Is East New York safe? It’s safer than it has been in decades, but it still has some of Brooklyn’s highest crime counts. The 75th Precinct reports 6.4 violent crimes per 1,000 residents in NYPD data through Nov. 1, 2026, compared with 3.8 across Brooklyn.
Most residents get through daily life without incident, but your block, building, and time of day all matter. Major crime here is down 10.2% this year, and down about 73% since 1990.
Key takeaways
- East New York leads Brooklyn in murders, robberies, felony assaults, and shooting incidents.
- Its violent crime rate ranks third of 23 Brooklyn precincts.
- Major crime is down 19.8% from two years ago.
- About 55% of reported violent crime happened in homes and residential buildings.
- It has Brooklyn’s most vehicle thefts, with 325 this year.
How East New York compares with nearby areas
East New York sits in the upper part of the Brooklyn range, below Brownsville but well above the borough average.
| Area | NYPD precinct | Violent crimes per 1,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| Brownsville, Ocean Hill | 73rd | 9.2 |
| East New York, Cypress Hills | 75th | 6.4 |
| Bushwick | 83rd | 5.9 |
| Bedford-Stuyvesant, Stuyvesant Heights | 81st | 5.5 |
| East Flatbush | 67th | 5.2 |
| Canarsie | 69th | 4.2 |
| Brooklyn average | All 23 precincts | 3.8 |
Violent crime here means NYPD’s murder, rape, robbery, and felony assault counts from Jan. 1 to Nov. 1, 2026. We divided those counts by each precinct’s 2020 census population. See every precinct in our ranking of dangerous areas in Brooklyn.
The rate is lower than you might expect because this is a large precinct, with about 201,000 residents. That’s why it can lead Brooklyn in total crimes without having the highest rate.
What the 2026 numbers show
Nearly every major crime category in the 75th Precinct is down this year.
| Crime | 2026 so far | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Murder | 11 | 13 | -15.4% |
| Robbery | 345 | 428 | -19.4% |
| Felony assault | 867 | 890 | -2.6% |
| Burglary | 154 | 200 | -23.0% |
| Grand larceny | 733 | 788 | -7.0% |
| Vehicle theft | 325 | 390 | -16.7% |
| All major crime | 2,497 | 2,780 | -10.2% |
| Shooting incidents | 31 | 34 | -8.8% |
The figures come from NYPD’s 75th Precinct CompStat report, which NYPD marks as preliminary and replaces each week.
Felony assault has barely moved, so that’s the number to keep watching. It’s also the largest single category here, at about 35% of major crime.
East New York’s long-term change
East New York has changed dramatically over the past three decades. In 1990, the precinct reported 109 murders and 12,273 major crimes. In 2025, it reported 14 murders and 3,347 major crimes.
The two-year trend is good as well. Major crime is down 19.8% from 2024, robberies are down 37.2%, and shooting incidents are down 32.6%. Murders are the exception, up from 8 at this point in 2024 to 11. Small counts like this can swing from year to year, however.
Where crime happens in East New York
Most reported violent crime in East New York happens in residential settings, not on the street. To see where incidents take place, we analyzed 768 violent crime records from NYC Open Data (dataset 5uac-w243) covering January 1 to June 30, 2026. (Note that this location breakdown covers the first half of the year, while the precinct rates cited earlier run through November 1).
| Place | Share of reports |
|---|---|
| Apartment buildings | 35.2% |
| Street | 23.8% |
| Public housing | 10.9% |
| Houses | 9.1% |
| Homeless shelters | 3.6% |
| Grocery stores and bodegas | 2.7% |
Combining apartment buildings (35.2%), public housing (10.9%), and private houses (9.1%) brings the residential total to roughly 55%. Keep in mind that this metric reflects purely where the incident was reported—it does not indicate relationship status, whether incidents were domestic, or who was involved.
Reports were also clustered. Reports were also heavily clustered: half came from just 117 of the 463 recorded points, and 308 locations saw only a single incident in six months. Notably, one single unnamed location logged 31 violent crime reports—far higher than any other point in the precinct. This spike likely represents a high-density facility, transit hub, or shelter, though the city records do not specify the facility type.
Evening was the busiest time, with 32.7% of reports from 6 p.m. to midnight. The other three parts of the day were lower, at 19.7% to 27.7%.
Unlike broad neighborhood discussions that single out individual NYCHA developments or notorious street corners, this analysis intentionally avoids naming specific complexes or intersections to focus on precinct-wide data patterns rather than stigmatizing particular blocks.
Is East New York safe to live in?
East New York can be a reasonable place to live, but choose your block and building with care. Since so many reports happen in residential settings, the building matters a lot.
Before you rent or buy:
- Look up the address on the NYC Crime Map.
- Check the precinct’s trend on CompStat 2.0.
- Visit in the afternoon, the evening, and on a weekend night.
- Test the front door, the intercom, and the lobby.
- Look at where you’d park, given the area’s vehicle theft numbers.
- Talk to neighbors and building staff.
A good quality of life in East New York comes down to taking control of your immediate surroundings so safety habits become second nature rather than constant background anxiety:
- Build your micro-network: Exchange numbers with your immediate floor neighbors and building super. A connected floor or block spots unauthorized entry and alerts each other long before problems escalate.
