The Safest Neighborhoods in Manhattan

Every residential neighborhood in Manhattan, ranked by the NYPD complaints reported within a 300-meter walk of a typical spot — lowest first. No broker copy, no “up-and-coming”: just the city’s own complaint data.

NYPD complaint data through June 30, 2026 • 32 Manhattan neighborhoods ranked • pulled September 14, 2026

Quick Answer

The lowest reported-complaint count in Manhattan is Upper East Side-Lenox Hill-Roosevelt Island, where the typical sampled spot had 290.1 NYPD complaints within 300 meters over the 12 months ending June 30, 2026 — against a Manhattan average of 696.5, pooled over every sampled point in the borough. Citywide that is #109 of 197 ranked neighborhoods.

Crime varies block by block. Check a specific address for its own 300-meter complaint count.

All 32 Manhattan neighborhoods, safest first

Lower is better in every column. “Complaints / 300m” is the mean of 100 sampled points inside the neighborhood; “violent” counts the subset NYPD codes as murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and felony assault; shootings are counted within 500 meters because they are rarer.

#NeighborhoodComplaints / 300mViolent / 300mShootings / 500mCitywide rank
1290.115.10109 / 197
231025.41.7112 / 197
3335.413.90.7115 / 197
4
Upper East Side-Carnegie Hill
DwellCheck page: Upper East SideSafety data →
422.619.80132 / 197
5
Upper West Side (Central)
DwellCheck page: Upper West SideSafety data →
46225.40.8136 / 197
6
East Midtown-Turtle Bay
DwellCheck page: Midtown EastSafety data →
484.726.80.3141 / 197
7484.928.30.5142 / 197
8496.4483.5144 / 197
9
Murray Hill-Kips Bay
DwellCheck page: Murray HillSafety data →
534.735.90.1149 / 197
10
Washington Heights (North)
DwellCheck page: Washington HeightsSafety data →
53845.40.4151 / 197
11
Financial District-Battery Park City
DwellCheck page: Financial DistrictSafety data →
548.123.70.4153 / 197
12
Upper West Side-Lincoln Square
DwellCheck page: Lincoln SquareSafety data →
561.231.21156 / 197
13
Manhattanville-West Harlem
No DwellCheck page yet
577.247.32159 / 197
14585.527.40.3161 / 197
15
Hamilton Heights-Sugar Hill
DwellCheck page: Hamilton HeightsSafety data →
596.948.91.7164 / 197
16
Chelsea-Hudson Yards
DwellCheck page: ChelseaSafety data →
613.438.10.1166 / 197
17
Upper West Side-Manhattan Valley
DwellCheck page: Upper West SideSafety data →
626.838.91.6168 / 197
18
Washington Heights (South)
DwellCheck page: Washington HeightsSafety data →
631.157.91.5170 / 197
19
Tribeca-Civic Center
DwellCheck page: TribecaSafety data →
659.837.90173 / 197
20685.939.41.4174 / 197
21
Chinatown-Two Bridges
DwellCheck page: ChinatownSafety data →
697.367.50.6175 / 197
22
East Harlem (North)
DwellCheck page: East HarlemSafety data →
812.973.53.6180 / 197
2383357.32183 / 197
24
East Harlem (South)
DwellCheck page: East HarlemSafety data →
866.2773.2184 / 197
25874.645.20.2185 / 197
26
Harlem (North)
DwellCheck page: HarlemSafety data →
881.781.25.4186 / 197
27
Harlem (South)
DwellCheck page: HarlemSafety data →
884.965.43.9187 / 197
28933.764.51.7188 / 197
291024.641.20.6190 / 197
301032.8540.7191 / 197
311475.976.61.1196 / 197
32
Midtown-Times Square
DwellCheck page: MidtownSafety data →
1526.485.61.2197 / 197

Data source: NYPD Complaint Data (current and historic) via NYC Open Data, 5uac-w243 and qgea-i56i, and NYPD Shooting Incident Data, 5ucz-vwe8; 12 months ending June 30, 2026, pulled September 14, 2026; 100 sampled points per neighborhood.

Where reported crime is highest in Manhattan

The other end of the same ranking. These five Manhattan neighborhoods had the highest reported complaint counts within 300 meters of a typical spot. Read them carefully: commercial corridors, transit hubs and nightlife strips generate complaints from everyone who passes through, not only from the people who live there.

RankNeighborhoodComplaints / 300mViolent / 300m
#32 of 32
Midtown-Times Square
DwellCheck page: MidtownSafety data →
1526.485.6
#31 of 321475.976.6
#30 of 321032.854
#29 of 321024.641.2
#28 of 32933.764.5

A second measure: complaints per 1,000 residents

The ranking above measures crime near a typical spot. This one measures it relative to how many people live there: total NYPD complaints inside the neighborhood divided by its 2020 Census population, over the 12 months ending June 30, 2026. It is the metric each Manhattan neighborhood’s own safety page uses, and it orders neighborhoods differently — neither order is wrong; they answer different questions. Showing the 10 lowest of the 27 Manhattan neighborhoods with a DwellCheck safety page.

