NYC Hate Crime Stats Decoded: One Bad Week, but the Trend Is Down (May 4–10, 2026)

Hate crimes spiked 88.9% in the latest NYPD weekly report, but the 28-day trend is down 15% and YTD is flat. Here is what the numbers mean for your block.

Quick read: Hate crimes in New York City jumped 88.9% week-over-week in the latest NYPD CompStat report (May 4–10, 2026), with 17 incidents recorded against 9 in the same week last year. But before you let that headline rearrange your weekend plans, look at the 28-day window — hate crimes are down 15.0%. And year-to-date, the city has logged 213 hate crime complaints, slightly below last year’s 218 and tracking under the five-year average. Translation: one bad week, not a trend.

What the numbers actually say

The NYPD CompStat Citywide Report covering the week of May 4 through May 10, 2026 was prepared by the CompStat Unit and published as Volume 33, Number 19. It is the most recent citywide snapshot available as of this writing — five days old at publication. Here is the hate crime line, decoded.

Week to date (May 4–10): 17 hate crimes reported, compared to 9 in the same week of 2025. That is a +88.9% change.
28-day window (roughly mid-April through May 10): 51 hate crimes, compared to 60 in the same 28 days last year. That is a –15.0% change.
Year to date (January 1 through May 10): 213 hate crimes, compared to 218 in the same span of 2025. That is a –2.3% change.
Two-year comparison: –6.2% from the same year-to-date point in 2024.

If you only read the weekly number, the story is alarming. If you read the 28-day number, the story is reassuring. The honest answer is that both are true at the same time, and neither tells you what you actually need to know.

Why one week is a terrible thermometer

Hate crime volume in New York City is low enough that small absolute changes produce huge percentage swings. The gap between 9 incidents and 17 incidents is 8 events spread across five boroughs and roughly 8.3 million residents. That is statistically loud and practically modest. A single high-profile date — a religious holiday, a politically charged anniversary, a contagious incident that triggers copycat graffiti — can move a week 50 to 100 percent in either direction without changing the underlying climate at all.

That is why the NYPD publishes a 28-day rolling window alongside the weekly column. The 28-day window smooths out the one-off spikes and shows the actual direction. Right now, that direction is down 15.0% against the same window last year. The year-to-date column smooths it further: 213 confirmed complaints through May 10 versus 218 last year. The city is on a slightly slower hate-crime pace in 2026 than in 2025, not a faster one.

What the five-year baseline tells you

Annual hate crime complaint totals from the NYPD’s published spreadsheets:

2021: 524
2022: 607
2023: 669
2024: 648
2025: 562
Five-year average: 602

The 2026 year-to-date pace of 213 complaints through May 10 annualizes to roughly 581 — under the five-year average and well under the 2023 peak of 669. By the only baseline that actually matters to a resident deciding whether the city is getting more dangerous, the answer is no, not by this measure. The trend is essentially flat, slightly below the recent average, and continuing the decline that began after 2023.

The breakdown: which categories drive the total

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force tracks bias incidents motivated by race, color, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, ancestry, national origin, or sexual orientation, per New York State Penal Law. The composition has been remarkably consistent in 2026.

At the Q1 2026 press conference on April 2, 2026 — the most recent comprehensive briefing — Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Zohran Mamdani disclosed that of the 143 confirmed hate crimes in the first three months of the year, 78 were antisemitic. That is 55% of the total. By comparison, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates roughly 10% of New York City’s population is Jewish. The disproportion is the single most important pattern in the citywide data, and it has held steady across multiple monthly releases.

Anti-Muslim hate crimes were up 140% year-over-year in Q1 2026, from 5 incidents to 12. That percentage looks dramatic but the absolute count is small — meaning a single quiet quarter or a single bad month can flip the direction. Anti-Asian, anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-Catholic categories together account for most of the remainder.

How the NYPD reports this — and why the numbers changed

If you have been following hate crime coverage in 2026 you may have noticed the reporting methodology shifted twice this spring. Here is the plain version. In February, the NYPD started reporting only “confirmed” hate crimes — incidents that the Hate Crimes Task Force and the department’s legal bureau had reviewed and verified under New York State law. That change made the monthly totals look smaller than the older “reported” numbers, which had counted everything flagged for investigation, even cases that turned out not to qualify.

After criticism that the change masked the volume of bias incidents the public was experiencing, the NYPD reversed course in April. Beginning with the April 2026 monthly release, the department now publishes both figures every month: reported hate crimes (flagged for investigation) and confirmed hate crimes (verified as meeting the legal standard). Commissioner Tisch called this “the gold standard for reporting on hate crimes” at the April 2 press conference and said it was her decision, not the mayor’s.

