Quick answer: NYC confirmed hate crimes rose 11.7% in the first quarter of 2026 (143 vs. 128 in Q1 2025), with anti-Jewish incidents accounting for 55% of all confirmed cases. Anti-Muslim incidents jumped from 5 to 12 (+140%). For the first time, the NYPD is also publishing the larger universe of reported hate crimes — incidents flagged for the Hate Crimes Task Force whether or not they are ultimately confirmed under New York State law. Most of the activity is concentrated in Brooklyn South, Manhattan South, and Queens North patrol boroughs. If you live in Park Slope, Borough Park, the Upper West Side, Midtown, or Forest Hills, the data says something specific about your block — and we decoded it.

What the NYPD actually said on April 2, 2026

On April 2, 2026, NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch released the department’s first-quarter 2026 crime numbers and, for the first time, broke hate crime reporting into two separate buckets. The shift matters because it changes what residents have access to — and how easy it is to read the data without misunderstanding it.

Here is the headline number: 143 confirmed hate crimes from January 1 to March 31, 2026, compared to 128 in the same window of 2025. That is an 11.7% increase. The April 2 press release attributes the rise primarily to two categories: anti-Jewish incidents, which moved from 77 to 78 (essentially flat in absolute terms but still the dominant category), and anti-Muslim incidents, which more than doubled from 5 to 12.

The NYPD also confirmed a methodology change. Previously, the department’s monthly hate crime number combined confirmed hate crimes with the subset of reports that had not yet been classified by the Hate Crimes Task Force (HCTF). Starting with this reporting period, residents now see two separate columns: confirmed hate crimes (the gold standard, validated under state law in consultation with the NYPD Legal Bureau) and reported hate crimes (the universe of every incident flagged for HCTF review). For March 2026, the HCTF confirmed 55 of 73 reported incidents as hate crimes — a confirmation rate of about 75%.

The decoded breakdown — Q1 2026 confirmed hate crimes by category

Here is the full Q1 2026 confirmed-hate-crime table, translated for residents trying to understand what the categories actually mean and which neighborhoods carry the load. Numbers are from the NYPD’s April 2, 2026 press release.

The single biggest category is anti-Jewish, which alone accounts for more than the next four categories combined. The fastest-growing category — by a wide margin — is anti-Muslim, which more than doubled.

Where it is happening — the patrol borough map

For residents trying to understand whether a number means anything for their block, geography matters more than the citywide total. NYC OpenData’s NYPD Hate Crimes dataset (records updated through late March 2026) shows year-to-date 2026 reported hate crime incidents distributed roughly as follows across NYPD patrol boroughs:

• Brooklyn South — the highest concentration so far in 2026 (covering Park Slope, Sunset Park, Borough Park, Bay Ridge, Coney Island)
• Manhattan South — second-highest (covering everything below 59th Street, including Midtown, Greenwich Village, the Lower East Side)
• Queens North — third-highest (Astoria, Long Island City, Jackson Heights, Forest Hills)
• Manhattan North — Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Harlem, Washington Heights
• Brooklyn North — Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Bushwick
• Queens South — Jamaica, Far Rockaway, the southern half of the borough
• Bronx — south through northwest Bronx
• Staten Island — by far the lowest count, roughly an order of magnitude below Brooklyn South

Translation for residents: the geographic pattern tracks closely with where NYC’s most visible Jewish, Muslim, and LGBTQ+ communities live and work. Borough Park (74th Precinct, Brooklyn South), Crown Heights (77th Precinct, Brooklyn North), and the cluster of Manhattan South precincts that include Midtown synagogues and houses of worship are the structural pressure points. If you live in any of these areas, the citywide 11.7% increase is not abstract — it is your local police precinct’s caseload.

What “confirmed” vs. “reported” actually means for your decision-making

This is the part of the new reporting standard that residents need to understand cold, because confusing the two numbers will lead to bad decisions.

A reported hate crime is any incident that the NYPD’s patrol officers, detectives, or 311/911 calls flag as possibly bias-motivated. Once flagged, the case routes to the Hate Crimes Task Force.