RankNeighborhoodComplaints / 1,000 residentsTotal complaintsDwellCheck verdict
#1 of 2722.5507Exceptionally Safe
#2 of 2723.51,974Much Safer Than Average
#3 of 2724.42,087Exceptionally Safe
#4 of 2738.41,492Much Safer Than Average
#5 of 2740.62,578Much Safer Than Average
#6 of 2745.16,922Higher Than Average
#7 of 27472,149Much Safer Than Average
#8 of 27493,462Safer Than Average
#9 of 2751.83,230Safer Than Average
#10 of 2758.84,204Safer Than Average

Data source: NYPD Complaint Data via NYC Open Data, 12 months ending June 30, 2026; population from the 2020 Census totals of each neighborhood’s NTAs.

How we ranked this

Formula
For each residential 2020 NTA in Manhattan: place 100 seeded random points inside the boundary, count NYPD complaints within 300 meters of each point, and rank by the mean of those 100 counts, ascending. Ties are broken by the median count, then by NTA code, so equal values stay tied whatever the rank number reads. The same function drives our citywide safest-neighborhoods ranking.
Data source
NYPD Complaint Data Current (Year To Date) and NYPD Complaint Data Historic, NYC Open Data datasets 5uac-w243 and qgea-i56i; NYPD Shooting Incident Data 5ucz-vwe8; boundaries from the city’s 2020 NTA file, residential NTAs only (parks, airports and cemeteries are not ranked).
Vintage
Complaints dated after June 30, 2025 through June 30, 2026 — the latest complaint date NYPD had published when the data was pulled on September 14, 2026. NYPD refreshes these feeds quarterly; the ranking changes only when we pull again.
Limitations
  • Reported complaints are not the same as crimes committed. Heavier policing produces more complaints; under-reporting produces fewer.
  • A 300-meter circle near a neighborhood edge counts complaints on the other side of the line, so neighborhoods next to a busy commercial strip absorb some of it.
  • A neighborhood average hides its blocks. A low-average neighborhood can contain a bad corridor and vice versa.
  • Complaint counts are not population-adjusted. The second table on this page shows the per-resident view, which orders neighborhoods differently.
  • All complaint categories are weighted equally in the headline number; the violent column is shown separately rather than folded in.

Full scoring documentation: DwellCheck methodology.

Frequently asked questions

1

What is the safest neighborhood in Manhattan?

By NYPD complaint data, Upper East Side-Lenox Hill-Roosevelt Island has the fewest reported complaints of any Manhattan neighborhood: 290.1 on average within 300 meters of a sampled point over the 12 months ending June 30, 2026. That is #109 of the 197 residential neighborhoods ranked citywide.

2

How do you rank the safest neighborhoods in Manhattan?

We place 100 seeded random points inside each residential 2020 Neighborhood Tabulation Area (NTA), count the NYPD complaints reported within 300 meters of each point over the 12 months ending June 30, 2026, and rank by the mean of those 100 counts, lowest first. Lower is better. It is the same metric, data file and direction as our citywide safest-neighborhoods ranking, so the two pages always agree.

3

Which Manhattan neighborhoods have the most crime?

By the same measure, the Manhattan neighborhoods with the highest reported complaint counts are Midtown-Times Square (1526.4 per 300m), Midtown South-Flatiron-Union Square (1475.9 per 300m), Greenwich Village (1032.8 per 300m), SoHo-Little Italy-Hudson Square (1024.6 per 300m), Hell's Kitchen (933.7 per 300m). High reported-complaint counts concentrate around commercial corridors and transit hubs, which generate complaints from people passing through as well as residents, so a high count is not the same thing as danger to a resident.

4

Does a low complaint count mean a neighborhood is safe?

No. These are reported complaints averaged across a whole neighborhood, and a neighborhood with a low average can still have blocks that are much worse. The counts also measure reporting, not events: an over-policed area can look worse than it is, and an under-reporting one safer. Check the specific address before you sign anything.

5

Why does this page rank differently from the Manhattan safety pages?

This page ranks by complaints per 300-meter walking radius, which measures how much crime is reported near a typical spot. Each neighborhood's own safety page ranks by complaints per 1,000 residents, which measures crime relative to how many people live there. A dense neighborhood with many complaints can rank well per resident and poorly per radius, so the two orders differ. Both numbers are shown on this page and both come from the same NYPD complaint data.

6

What data sources are behind these numbers?

NYPD Complaint Data Current (Year To Date) and NYPD Complaint Data Historic on NYC Open Data (datasets 5uac-w243 and qgea-i56i), complaints dated after June 30, 2025 through June 30, 2026, pulled September 14, 2026. Shooting counts come from NYPD Shooting Incident Data (5ucz-vwe8) within 500 meters. Neighborhood boundaries are the city's residential 2020 NTAs.

Check a specific Manhattan address

Neighborhood numbers are averages over a whole neighborhood. Enter any address to see the NYPD complaints, 311 complaints and HPD records around that building.

Search an address