- Make your home an absolute sanctuary: Install secondary interior door deadbolts, reinforce window locks on lower floors, and request prompt repairs on exterior gate latches. You cannot thrive if you don’t feel entirely settled once your front door shuts.
- Automate your daily routine: Pick your preferred well-lit commute path, lock in a reliable bodega stop, and stick to them. Routine removes daily guesswork and keeps you alert without feeling hyper-vigilant.
- Tap into the community: Attend the monthly 75th Precinct Community Council meetings or join a local tenant association. Being informed about real block-level updates cuts through neighborhood rumors and gives you a voice in local decisions.
East New York at night
East New York calls for more care at night, particularly on quiet blocks. Evening is the busiest time for reports, so plan your route before you go out.
- Stick to well-lit streets with open shops and foot traffic.
- Keep your phone and valuables out of sight.
- Use a car if a walk from the subway feels wrong.
- Share your location with someone on the way home.
Visiting East New York
Most visitors have a straightforward trip if they have a clear reason to be there and a planned route. It isn’t a tourist area, so wandering around without a plan isn’t a good idea, particularly after dark.
If you’re visiting family or friends, ask them for the best route from the subway. Lock your car, and leave nothing in view.
What East New York property owners can do
Case in Point: Managing Access on Atlantic Avenue
For Elena, who manages a 14-unit rent-stabilized building off Atlantic Avenue, physical access control became an urgent priority after recurring package thefts and stairwell trespassing issues. While outside perceptions often focus strictly on street violence, the property’s primary point of failure was mechanical: a worn latch on the front entryway, paired with delivery drivers and visitors frequently being buzzed into the lobby without verification.
After replacing the entry hardware with reinforced strike plates, servicing the vestibule cameras, and securing the rear vehicle gate, unauthorized entries ceased entirely. Her experience reflects a pattern across East New York: when a building’s perimeter locks and common-area doors fail, street-level vulnerabilities move directly inside.
Vehicle theft and assaults in residential buildings are the two main issues here. A building security risk assessment shows where a property is exposed, including entrances, parking, lighting, and blind spots.
Apartment buildings may need residential security or building security. Parking areas and mixed-use sites can look at property security guards, and shops at retail security.
Dahlcore officers are unarmed by default, and armed security is provided only on documented request after a risk assessment.
Industry Perspective
Q: What do East New York property owners ask about most?
Ian: Unchecked foot traffic in common areas. Landlords rarely call us worried about organized heists—they call because delivery drivers, non-residents, and loiterers treat their lobbies, package areas, and stairwells like public hallways.
For example: We had an owner on Pennsylvania Avenue whose lobby had become an open corridor between two avenues because the back gate didn’t latch completely. Tenants stopped retrieving packages after 5 p.m. Out of frustration, the owner asked for an armed guard. We told him to fix the perimeter gate latch and install a magnetic access door first. Guards enforce rules; they shouldn’t compensate for broken hardware.
Frequently asked questions
Is East New York a good area?
Qualitatively, residents often highlight the area’s strong community roots and more accessible price points compared to northern or western Brooklyn. From a purely statistical standpoint, however, East New York logs higher violent crime rates than most of the borough, meaning safety varies significantly from one block or building to the next.
Is East New York dangerous?
East New York has more serious crime than most Brooklyn neighborhoods, and it leads the borough in murders and shootings. Conditions are improving, though, and risk varies widely by block.
Is East New York safer than Brownsville?
Yes, by rate. East New York’s violent crime rate is 6.4 per 1,000 residents, compared with 9.2 in Brownsville. East New York has higher totals because it has about twice as many residents.
What is the toughest neighborhood in Brooklyn?
Brownsville has the highest violent crime rate, and East New York has the highest counts. Our Bed-Stuy guide covers another area people often ask about.
What part of NYC should I stay away from?
No part of New York City is entirely off-limits, but risk rises at night on empty blocks. Check the precinct and the block for any address you’re considering.
How we measured this
Rates and yearly comparisons come from NYPD CompStat reports for the period ending Nov. 1, 2026. Incident locations and time patterns are pulled from NYC Open Data’s NYPD Complaint dataset (5uac-w243), covering 768 violent felonies reported between January 1 and June 30, 2026. This six-month sample provides micro-level location categories, whereas the broader precinct totals and rates use NYPD CompStat reports running through November 1, 2026. Mapped locations represent generalized coordinates, not exact street addresses. Those “locations” are map points, not exact addresses, and we don’t publish them.
Long-term totals come from NYPD’s historical tables. Precinct per-capita rates rely on 2020 U.S. Census precinct population counts compiled by journalist John Keefe. Because these population baselines are six years old and come from a third-party aggregation, actual per-capita rates may shift slightly as neighborhood demographics and housing density have evolved. The analysis is our own, and it only includes crimes reported to police.
Get a security plan for your East New York property
East New York is far safer than it was, though you should take care in choosing your block, your building, and your route at night.
Dahlcore provides security guard services across Brooklyn. We’re a licensed NYS security guard agency, veteran-owned, founded in 2018, and led by an owner with 23 years of security experience. Every client gets a customized plan, a named account manager, and access to 24/7 support through our command and dispatch center.
Contact Dahlcore or browse our security services to talk through your property.
