We used data and science to identify the most dangerous cities in the Empire State for 2020.

This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. It is our fifth time ranking the most dangerous places to live in New York and is updated for 2020.

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Not only do you have to worry about getting the measles in this state, you have to worry about where to live that’s safe. Yes, New York has its fair share of dangerous cities.

And lucky for you, we have the top ten most dangerous cities in New York for 2020 broken down below. One might think that most of the problems are centralized around New York’s largest city: New York City. Surprisingly, New York has done a fair job of keeping it’s crazy spread evenly across the state.

Some might wonder why we produced this list. Well, one goal is to definitely help people navigate these dangerous cities when trying to make an informed decision on what city they should call home. Let’s be real, we’re not talking about navigating Times Square during New Year’s Eve kind of danger. The type of danger we’re talking about gets people on NEWS ten at six. To compile our list, we looked at violent crimes and property crimes in cities with a population of 5,000. That left us with 200 cities. Folks, the cities that made our list have robberies happening in broad daylight, car jackings, and daily shootings. There are neighborhoods in these cities that you shouldn’t drive thru, ever, and there are areas that you definitely shouldn’t be in after dark.

We’re not saying that there aren’t little pockets of goodness in these New York cities. There are neighborhoods and shopping centers in these cities that are working hard to make life easier. And it’s not entirely New York’s fault. They have close to 20 million people. As with most situations, there’s bound to be problems with that many people: especially that many New Yorkers in one area.

To see where these New York cities with more issues than the New York Housewives are located, take a look below at our most dangerous cities in The Empire State for 2020.

The 10 Most Dangerous Cities In New York For 2020 Buffalo Niagara Falls Binghamton Schenectady Rochester Watertown Albany Johnson City Village Utica Syracuse

What are the circumstances that make these New York cities this way? Maybe not enough jobs, low wages, drugs, bad weather; and in New York’s case, their mediocre NFL teams?

We’re not entirely sure. But one thing we are sure about is that the number one most dangerous city in New York for 2020 is Buffalo.

So, if you don’t really leave your house, a dangerous city should mean nothing to you. Maybe you should consider holing up in one of our top ten most dangerous cities in New York for 2020.

To make an educated choice, take a look at the list below. If you don’t see a winner, head to the bottom, there’s more.

Learn more about the safest places in New York.

If you’re looking for something more national, check out the most dangerous cities in America or the most dangerous states in America.

For more New York reading, check out:

Next 10 Cities

Graphing The Most Dangerous And Safest Places In New York

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How we determined the most dangerous cities in New York for 2020?

Every year the FBI release two crime datasets, a preliminary dataset limited to the biggest cities in the country, followed by a more detailed release at the end of the year.

For our analysis, we focused on the JUST released 2018 data, specifically the 2018 Crime In The United States Report. We will update the results when data becomes available in September 2020.

So what criteria did we use? Have a look:

Violent Crimes Per Capita

Property Crimes Per Capita

In order to make the analysis as apples to apples as possible, we only considered New York cities over 5,000 in population. That left us with 200 cities in New York.

We then ranked each city from 1 to 200 for the two criteria with a #1 ranking being the most dangerous for the particular criteria.

Next, we averaged the two rankings into one “Dangerous Index”.

Finally, we ranked every city on the “Dangerous Index” with the lowest index being the most dangerous in New York — Buffalo. Any ties went to the smaller city. You can download the data here.

Read on for a detailed look at the 10 most dangerous cities in New York.

Locking It All Up In New York

The latest FBI crime data shows that Buffalo ranks as the most dangerous city in New York for 2020.

We want to point out again that there’s still safes places in Buffalo and that this isn’t a comment on the people that live there. So please don’t beat us up.

If you’re curious enough, here are the safest cities in New York:

Kirkland Town (Pop. 8,355) Sleepy Hollow Village (Pop. 10,267) Lewisboro Town (Pop. 12,823)

For more New York reading, check out:

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