It would not be an exaggeration to note that the assumption that New York City is more dangerous and violent than other areas of the United States, both rural and urban, is an intergalactic legend. A myth, in fact, according to this Bloomberg essay by Justin Fox, "New York City Is a Lot Safer Than Small-Town America."
Fox concludes from examining data, charts, surveys, and studies, "Rising homicide rates don't tell the whole story. When you dig deeper into data on deaths, you'll find the more urban your surroundings, the less danger you face."
Providing a brief pre-pandemic historical context of crime data in NYC, the discussion includes homicides, car crashes, and other external causes of death in comparative urban areas and between urban and rural areas. Fox concludes with the US's safest towns, counties, and metro areas. Consider spending some time and thought on the disaggregated data, especially the charts and maps. See what might surprise you.
Fox concludes, "Even the safest areas in the US remain killing fields compared with most of Western Europe. In Paris, the city described in 2016 by presidential candidate Donald Trump as "so, so, so out of control, so dangerous," the homicide rate in recent years has been well below one death per 100,000 residents, and traffic deaths below three per 100,000, meaning that Parisians face a combined risk from those two sources about one-third that of New Yorkers. So there's lots of room for improvement in New York City. There's just even more room for improvement almost everywhere else in the US."
