New Yorkers say city and its subway is getting worse and more dangerous, complaining of bungling by Eric Adams’ administration as millions plan an exit strategy: survey

New Yorkers say the city has become a more dangerous and worse place to live these past six years and point to failures in Mayor Eric Adams‘ administration, a massive survey shows.

The share of residents who rate city life as good or excellent fell from 50 percent to 30 percent between 2017 and 2023, while one third of New Yorkers say quality of life is now poor, a survey by the Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) reveals.

Among their top concerns are crime and public order. Residents feel much less safe in their neighborhoods than they did in 2017, especially on a subway system that has been hit with a spate of violent incidents.

The survey comes as Adams has struggled to live up to campaign promises of tackling crime, safety, and rat infestations, amid a surge in migrants that’s draining city coffers of billions of dollars.

Andrew Rein, the research group’s president, said the survey revealed a ‘stark reality that [residents] clearly rate the quality of life and quality of city services as not good.’

Officials must start making ‘tremendous progress’ to offer better ‘safety, housing, and clean streets, parks, and public spaces,’ Rein added.

Key findings from CBC’s survey of 6,600 New Yorkers:

• Just 37 percent of respondents said public safety in their neighborhood was excellent or good — down from half in 2017
• New Yorkers feel only slightly safer riding the subway during the day now as they felt on it at night in 2017
• More than three quarters say they don’t feel safe riding the subway at night now
• More people now say they’re worried about cleanliness, garbage collection and rat problems in their area
• They’re also increasingly dissatisfied with traffic, bike, and pedestrian safety
• Only 11 percent said the city spent tax dollars wisely — down from 21 percent in 2017
• When asked if they planned to stay in New York until 2028, only half of respondents said ‘yes’
• That’s down from 58 percent in 2017
• Households with annual incomes above $200,000 say they have the best quality of life
• Those living in the Upper East and West Sides, Soho, TriBeCa, waterfront areas of Brooklyn and Queens and southern Staten Island were generally more satisfied
• But even those posher areas recorded a drop in residents’ satisfaction 
• Residents of the southern and central Bronx were among the least satisfied 

The survey underscores the challenges facing both Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul as they seek to ease fears that crime is out of control and the subway system is falling apart.

It was carried out before this winter’s spate of sensational subway crimes.

Commuters scrambled for cover after an ‘aggressive’ rider was shot in the head on a subway A train during rush hour this month.

The shooting on the nation’s busiest transit system occurred less than a week after New York Governor Kathy Hochul stationed 750 national guard members in a bid to clamp down on the rampant violence on the subway.

Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center for an Urban Future nonprofit, called the survey a ‘sobering’ wake-up call for officials running a city of 8.5 million people.

‘Policymakers should take notice and grasp that there’s still a lot of work to do to make the city more livable and affordable,’ said Bowles.