell Cameras
• Burglary Stats & Facts
• The Most Burglarized City in Every State
• The Best Personal Safety Devices for Every Situation
• The State of Safety in America in 2022

FBI Crime Data Explorer, "Documents & Downloads." Accessed February 6, 2023.

• 2021 and 2020 Crime in the United States Annual Reports
  • Offenses Known to Law Enforcement
• 2021 NIBRS Estimation Tables

FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, "Offenses Known to Law Enforcement [2019]." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Bureau of Justice Statistics, "National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)." Accessed February 6, 2023.

US Census Bureau, "2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables." Accessed February 6, 2023.

US Census Bureau, "2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables." Accessed February 6, 2023.

SafeWise, "2022 State of Safety survey." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "General Methodology." Accessed February 6, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "Past Summary Ledgers." Accessed January 3, 2023.

Gun Violence Archive, "Congress."

• 2022 totals: Accessed January 3, 2023.
• 2021 and 2020 totals: Accessed December 19, 2022.