Little Italy is a neighborhood of 9,000 residents in Manhattan, close to downtown · Updated November 2026
Is Little Italy in Manhattan safe?
Little Italy has more crime than most of the country: an overall CrimeGrade™ of C, with more crime than the neighborhoods where 84% of Americans live. Violent crime grades better than property crime here, A- against F. Manhattan as a whole grades C+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Little Italy run from B to F, so check the map below.
C
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 445 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
16% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Little Italy as a whole, and 84% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Little Italy scores 445.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Little Italy, Manhattan, NY at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Little Italy in Manhattan, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Little Italy
Thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks far more often than nationally. In Manhattan as a whole, 79% of reported thefts from cars happen on streets and sidewalks, against 18% nationally.
Theft at more than triple the US rate. Little Italy has 54.3 thefts a year per 1,000 residents, against 13.1 nationally.
Crime rates and types in Little Italy
CrimeGrade™ estimates Little Italy has about 101 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, more than double the rate for the US as a whole and 39% more than Manhattan as a whole.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
The largest share of crime reported in Little Italy is theft, about 54% of the total. It also makes up the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Manhattan
The New York City Police Department polices Little Italy; these figures cover New York as a whole, 2022 to 2024.
In New York as a whole, 50% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (50%)
Night (midnight to 6 am)
Car theft
Streets and sidewalks (79%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Theft from cars
Streets and sidewalks (79%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Vandalism
Streets and sidewalks (40%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Robbery
Streets and sidewalks (45%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (50%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Little Italy compares with nearby neighborhoods
Little Italy has more crime than 6 of its 10 nearest neighborhoods. Battery Park and Financial District have the least crime nearby.
Shops, parking lots and walkability in Little Italy
Two things set Little Italy apart: it has 101.3 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 0.0 parking-lot spaces per resident, against 2.0 nationally. Places with many stores and restaurants tend to report more theft and car theft, and theft runs high here.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft and car theft.101.3 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Higher than for 99% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Parking lotsBig lots at stores, offices and apartment complexes. Places with more lot space tend to report more theft.under 1 spaces per residentUS: 2.0Lower than for 99% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft and assault. 100% of residents here live in walkable areas.A+ (97 of 100)US: 21Higher than for 99% of residents of US city neighborhoods
Show all 4
Transit serviceBuses and trains an hour at the evening rush. Places with busy transit tend to report more theft and robbery. BestNeighborhood's Transit Grade for Little Italy: A+ (94 of 100).237 trips an hourUS: noneHigher than for 99% of residents of US city neighborhoods
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Little Italy
Crime costs Little Italy about $1,290 a year per household, counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, 7% more than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $15 million a year, or $1,700 per resident.
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Little Italy means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them. Little Italy is a good example: many people work in, shop in or visit it, so its crime per resident looks worse than its CrimeGrade™ suggests.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Little Italy, Manhattan, NY average a SchoolGrade of A-: 67% of students test proficient, against 48% projected for schools like them. Overall, they greatly exceed expectations. See schools in Little Italy on SchoolGrade
