Is Dyker Heights Safe? Brooklyn Livability, Crime & Rent
Dyker Heights scores 5.7 composite: exceptionally safe and quiet, held back by having no subway station.
Dyker Heights at a glance
- Borough
- Brooklyn
- Livability score
- 5.7/10
- Borough rank (NYC Open Data guides)
- #21 of 28
- Safety verdict
- Exceptionally Safe
- Crimes (12 mo)
- 1,206
- ZIP codes
- 11228 (60%), 11219 (34%), 11220 (6%)Share of residential units, NYC PLUTO 26v2
- Subway stations
- 0
- Data updated
- 2026-09-26
Is Dyker Heights Safe?
Dyker Heights, Brooklyn scores 5.7/10 for overall livability, ranking #21 of 28 Brooklyn neighborhoods scored from NYC Open Data. Dyker Heights scores 5.7 composite: exceptionally safe and quiet, held back by having no subway station.
The livability score draws on HPD housing violations, subway access, NYC Parks' tree inventory and parks, and 311 noise complaints per resident from NYC Open Data, refreshed periodically rather than live. It does not include crime; NYPD complaint and shooting figures are on the Dyker Heights safety page. Safety varies by block — check a specific Dyker Heights address below for a block-level breakdown.
Score Overview
Vertical line = borough median. Scale: 0-10.
Practical measures HPD housing violations per residential lot over the last 12 months (higher = fewer violations). Borough medians are computed across DwellCheck's Brooklyn neighborhood guides.
Neighborhood Character
You'll find a quiet, low-rise neighborhood of houses: two-family houses are 40% of residential tax lots, one-family 32% and walk-ups 19%. Complaint rates are low across the board, with noise at 22.2 per 1,000 residents, rodents at 1.5 and sanitation at 5.5, all labelled Low.
Trees are moderate, about 175 in a typical 200m circle with a tree density of 6/10. Five NYC Parks properties sit inside the neighborhood; McKinley Park is the largest and also the nearest to the center, 598m away.
The catch is the subway: no station sits inside the neighborhood's boundary, so commute scores 1/10. DwellCheck rates Dyker Heights exceptionally safe, with a lower crime rate per resident than 92% of Brooklyn neighborhoods and no shootings in 12 months.
Livability & Restoration
Trees
175 trees
Expected in a 200m circle (NYC Parks tree inventory) | Density: 6/10 (city percentile)
In Toronto, 10 more trees on a city block went with a rise in self-rated health comparable to being 7 years younger (Kardan et al., 2015, Scientific Reports). In a cross-sectional study of London boroughs, each additional street tree per km of street went with 1.18 fewer antidepressant prescriptions per 1,000 residents (Taylor et al., 2015, Landscape and Urban Planning).
Park Access
5 parks
NYC Parks properties inside the neighborhood | largest: McKinley Park | nearest to the center: McKinley Park, 598m | 3 nearest average 740m from the neighborhood's center
Acoustic Quality
6/10
Noise proxy score (higher = quieter)
Environmental noise exposure increases the occurrence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease; WHO's night-noise guidelines call average outdoor night noise above 55 dB increasingly dangerous for public health (Basner et al., 2014, The Lancet).
What is the ART Score?
ART stands for Attention Restoration Theory (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989) — the framework environmental psychologists use to measure whether a place helps your brain recover from mental fatigue, or pushes it deeper into overload. Cities deplete directed attention (the effortful focus you use at work); exposure to restorative environments replenishes it.
DwellCheck uses the idea in two separate places, and they measure different things. The neighborhood ART score below comes from neighborhood-wide data: up to 5 points from tree density (a city percentile) and up to 5 from how few 311 noise complaints there are per resident. An address report has no ART score. It runs the Wellness checks below, and their points go into the address’s overall score.
More than a point above the Brooklyn median: denser trees, fewer noise complaints per resident, or both.
What an address report checks instead (Wellness)
- ±Sensory environment. A calm score minus a busy score, each starting at 50. Busy: a firehouse within 100m (+15) or 200m (+8), and 311 noise complaints within 200m over 6 months (15+ adds 5, 40+ adds 12, 80+ adds 20, and 3 more at 20+ complaints that include vehicle or street noise). Calm: a library (+15), community garden (+12) or public plaza or atrium (POPS; +15 indoor, +8 outdoor) within 200m, and a park within 300m (+10; +15 at 1+ acre; +20 at 5+ acres). A difference of +20 or more adds 8 points; −10 to −29 costs 2; −30 or less costs 4. Bars, museums, tourists and foot traffic are not counted.
