Safest Cities in New York 2026
New York has 4 cities in our database with a statewide violent crime rate of 373.3 per 100,000 residents. The safest city is Rochester with a Safety Context Score of 79/100. All rates are per capita — never raw counts.
| # | City | Population | Violent/100K | Property/100K | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rochester | 211K | 208.2 | 1,405 | B (79) |
| 2 | Yonkers | 212K | 563.4 | 1,443 | C (57) |
| 3 | New York | 8.3M | 359.8 | 1,981 | C (54) |
| 4 | Buffalo | 278K | 758.3 | 2,097 | D (39) |
All rates per 100,000 residents. Source: FBI UCR 2023.
Crime statistics for New York cities are derived from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) data. All figures represent per-capita rates per 100,000 residents, not raw counts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Based on FBI crime data and our Safety Context Score, Rochester is the safest city in New York with a score of 79/100 (Grade B), a violent crime rate of 208.2 per 100,000, and a property crime rate of 1,405 per 100,000.
Cities are ranked using our Safety Context Score (0-100), which weighs violent crime rate vs. national average (40%), property crime rate vs. national average (30%), and 5-year trend direction (30%). All rates are per 100,000 residents — never raw counts.
Crime in New York has increased 0.0% over the past 5 years based on FBI data.
Safety Context Score: violent crime vs. national average (40%), property crime vs. national average (30%), 5-year trend (30%). All rates per 100,000 residents.