For residents, what this means in practice is simple. If you see a confirmed number, that is the legally rigorous count — only the cases the task force has investigated and verified. If you see a reported number, that includes everything that initially looked like it might be a hate crime, before review. Both are useful. The confirmed number tells you how many cases meet the legal standard. The reported number tells you how many incidents made enough people uneasy to call them in.

What this means for your daily decisions

The honest answer to “should I be worried about my block?” depends on what you mean. Here is how to translate the data into actual decisions.

If you are deciding whether to walk to the synagogue, mosque, or church you normally attend: the 28-day trend is down. The year-to-date trend is slightly down. The five-year baseline says 2026 is tracking below average. The data does not support changing a normal routine based on this week’s spike. The data does support situational awareness around religious holidays and any week with a major news cycle that touches the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has historically correlated with short-term increases in both anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim incidents.

If you are deciding whether to report something you saw: yes, report it. The new dual-reporting methodology specifically captures incidents that get flagged even if they ultimately do not meet the legal threshold for prosecution. Calling 911 for a crime in progress, calling the local precinct for a past incident, or calling the Hate Crime Task Force tip line at 1-888-440-HATE all feed the same investigative pipeline. The Hate Crime Task Force is a citywide unit and will be notified by the responding precinct.

If you are deciding whether your neighborhood is in a hot zone: the citywide CompStat report does not break hate crimes out by precinct in its weekly snapshot. The quarterly NYPD reports do, and the most recent published precinct file (2025 year-end) shows the highest hate crime complaint counts in the 14th Precinct (Midtown South, 25 complaints), the 18th Precinct (Midtown North, 17), the 19th Precinct (Upper East Side, 17), and the 6th Precinct (Greenwich Village/West Village, 13). The pattern is consistent with foot traffic and visibility rather than residential risk — bias incidents are statistically more common in dense commercial corridors than on quiet residential blocks.

If you are deciding whether to feel safer or less safe than a year ago: on hate crimes specifically, you should feel about the same. Year-to-date is essentially flat. Two-year is mildly improved. The five-year picture is one of decline from the 2023 peak. The single bad week of May 4–10 does not change any of that.

How to report a hate crime

Per the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force, you report a hate crime the same way you would report any other crime. In progress or emergency: call 911. Past incident or non-emergency: call your local precinct. The responding officers will notify the Hate Crime Task Force if the situation looks bias-motivated. The task force is headquartered at 19½ Pitt Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10002, reachable at 1-888-440-HATE or hctf@nypd.org. Immigration status does not affect your ability to report a hate crime or receive services.

FAQ: NYC hate crime stats decoded

Are hate crimes in NYC going up in 2026?

No, not on the trend measures. Year-to-date through May 10, 2026, NYC has recorded 213 hate crimes versus 218 in the same period of 2025 — a 2.3% decline. The 28-day window through May 10 is down 15.0%. The most recent week (May 4–10) was up 88.9% over the same week last year, but a single week with low absolute counts moves percentages dramatically and is not a trend.

What is the most common type of hate crime in New York City?

Antisemitic incidents. In Q1 2026, 78 of 143 confirmed hate crimes — 55% — were anti-Jewish, per data released by NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Zohran Mamdani on April 2, 2026. That share has been the consistent majority in NYPD monthly releases throughout 2026.

What is the difference between reported and confirmed hate crimes?

Reported hate crimes are incidents flagged for investigation by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force. Confirmed hate crimes are the subset that the task force and the department’s legal bureau have verified as meeting the legal definition under New York State Penal Law. Beginning in April 2026, the NYPD publishes both numbers monthly.

How do I report a hate crime in New York City?

Call 911 for an incident in progress. Call your local precinct for a past or non-emergency incident. You can also call the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force tip line at 1-888-440-HATE or email hctf@nypd.org. Immigration status does not affect your ability to report.

Where are most hate crimes happening in NYC?

By precinct complaint volume in 2025, the leading concentrations were Midtown South (14th Precinct), Midtown North (18th), Upper East Side (19th), and the West Village (6th). The pattern correlates with dense commercial foot traffic and visibility rather than residential risk.

Is the NYPD CompStat data accurate?

The weekly CompStat report is preliminary and subject to revision. The NYPD posts the disclaimer “Figures are preliminary and subject to further analysis and revision” on every weekly PDF. The numbers used in this article come directly from the CompStat Citywide Report Volume 33 Number 19, covering the week of May 4 through May 10, 2026.