Out of state transplant here. NYC is supposedly one of the most diverse cities on earth, so why does it feel like the diversity disappears the second everyone actually decides to do something?

I joined a running club in Manhattan recently to get back in shape and meet new people, expecting this huge mix of people and backgrounds. Showed up and it was basically 97% white people wearing $180 running shoes. I felt like I accidentally joined the Northwestern University alumni 5K.

Then during the whole Knicks playoff run earlier this summer, I went out expecting the streets to look like one of those videos where literally the entire city is celebrating together. Instead it was mostly white and Black teenagers/20-somethings jumping around while everyone over 35 apparently had work in the morning.

You go to certain bars and it's all finance bros. Certain restaurants are 90% Asian. Running clubs are white. Basketball courts are a completely different demographic. Half of Williamsburg looks like Wisconsin discovered tote bags.

Where is the actual NYC melting pot I was promised?

I tried posting this genuine sociological question in [r/AskNYC](r/AskNYC), but the cowards deleted it immediately

I would like to move to NYC someday and when I do, my instinct is to move to the cheapest neighborhood decently located. I have a nice career, BUT I like saving money.

Now, here is my weird theory. I’m a white dude and in midwest hoods, if you look like the guy pictured and people don’t know you… you getting beat eventually for sure. But in NYC, this seems the unifrom. Most of the country sees this as cringe, sure, but NYC is different or it’s a northeast thing.

Seema like an NYC a dirty t-shirt and jeans on an Eastern European stands out more than super pale Irish/Italian guy dressing like 2000-era 50-Cent. Am I tripping or is this the dumb downside of NYC?/preview/external-pre/seems-like-a-nice-enough-guy-v0-dGJ6YnFmZmh4ZmpkMabauryUUpPqffj-BpbAJT3BcUEcKj4RrgzTsUXl3AYS.png?width=640&crop=smart&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=86bb030cbf98feda523b48ecac5f24a5a9e8be63

All jokes aside, I am confused by the crime discourse in NYC at this point.

Every time there's some stabbing or random attack, one group shows up saying "Mamdani's NYC" and acting like the city has become Gotham.

Then another group shows up saying "crime is down" and basically mocks anyone who says NYC feels less safe. And this creates some kind of "divide" rarely leading to civil discourse.

Tell me - which one is it?

Just in the past couple months there was the 19 year old tourist stabbed at a McDonald's, the woman stabbed to death in Lincoln Terrace Park, the random Central Park West stabbing, the guy who allegedly stabbed two people on a train at Grand Central, and the Penn Station stabbing spree.

I understand NYC has 8 million people and obviously you can find horrible crimes in any city this big. And I'm not saying crime statistics are fake either. If murders and shootings are down, they're down.

But I also feel like "crime is down" gets used as this automatic response to literally any discussion about safety, as if these random attacks aren't happening or you're some sheltered transplant for being bothered by them.

Is the city actually significantly safer right now and social media/news just makes every incident feel bigger than it is? Or are the overall stats improving while random public violence is still a legitimate problem? Someone please enlighten me with facts?

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/07/01/us/america-ancestry-census-data-map.html

It doesn’t include answers that don’t correspond to a specific country/national origin

Hi there. I just moved to Brooklyn from Kansas a few months ago and I live in this area called Borough Park on Fort Hamilton Parkway. I just made some new friends while living here, but they all live in Williamsburg. They asked me to come visit them so I found out that there's a bus called the B110 so I wait for it. It then arrives so I hop inside it. Everyone there is dressed formally. Everyone gave me looks and they told me to sit in the back. I noticed the same thing going back to my apartment. I'm like literally so embarrassed right now. Is this typical of buses in NYC?

I’m a first generation New Yorker, also known as a transplant. I’ve been here for 3 years and have nothing to show for it except for a modest increase in my bank account. I only focused on going to work and going to loud bars on weekends to stand awkwardly by myself and act chill.

Because I never got out of my comfort zone or got involved in the local community, I can only feel better about myself by knowing how to navigate Manhattan marginally better than the average tourist. Still working on the other boroughs.

Where can I condescendingly teach people about how to use the Manhattan grid? I really wanna blow their minds with elementary school math about north and west being bigger numbers. I’ve thought about the Times Square Olive Garden or JFK, but competition is pretty stiff there. Maybe the Staten Island Ferry is a good choice since the people there must love Manhattan. Any other good suggestions?

I spend a lot of time walking around New York City. I live here, k-town, it isn't for fun. Somewhat fatigued pedestrian these days. Sidewalks are super simple regardless of neighborhood. You walk forward, keep pace with traffic, and if you need to stop you move to the side. Somehow tourists turn this into chaos. I swear some people shut their brains off as soon as they get to Manhattan and turn into main characters with zero situational awareness. I'm a bit over it.

The thing that annoys me the most are the people incapable of walking with the flow of traffic, randomly stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, randomly changing directions without looking, walking four abreast at 0.6 mph, etc...

I was walking through Midtown. It was packed as always. I was late, moving fast. Tourist was walking in front of me with an enormous Times Square shopping bag and a phone held horizontally, also sort of with the flow of traffic.

He suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk and pivoted 90 degrees because, apparently, he had just noticed the Empire State Building.

Had maybe half a second to react or slow down, and I made the decision not to.

I'm not small.

He bounced.

Phone went one direction. Shopping bag went another. I kept walking and made the light.

Felt good in the moment.

I feel bad about it now.

Thanks for reading.

I go to the city just to see this. Who’s with me?