A confirmed hate crime is what is left after the HCTF, working with the NYPD Legal Bureau, determines that the incident meets New York State’s legal definition of a hate crime. New York State law requires that the perpetrator selected the victim, in whole or in substantial part, because of a perception of the victim’s race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability, or sexual orientation.

For March 2026 alone, 73 incidents were reported as hate crimes; 55 were confirmed. The 18 unconfirmed incidents are not necessarily “false alarms” — many are genuine crimes that simply did not meet the specific legal bias threshold. They could still be charged as assault, harassment, criminal mischief, or aggravated harassment without the hate-crime enhancement.

For residents, the practical meaning is this: the “reported” column tells you what is in your neighborhood’s threat environment. The “confirmed” column tells you what successfully prosecuted as hate-crime-level under state law. Both matter. Neither alone is the full picture.

Should you be worried about your block? The honest answer

This is the question the citywide stat does not answer, and the one residents actually ask. So let us decode it by neighborhood profile.

If you are visibly Jewish (kippah, sheitel, tzitzit, school uniform) and live in Borough Park, Crown Heights, the Upper West Side, Midwood, or Williamsburg: The Q1 2026 number for anti-Jewish confirmed hate crimes (78) is essentially flat against Q1 2025 (77). It is not getting measurably worse year over year, but it is also not getting better, and it remains the dominant category. Reasonable precautions — situational awareness on Shabbat walks, varying routes if you have been targeted, knowing your precinct’s community affairs contact — apply.

If you are visibly Muslim (hijab, thawb) and live in Bay Ridge, Astoria, Jackson Heights, the Bronx, or any neighborhood with a mosque you walk to: The 140% jump from 5 to 12 confirmed anti-Muslim incidents is the data point you need to take seriously. Twelve confirmed cases in three months is still a small absolute number across a city of 8.3 million people, but the velocity of the increase is the headline. The April 2 NYPD press release names this category as one of two driving the citywide rise.

If you are visibly LGBTQ+ and live in Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, the West Village, Park Slope, Jackson Heights, or Bushwick: Sexual orientation incidents rose modestly from 8 to 10. Gender-bias incidents (which include anti-female and anti-transgender) moved from 3 to 6 — doubling, but still small in absolute terms. The pattern is consistent with bar-and-club-district incidents in the early-morning hours; reported NYC OpenData records from earlier years show clustering in Manhattan South precincts (5, 6, 7, 13).

If you live in Staten Island: The borough has the lowest hate-crime caseload of all five boroughs by a wide margin. The Q1 numbers are not zero, but the citywide trend is not happening at the same intensity in your borough.

If you are part of a Sikh, Hindu, or Catholic community: The “Religion (other)” category — which includes anti-Catholic, anti-Sikh, anti-Hindu, and other faiths — moved from 8 to 13 confirmed incidents. Anti-Catholic has historically been a notable subset (church vandalism in particular). Worth tracking.

How this compares to the rest of the NYC crime picture

Hate crimes are moving in the opposite direction from most major crime categories in NYC right now. The same April 2, 2026 press release reported the lowest first-quarter murder count in recorded NYPD history (54, beating the previous low of 60 set in 2018), shooting incidents tied at 139 with the all-time low set in 2025, burglaries down 20.6%, and overall major crime down 5.3% citywide.

The takeaway: NYC is genuinely safer overall in early 2026 than in any first quarter on record. Hate crimes are the conspicuous exception that residents in specific communities are absorbing, even as their borough’s general violent-crime profile improves.

