The 15 Safest Neighborhoods in NYC (2026)

We rank by average NYPD crime complaints per 300-meter walking radius across each NYC Neighborhood Tabulation Area (NTA). Lower is better. The 300m radius approximates a 3-4 minute walk — the distance that actually affects daily living — and covers every NYPD complaint category (felonies, misdemeanors, and violations). The NYPD data was pulled from NYC Open Data on 2026-09-14.

Based on NYPD crime data per 300m walking radius: 1. Staten Island (75.6 incidents), 2. Queens (159.5 incidents), 3. Brooklyn (321.2 incidents), 4. Bronx (515.9 incidents), 5. Manhattan (696.5 incidents). Individual neighborhoods within each borough can vary significantly.

Annadale-Huguenot-Prince's Bay-Woodrow in Staten Island, with 13.8 NYPD crime complaints within 300 meters of a typical point over the 12 months ending 2026-06-30, against a citywide average of 350.4. Todt Hill-Emerson Hill-Lighthouse Hill-Manor Heights (Staten Island, 17.2) and Douglaston-Little Neck (Queens, 22.5) are second and third.

By the same NYPD measure, the safest neighborhoods in Brooklyn are 1. Windsor Terrace-South Slope (76.1 crimes per 300m), 2. Mapleton-Midwood (West) (95 crimes per 300m), 3. Marine Park-Mill Basin-Bergen Beach (105.2 crimes per 300m). The full Brooklyn list is on our safest neighborhoods in Brooklyn page.

By the same NYPD measure, the safest neighborhoods in Manhattan are 1. Upper East Side-Lenox Hill-Roosevelt Island (290.1 crimes per 300m), 2. Morningside Heights (310 crimes per 300m), 3. Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village (335.4 crimes per 300m). The full Manhattan list is on our safest neighborhoods in Manhattan page.

No. Crime rates are averages across a neighborhood — safety can vary block by block. A neighborhood with a low average can still have dangerous stretches, especially near certain transit hubs or commercial corridors. Always check crime data for the specific address you're considering, not just the neighborhood name. DwellCheck counts crime complaints within 300m and shootings within 500m of any NYC address.

Some neighborhoods people perceive as safe rank lower in the data than expected because the 300m circles around points near a neighborhood's edge take in adjacent commercial strips, transit hubs, or areas with higher crime, which get averaged in. This list shows the raw data; use it as one input alongside your own research and an actual address-level check.

NYPD Complaint Data Current (Year To Date) and NYPD Complaint Data Historic (NYC Open Data datasets 5uac-w243 and qgea-i56i), limited to the 12 months ending 2026-06-30, the latest date NYPD had published when the data was pulled. For each residential NTA, crimes are counted within 300 meters of 100 random points inside the neighborhood boundary and averaged. See the methodology below.

NYPD publishes complaint data on NYC Open Data quarterly. This list uses complaints through 2026-06-30, pulled on 2026-09-14; it changes only when the data is pulled again. Small month-to-month fluctuations shouldn't change the rankings much, but major shifts (new policing initiatives, gentrification waves) can move neighborhoods up or down over years.

Enter the address on DwellCheck — we count NYPD crime complaints within 300 meters and shooting incidents within 500 meters over the latest 12 months NYPD has published, plus year-to-date arrests within 300 meters, and compare the crime count with the borough average. You'll see a block-level score (0-100) and a breakdown of which crime types were reported.

The rankings reflect reported incidents, not lived experience. Over-policed neighborhoods may appear worse than they are; under-reported incidents in wealthier areas can mask real issues. We publish the raw methodology so readers can form their own conclusions. Use these rankings as a starting point, not a final verdict.