Does Neighborhood Crime Predict NYC School Quality? We Analyzed 1,500 Schools

NYC School Ratings Team · 2026-05-10 · 9 min read

We crunched NYPD complaint data against academic ratings for every NYC public school. The Pearson correlation between neighborhood safety and school quality is r = 0.09 — essentially zero. Across all 5 safety quintiles, average school ratings are flat. Half of NYC school districts even show a negative correlation. Here's the methodology and what it means.