How (un)safe is New York

[FunkyDunky]

Dds 13th birthday falls during a half term next year. Flights to NY are still relatively inexpensive, and its somewhere she's always wanted to go.

But a quick google tells me that crime rates are shooting up, so now I'm doubting myself. I have been there a couple of times before, but years ago (pre dc).

We have two friends who were living there and have left fairly recently. The biggest thing they say is that it’s just filthy. They went out for dinner, ate outside and there were rats running around the pavement. There’s piles of rubbish, human poop and wee everywhere. So quite apart from the crime it’s just not a nice place to be right now.

DD and I went in January this year and I must say, we're quite hardy, used to London and the Underground, but we experienced quite a few aggressive homeless people asking for money which was discomfiting. Many of them obviously high too.

Went for a bagel at Liberty's and had a man threatening people with his walking stick and banging it on the shop fronts. Shocking and very sad

Lots of people with MH issues talking to themselves on the subway as well which was filthy and stank. I'd recommend cabs to get around.

Extremely expensive for food too which we knew about but not quite how much. We were charged £70 for take out deli food for two which was gobsmacking and we didn't really enjoy it even! Mainly salad and fruit. Restaurants averaged $100 a meal for us both and were OK but nothing special.

It was nice to see the landmarks but not a experience I thought it would be. It was cold but that wasn't really the issue!

The Vanderbilt Summit and Phantom of the Opera (closed now I think) were highlights. I'd leave it a few years until DD is older in your shoes. DD is 25 and was pretty affected by it.

I took my 9 year old last December and it was different with more homeless people. I probably made an error in that we went ice skating at the Wollman rink in Central Park the first evening (so we didn’t fall asleep too early) and it was pitch black walking through the park to get to it and we did get lost finding our way out as well. I really didn’t like that but nothing happened and there wasn’t anyone around or anything just very dark!

Otherwise we travelled by subway or walked, never once took a taxi. I didn’t feel unsafe at any point. The subway there were loads of police who were really helpful. Yes there are homeless people but no difference really to Dublin (not numbers exactly more in visibility of rough sleepers and more obviously homeless people) where we flew from and while asked for money a couple of times it was never aggressively or even persistently.

We had an amazing time.

I wish there was an edit button, that first sentence should read “it was different than my first visit 20 years ago with more homeless people”

We went there with DS 18 and DD 16 in July. DH and I had been there in 2016 and 2014.

Main difference I noticed was that weed is legal there now and so there’s the smell of weed to contend with. But in terms of feeling safe we all felt fine. We also enjoyed cheap pizza from some of the many stalls very good!

Went earlier this year, felt perfectly safe. We used buses and the subway, went up to Harlem, walked around late at night etc. no different to London I would say

I went in May. Felt safe but Times Square was sketchy and once I'd seen it once I avoided completely - I stayed quite close to there but wouldn't if I went back.

i went with 2 dc in 2019 and loved it ! We all did . Did lots of walking . Brooklyn bridge walk, Rockefeller, Empire State, Statue of Liberty, boat ride, high line park, friends building 😁, Went on the subway/train a few times including going to a Yankees game. Didn’t feel any less safe than another big city. If you stick to touristy areas you will be fine. The one thing I did notice was the piles of smelly bin bags piled up everywhere ! But it was summer and labour day so perhaps just hadn’t been collected.

We were in Manhattan a few months ago, we hadn't been for a few years. I was really shocked at how many homeless people there seemed to be, so much begging. Plus it seems really quite scruffy in certain areas. The main tourist places still felt relatively safe, just use your common sense.
We didn't use the subway as apparently there's lots of mostly petty crime going on.

Still love NY though!

I went in August (the first time I've been) and yes there are lots of homeless people, much more than in London. There were times when we had to navigate around people who were obviously struggling because due to mental health/drugs, and at one point DD was purposely barged into with a lot of force (two street food sellers were really lovely and called out to check she was alright- New Yorkers are mostly really helpful and friendly IME). Having said that, I would definitely go back (I wouldn't say anywhere near Times Square or port authority though, no matter how lovely the hotel). We really enjoyed waking and using the NYC Ferry (and jumping in the occasional cab) so didn't use the subway. Due to the time difference we were in bed early so only went out late one evening, and it felt perfectly safe. Also, early mornings from 6am felt safe. Just don't watch the local news in the morning, as they always seemed to report on how many people had been shot in NYC in the last 24 hours A bigger downside was the cost of everything - just double London prices for an idea, but if you're only there for a few days it's doable.

Your DD is very lucky, I'd have loved to have gone for my 13th birthday!

ive been a few times in the past year and never felt unsafe - yeah theres crime but its a massive city so its to be expected