Crime in New York City

Crime rates in New York City have been recorded since at least the 1800s. The highest crime totals were recorded in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the crack epidemic surged, and then declined continuously from around 1990 throughout the present day. As of 2023, New York City has significantly lower rates of gun violence than many other large cities. Its 2023 homicide rate of 4.1 per 100,000 residents compares favorably to the rate in the United States as a whole (5.6 per 100,000) and to rates in much more violent cities such as St. Louis (53.9 per 100,000 residents) and New Orleans (51.3 per 100,000) .

During the 1990s, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) adopted CompStat, broken windows policing, and other strategies in a major effort to reduce crime. The drop in crime has been variously attributed to a number of factors, including these changes to policing, the end of the crack epidemic, the increased incarceration rate nationwide, gentrification, an aging population, and the decline of lead poisoning in children.