Well if that's the argument then it seems we must take it on faith that NYC is more dangerous no matter what, seems a weird thing to start a religion on.

Are you claiming that New Yorkers report crimes less frequently than others? It'd be great to have a source for that; absent that, there's no reason to believe that any sample error in the NYC crime data isn't similarly reflected in all crime data.

I'm relatively confident that residents of NYC, and similar big cities, report fewer of the crimes that actually happen than people elsewhere. But that's the sort of claim from my life-experience, including plenty of time as a child in the NY suburbs, and most of my adult life in San Francisco, that may not have handy official stats to back it up.

I suspect a survey of residents, asking questions like, "have you had anything stolen that you did not file a police report about?", would reveal relative urban versus suburban or rural propensity-to-report trends here better than official crime stats – but I don't know of such a data series.

It's good to feel confident about things. But data is even nicer.

I've never had to file a police report for theft in NYC (where I've lived for 20+ years), because I've never had anything stolen from me. Unless you count the kid who, in third grade, stole my Pokemon cartridge. But the response to that involved schoolyard justice.

How many years have you spent in NYC as an independent adult?

Well, I'm in my 20s, so I suspect that whatever number I give you is not going to be very useful.

But "independent adult" also doesn't mean much. I was riding the subway alone by the time I was 7 or 8, and didn't have anything resembling a curfew.

Because insurance requires reporting for coverage?

In small towns and cities all around the world, people don't report crimes for a variety of reasons. It's not clear why that would be more true in NYC than elsewhere.

Because if you want your insurance to cover your loss, you have to report it.

If you were talking about petty theft, I'd agree with you, but for the most part, burglaries are nearly always reported.

If you don't believe the data, is there any information you would accept that doesn't support your opinion?