- +Third places (Oldenburg, 1989). Public libraries, public plazas and atriums (POPS) and community gardens within 400m: 1–2 add 5 points, 3 or more add 10. Cafés and community centers are not counted. In a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies, loneliness or social isolation went with a 29% higher risk of incident coronary heart disease (Valtorta et al., 2016, Heart).
- 0Street vitality (Jacobs, 1961). Permitted block parties, farmers markets and similar community events in the borough over the past 12 months. The event data has no coordinates, so this is a borough-wide count shown for context. It doesn’t change the score.
Health mechanism. The theory holds that natural settings let directed attention recover. The evidence is mixed: a systematic review of 31 studies (Ohly et al., 2016, Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B) found that time in natural environments improved 3 of 13 pooled attention measures (Digit Span Forward, Digit Span Backward and Trail Making Test B) and showed no marked benefit on the other 10.
Theoretical foundations. Kaplan & Kaplan (1989), The Experience of Nature; Jacobs (1961), The Death and Life of Great American Cities; Oldenburg (1989), The Great Good Place.
Transit & Commute
Subway Stations
No transit data available
Commute Score
1/10
Borough median: 5.5/10
Outdoor & Green Space
Avg Tree Count
175
Trees expected in a 200m circle
Tree Density
6/10
1,392 trees per km² in NYC Parks' tree inventory (street and park trees); city percentile, 1 = sparsest
Largest Parks In or Near the Neighborhood
- McKinley Park
- Quaker Parrot Park at the Dust Bowl
- Patrick O'Rourke Playground
- Park
Nearest to the neighborhood's center: McKinley Park, about 598m. The 3 nearest NYC Parks properties average 740m from the center (approximate park centers, not entrances).
Practical Living
Practical (HPD violations): 9/10 (Brooklyn median 7.5). It measures HPD housing violations per residential lot over the last 12 months (higher = fewer violations).
Building Mix (Residential Tax Lots)
Share of the 6,522 residential tax lots in the neighborhood by PLUTO building class (NYC Department of City Planning).
Who Dyker Heights Is For
Families who prioritize safety
Rated exceptionally safe: a lower crime rate per resident than 92% of Brooklyn neighborhoods, 1,206 crimes and 0 shootings in 12 months.
Residents who want quiet
Noise complaints run 22.2 per 1,000 residents, labelled Low; ART/Livability scores 5.5 against a borough median of 4.4.
Drivers and bus riders
Commute scores 1/10 because no subway station is inside the neighborhood.
Pros & Cons
Strengths
Exceptionally safe
A lower crime rate per resident than 92% of Brooklyn neighborhoods; crime trend improving (-7.3%).
Few housing violations
Practical scores 9/10 against a borough median of 7.5.
Low complaint rates
Noise 22.2, rodents 1.5 and sanitation 5.5 per 1,000 residents, all labelled Low.
Trade-offs
No subway inside the neighborhood
Commute scores 1/10 against a borough median of 5.5.
Parks are a walk away
The 3 nearest NYC Parks properties average 740m from the neighborhood's center.
Outdoor slightly below the borough
Outdoor scores 5.7/10 against a Brooklyn median of 5.9.
Score Any Address in Dyker Heights
Get detailed livability scores based on building health, transit access, safety, noise levels, and 15+ NYC data sources.
Search an Address in Dyker HeightsFrequently Asked Questions about Dyker Heights
1Is Dyker Heights safe?
By NYPD data, Dyker Heights is rated "Exceptionally Safe", with a lower crime rate per resident than 92% of Brooklyn neighborhoods. 1,206 crime incidents and 0 shooting incidents over the past 12 months. See the safety page for the full breakdown.
2What is the average rent in Dyker Heights?
Rents in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn vary significantly by building and apartment type. Market pricing isn't aggregated for this neighborhood yet; use DwellCheck to research specific addresses for HPD registration, HPD violations, and other building-level records. DwellCheck doesn't show rent-stabilization status; request the apartment's rent history from DHCR for that.
