There’s a reason why New York City is considered the greatest city in the United States: It has tremendous restaurants, theaters, shops and attractions. People crowd the streets at all hours of the day. The Statue of Liberty rises from the harbor. And the Empire State Building towers above it all.
What’s not to like?
How about the crime?
As exciting as New York City may be to visit, it can also be a dangerous place, especially for tourists. Young college students, especially, can put themselves at risk by not being aware of how dangerous this bustling city can be.
Overall, New York State has 2,377.6 incidents of crime for every 100,000 residents. New York City itself mirrors this rate, with 2,377.7 incidents of crime for every 100,000 residents.
That number may seem high, but there is good news on the New York City crime front: The number of serious crimes in the city has actually gone down from the early 1990s. You can see this when you take a look at the percentage of crimes in the state of New York that New York City itself accounts for.
In 1990, New York City accounted for a whopping 63 percent of all the crime in New York State. Eight years later, in 1998, that figure dropped to 50 percent. By 2008, it had fallen even more dramatically. In that year, New York City accounted for just 43 percent of all the crimes in New York State.
It seems, then, that New York City’s reputation as one of the crime capitals of the United States might be a bit overstated, at least today.
In fact, like in most major cities, the majority of crimes taking place in New York City are property crimes versus violent crimes. That’s good news, too; property crimes are serious, but they’re not quite as serious as are violent crimes.
Overall, 76 percent of the crimes in New York City are property crimes, while the remaining 24 percent are violent crimes. If you take New York City out of the equation, New York State enjoys an even more severe break between property and violent crimes. For New York State, without its most populated city, only 11 percent of crimes are violent crimes. That leaves 89 percent of crimes as property crimes.
By the way, violent crimes include murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Property crimes include burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft.
The crime rate in New York City has actually been falling since 1988. Back then, property crimes reached their height of 1.2 million incidents, while violent crimes reached a high mark of 200,000. Things had improved dramatically in 1998. In that year, the city saw just over 600,000 property crimes and about 100,000 violent crimes.
In 2008, property crimes in New York City had dipped under 500,000. Violent crimes, too, took a fall, to under 100,000.
The lesson here? Yes, you do have to be careful if you’re traveling to New York City. But you have to be careful when you travel to any major city. New York City today is a safer place. That doesn’t mean that college students and other visitors can completely forget their common sense. But it does mean that visitors to New York City don’t have to worry that everyone they meet is a mugger.