What to do with this if you are a resident

Practical steps that are not fearmongering and not minimizing:

1. Know your precinct’s Community Affairs Officer. Every NYC precinct has one. They are the first point of contact for non-emergency reports of bias-motivated incidents in your community. The NYPD precinct directory is at nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts-landing.page.
2. Report incidents — even if you are not sure they are “confirmed” hate crimes. The new reporting paradigm now publishes both reported and confirmed numbers. Reporting is the only way the data captures what is actually happening.
3. For emergencies, call 911. For non-emergency bias reporting, the NYPD’s confidential hate crime tip line is 1-888-440-HATE (4283).
4. Know that confirmation lag exists. An incident from this week may not appear in confirmed numbers for weeks while the HCTF reviews it. The OpenData dataset updates more often but reflects the reported (flagged) universe, not the confirmed adjudications.
5. Cross-check the headline number against your borough. A 5.3% citywide drop in major crime does not mean every neighborhood improved equally; the same logic applies to the 11.7% hate-crime increase. Pull your local precinct’s CompStat 2.0 page at compstat.nypdonline.org.

Frequently asked questions about NYC hate crime data

How many hate crimes happened in NYC in Q1 2026?

The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force confirmed 143 hate crimes between January 1 and March 31, 2026, an 11.7% increase from the 128 confirmed in Q1 2025. A larger universe of incidents was reported and flagged for review; March 2026 alone had 73 reported incidents, of which 55 were confirmed.

What is the difference between “reported” and “confirmed” hate crimes?

A reported hate crime is any incident flagged for investigation by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force. A confirmed hate crime is one that the task force, in consultation with the NYPD Legal Bureau, has determined meets New York State’s legal definition of a hate crime. Starting in 2026, the NYPD publishes both numbers monthly for transparency.

What is the most common type of hate crime in NYC right now?

Anti-Jewish incidents are the largest single category, accounting for 78 of 143 confirmed hate crimes in Q1 2026 (about 55%). Anti-Muslim incidents grew the fastest, more than doubling from 5 to 12 confirmed cases year over year.

Which NYC neighborhoods have the most hate crimes?

Based on NYC OpenData NYPD Hate Crimes records for 2026 year-to-date, the highest concentration of incidents is in the Brooklyn South patrol borough (Park Slope, Borough Park, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge), followed by Manhattan South (Midtown, Greenwich Village, Lower East Side) and Queens North (Astoria, Jackson Heights, Forest Hills). Staten Island has by far the lowest caseload.

How do I report a hate crime in NYC?

For emergencies, call 911. For non-emergency bias incident reporting, the NYPD’s confidential Hate Crimes tip line is 1-888-440-HATE (1-888-440-4283). You can also report through any precinct’s Community Affairs Officer or by walking into your local precinct.

Does the citywide hate crime number mean my neighborhood is more dangerous?

Not necessarily. NYC’s overall major crime is down 5.3% in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025, with murders at the lowest first-quarter total ever recorded. The hate crime increase is concentrated in specific bias categories (anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim) and specific patrol boroughs (Brooklyn South, Manhattan South, Queens North). Your neighborhood’s exposure depends on its precinct’s caseload and your community’s visibility profile.

What counts as a hate crime under New York State law?

Under New York State Penal Law Article 485, a hate crime is committed when a person commits a specified offense and either intentionally selects the victim, or intentionally commits the act, in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the victim’s race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability, or sexual orientation. The bias-motivation element is what elevates an underlying crime (assault, harassment, vandalism, etc.) to a hate crime under state law.

Sources

• NYPD Press Release, April 2, 2026 — “NYPD Announces Fewest Murders, Shooting Incidents in Recorded History for First Three Months of the Year”: nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/PR006
• NYPD Citywide CompStat Report (PDF, generated April 27, 2026): nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-city.pdf
• NYC OpenData — NYPD Hate Crimes dataset: data.cityofnewyork.us/Public-Safety/NYPD-Hate-Crimes/bqiq-cu78
• NYPD CompStat 2.0 (precinct-level dashboard): compstat.nypdonline.org
• Mayor Mamdani & NYPD Press Conference Transcript, April 2, 2026: nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/04

This article translates publicly available NYPD CompStat and NYC OpenData hate crime statistics into resident decision-language. We do not name living victims or suspects unless they have already been publicly named in official NYPD or court documents. The numbers in this article reflect data published by the NYPD on April 2 and April 27, 2026; underlying incident records continue to be reviewed and adjudicated by the Hate Crimes Task Force, so confirmed totals for the most recent week may shift as cases close.

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