3How is transit access in Dyker Heights?
Dyker Heights has a commute score of 1/10. It counts the subway stations inside the neighborhood and the lines they serve. Station-level mapping for this neighborhood isn't available yet.
4What are the best streets in Dyker Heights?
The best streets depend on your priorities. Use DwellCheck to compare specific addresses across livability, safety, transit, and environmental factors.
5What is Dyker Heights known for?
Dyker Heights sits in Brooklyn and ranks #21 of 28 Brooklyn neighborhoods scored from NYC Open Data on DwellCheck's livability score (5.7/10). It's served by 0 subway stations. Dyker Heights scores 5.7 composite: exceptionally safe and quiet, held back by having no subway station.
6What is it like to live in Dyker Heights?
DwellCheck scores Dyker Heights, Brooklyn from NYC Open Data on practical (HPD housing violations per residential lot over the last 12 months (higher = fewer violations)), commute (subway stations and lines in the neighborhood), ART (tree density and 311 noise complaints per resident), outdoor (trees and park proximity). Dyker Heights's composite is 5.7/10. Dyker Heights scores 5.7 composite: exceptionally safe and quiet, held back by having no subway station. For the block-by-block view, run any specific Dyker Heights address through DwellCheck.
7Where is Dyker Heights?
Dyker Heights is in Brooklyn, New York City. DwellCheck maps it to the Dyker Heights Neighborhood Tabulation Area (BK1002), which falls in the Census tabulation area that approximates Brooklyn Community District 10 (Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights). Its main ZIP codes are 11228, 11219 and 11220.
8What ZIP code is Dyker Heights in?
Dyker Heights spans ZIP codes 11228 (60% of residential units), 11219 (34%) and 11220 (6%). Shares are of the 15,149 residential units in the Dyker Heights Neighborhood Tabulation Area (BK1002), from NYC PLUTO 26v2 tax-lot records.
9Can you walk around Dyker Heights at night?
Dyker Heights is classified as "Exceptionally Safe" by NYPD complaint data. Over the past 12 months it recorded 0 shooting incidents and 1,206 total crime incidents. Walking at night carries the same risk profile as anywhere in NYC: stay on commercial corridors with foot traffic, avoid empty side streets after midnight, and prefer subway lines that run 24/7.
10Is Dyker Heights dangerous?
By NYPD data, Dyker Heights is rated "Exceptionally Safe", with a lower crime rate per resident than 92% of Brooklyn neighborhoods. 1,206 crime incidents over 12 months. Block-level risk varies; check the address-level safety score for any specific street or building.
11What parts of Dyker Heights should I avoid?
NYPD complaint records carry approximate incident coordinates, but a neighborhood total can't tell you which blocks drive it, so we don't publish an "avoid this street" list. For a specific block, use DwellCheck's address-level safety score, which counts NYPD crime complaints within a 300m radius of the building over the latest 12 months of published data and compares that count with the borough average.
12Is Dyker Heights a good place to live?
Dyker Heights scores 5.7/10 for overall livability and has a lower crime rate per resident than 92% of Brooklyn neighborhoods. Dyker Heights scores 5.7 composite: exceptionally safe and quiet, held back by having no subway station. Whether it's a good fit depends on what you weight: families, solo renters, and remote workers each prioritize different factors (noise, transit access, parks, building quality).
13What is the average DwellScore in Dyker Heights?
The composite score is 5.7. Practical (9) and ART/Livability (5.5) are above the Brooklyn medians of 7.5 and 4.4; Outdoor (5.7) is just below 5.9, and Commute (1) is far below 5.5.
14Is Dyker Heights safe?
DwellCheck rates it exceptionally safe: it has a lower crime rate per resident than 92% of Brooklyn neighborhoods, with 1,206 crimes and no shootings in 12 months, and an improving trend (-7.3%).
15Is there a subway in Dyker Heights?
No subway station sits inside the neighborhood's boundary, which is why its commute score is 1/10.
16What kind of housing is in Dyker Heights?
By residential tax lot (PLUTO): two-family houses 40%, one-family houses 32%, walk-up apartments 19% and mixed residential/commercial 7%.
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