Matt Walker, 28, a resident of Flatbush, Brooklyn, said in a follow-up interview that finding long-term employment was a challenge. Mr. Walker, who is an engineer, said he had recently lost a “middle management-type position” and was searching for stable work.

“I’ll probably find another job in a month or two, because of my field, engineering,” Mr. Walker said. “A lot of people say it’s difficult to find a steady job that pays enough and that you can hold on to. If anything goes wrong with the company, you’re out the door.”

By almost every measure, residents of the Bronx had the deepest concerns about their neighborhoods: Half of respondents there said it was likely that a young person in the neighborhood would abuse drugs or alcohol. Thirty-seven percent said it was likely that a young person in the neighborhood would join a gang, whereas 19 percent of Manhattan residents and 16 percent of Staten Island residents said the same.

Just six in 10 Bronx residents said it was likely that a young person in their neighborhood would graduate from high school, compared with about three-quarters of New Yorkers over all. Meanwhile, 44 percent of respondents in the Bronx said it was probable that the children around them would grow up having a relative who is incarcerated. (The citywide number is lower, about one-third, but it rises to 52 percent among African-Americans.)

Government is not seen as addressing the problems that trouble these areas: In the Bronx, only one in five respondents gave local government high marks for meeting their needs. In Brooklyn, that figure was a bit higher, at 26 percent, compared with roughly a third in Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.

Don Levy, director of the Siena College Research Institute, said residents of Manhattan and Queens, as well as whites in general, were clearly more likely to say that they were doing all right or living comfortably. “But a majority of residents of the Bronx or Brooklyn and nearly three-quarters of those earning under $50,000 are either just getting by or finding it difficult to manage financially,” Mr. Levy said.