Where does New York City stand at the beginning of 2025?

It's too easy to read about an explosion of horrific subway violence, including a recent incident of a man lighting a woman on fire, as representative of the city's descent into barbarism. Or I can pick and choose among daily newspaper reports, especially in the tabloid, Trump-loving New York Post. A recent story, amidst its usual vivid reports of violence, related that "a suspect pummeled a 33-year-old man during his morning subway commute in Brooklyn last week -- adding to a recent string of violent acts in the city's underground, cops said."

Then there is the power loss on a third rail near 59th Street and Columbus, which left thousands of commuters scrambling for alternate ways to get home and questioning if the city's transit system can function at all.

And, of course, there are the continuing problems with prisons, homelessness, corrupt political leadership, affordable housing and immigration, and I know I am leaving out a great deal.

But instead of merely lamenting about how terrifying the city can be and offering a skewed portrait of its daily reality, I would like to provide as balanced an appraisal of the state of the city as I can offer. New York City remains one of the safest big cities in the U.S., but statistics are incapable of undermining the anxiety that a slew of horrendous crimes create. There is hope that new Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, an NYPD veteran who also previously served several other city commissioner roles, can make a dent in the old guard's dysfunction. She has already begun to shake up the top brass. I will not underestimate how difficult a process running it will be, especially given that she is a woman in a police department that remains extremely sexist in nature. (The first woman New York City Police Commissioner was Keechant Sewell, who abruptly resigned in June 2023 and seemed to have great difficulty dealing with male leadership.)

Even though horrific acts occur, new Commissioner Tisch announced that 2024 concluded with a nearly 3 percent reduction in overall index crime, which equates to 3,662 fewer incidents and thousands of fewer victims of violence and disorder across the five boroughs. The index crime categories of murder, robbery, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto each saw sizable reductions across New York City in 2024.

There are other aspects of NYC that can provide a more positive take on the city. The city drew 65 million visitors in 2024, second only to the number of tourists in 2019 before the pandemic, and it's projecting a record high of 68 million visitors this year. New York City's economy roared back to life in 2024, with record levels of employment and a tourism industry nearly returned to its pre-pandemic peak. There was an average of 4.15 million private sector jobs in New York City through September, the most ever. The city first recovered all of the jobs lost during the pandemic in 2023. Labor force participation -- the share of New Yorkers who either had a job or were seeking one, a snapshot of the city's economic vitality -- rose to nearly 63 percent, the highest ever recorded.

Another hopeful sign for the city's recovery is its continued ability to attract young talent. Nearly 500,000 college students who graduated in or after 2021 were working in New York City last year, the most of any major city in the United States. However, while jobs have returned, the largest growth has been in lower-income fields like home health care and hospitality. And from April 2020 to July 2003, the city's population decreased by 550,000 people. Still, one more positive development to mention is that congestion pricing might mean that the long-delayed extension of the Second Avenue subway can go ahead. There will now be funding for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to match a $3.4 billion federal grant awarded in November 2023 to extend the subway up to 125th Street and Second Avenue.

Of course, in writing about the city, one must consider President Donald Trump's vow to seek the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, including the 412,000 estimated to be living in New York City.

While any major deportation plans would likely face legal obstacles, even the possibility of enforcement could have a chilling effect on businesses that employ both legal and undocumented immigrants. In addition, close to 3.1 million immigrants live in New York City, and they contribute to billions of dollars in economic output, playing an outsize role in industries like retail and construction. Any threat to immigrants allowed to enter will have a chain effect on the state of business.

Meanwhile, the city endures as an exhilarating place that will always be problematic. One still hopes that the city can balance the pleasure and pain, the transcendent and nightmarish moments that define its daily life.