Brooklyn Loves New York The Most: Survey Breaks Down NYC Boroughs

By Jill Colvin, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

LINCOLN CENTER — The vast majority of New Yorkers are happy with life in the Big Apple, according to a new survey released Thursday.

Despite sky-high unemployment and a rising poverty rate, 84 percent of residents polled said they are relatively satisfied with life in the city, according to the Municipal Art Society’s third-annual Livability Survey.

Brooklynites topped the list when it came to satisfaction, with a whopping 90 percent agreeing that New York is a great place to live — up more than 10 points from last year. Satisfaction was down among Manhattan residents (88 percent) and Queens residents (85 percent), who nonetheless polled far higher than The Bronx, which placed dead-last, with just 75 percent of residents happy — a drop from recent years.

When it came to satisfaction with their neighborhoods, however, Staten Islanders took the gold, with 91 percent saying they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their neighborhoods. Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods tied for second, with 85 percent of residents giving their neighborhoods a thumbs-up — far more than in The Bronx, where just 77 percent of residents said their neighborhoods are good places to live.

“Are New Yorkers satisfied with life in New York? You betcha,” said Vin Cipolla, president of MAS, who presented the findings at the group’s annual summit, which kicked off at Lincoln Center Thursday morning.

He credited the bump to the fact the economy seems to be perking up.

“We’re maybe feeling a little bit better as a country,” he said. “There’s a sense that the days to come may be a little bit better than the days behind us.”

Nonetheless, many residents continue to worry about their futures, with employment and crime the top two most pressing concerns citywide.

One-fifth of those polled said that they were also worried about housing options and the cost of living, which continues to rise.

While nearly 80 percent of residents overall agreed that their neighborhoods are clean, nearly 30 percent of Bronx resident disagreed. And while three-quarters of New Yorkers said they are pleased with access to groceries and markets, one-third of Queens residents complained options were limited.

Residents were also asked which borough was the best in several different categories:

Best place to live: 1. Manhattan (28 percent), 2. Queens (25 percent), 3. Brooklyn (24 percent), 4. Staten Island (9 percent), 5. The Bronx (8 percent)

Best value for the money: 1. Queens (25 percent), 2. Manhattan (24 percent), 3. Brooklyn (18 percent), 4. The Bronx (13 percent), 5. Staten Island (10 percent)

Best place to start a business: 1. Manhattan (44 percent), 32. Brooklyn (21 percent), 3. Queens (12 percent), 4. Bronx (8 percent), 5. Staten Island (4 percent)

The survey of 1,324 residents, which was conducted by the Marist Institute the last week of August, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

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