Living in New York City isn’t easy when you consider the high costs, the crowds and the rodents scurrying in the streets and subways. There’s plenty to complain about. But which aspect of city living frustrates New Yorkers most? Checking a year’s worth of 311 service calls can tell us.
Launched in 2003, 311 is the nonemergency phone number that New Yorkers can dial to file a request with the city. (They can also file requests online, through a mobile app or via text message.) When a request is filed, one of the city’s agencies, such as the New York Police Department or the Sanitation Department, is supposed to look into the case and provide assistance.
Among the millions of 311 requests fielded from Dec. 1, 2023, through Nov. 30, 2024, noise complaints dominated with a staggering 738,816 requests — an average of more than 2,000 every day. Residential noise made up the bulk of the complaints, with 356,288 requests filed by annoyed neighbors across the five boroughs. The irritation came in categories, including street/sidewalk noise, vehicle noise and even helicopter noise, among many others. (In fact, the very first 311 call was a sound complaint: A caller in Jackson Heights, Queens, dialed in to report a noisy party.)
What else gets under our skin? According to the 311 logs, illegal parking (507,481 complaints) and problems with heat or hot water (237,374) are major irritants. Also high on New Yorkers’ list of grievances: blocked driveways and unsanitary conditions. The number of requests about rodents, for what it’s worth, was actually down by roughly 960 to 40,418. Overall, though, there were about 200,000 more service requests in 2024 than in 2023.
The requests were sourced from NYC Open Data, which includes information from the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation.
Also on New Yorkers’ list of complaints: urinating in public, with 1,157 calls, and illegal animals kept as pets, with 539 related service requests from suspicious neighbors.
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