New York's average dog-bite insurance claim was $92,154 in 2025, according to the Insurance Information Institute and State Farm. A look at where reported bites happen across New York City, which breed labels appear in records, and how borough rates compare.
The average dog-bite insurance claim in New York State reached $92,154 in 2025, above the national average of $65,450, according to the Insurance Information Institute and State Farm. Across the country, insurers paid out $1.86 billion on roughly 28,450 dog-bite claims that year. This report looks at reported bites in New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene data, breed labels recorded in those reports, and borough rates per 1,000 licensed dogs. DOHMH is the city health agency that publishes the bite dataset.
The New York City boroughs where dogs bite most
Reported dog bites per 1,000 licensed dogs, by New York City borough, 2024. Hover or tap a borough for detail.
Rate uses reported bites against registered dogs only, and licensing compliance varies, so this is a borough comparison index rather than a true per-dog risk. Reported bites are not a complete count of all bites.
| Borough | Reported bites, 2024 | bites per 1,000 licensed dogs (2024) |
|---|---|---|
| Bronx | 843 | 75.2 |
| Staten Island | 383 | 51.2 |
| Queens | 989 | 46.4 |
| Brooklyn | 819 | 27.7 |
| Manhattan | 853 | 23.8 |
Raw counts hide the real story
By raw count, Queens reports 8,652 dog bites over the decade, followed by Manhattan and Brooklyn. But counts mostly track how many people and dogs a borough has. Adjusting for the number of licensed dogs changes the picture. The Bronx records 75 per 1,000 licensed dogs in 2024, roughly three times Manhattan's 24.
Analysis. The reframe matters because raw totals can make dense, populous boroughs look more dangerous. The caveat is that licensing compliance is uneven, so the rate is best read as a relative comparison across boroughs, not an exact probability of a bite.
New York City dog bites over time
Reported dog bites in New York City, by year.
| 2015 | 3,557 | 10.5% |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 3,212 | 9.4% |
| 2017 | 3,511 | 10.3% |
| 2018 | 3,377 | 9.9% |
| 2019 | 3,534 | 10.4% |
| 2020 | 2,551 | 7.5% |
| 2021 | 2,921 | 8.6% |
| 2022 | 3,464 | 10.2% |
| 2023 | 3,865 | 11.4% |
| 2024 | 4,041 | 11.9% |
Reported bites dipped in 2020 during the pandemic, then climbed every year since to 4,041 in 2024.
Breed labels most often reported
Most frequently reported breed labels in New York City dog bites, 2015 to 2024.
| Pit Bull | 5,853 | 55% |
|---|---|---|
| Shih Tzu | 949 | 8.9% |
| German Shepherd | 940 | 8.8% |
| Chihuahua | 869 | 8.2% |
| Yorkshire Terrier | 654 | 6.1% |
| Siberian Husky | 507 | 4.8% |
| Rottweiler | 494 | 4.6% |
| Labrador Retriever | 379 | 3.6% |
Breed is self-reported free text and about a quarter of records list no usable breed, so these are conservative single-label counts. The dataset does not verify breed, dog population by breed, owner behavior, or circumstances of the bite, so these counts should not be read as breed-specific risk rates.
Spaying, neutering, and mail carriers
Across the decade, 77% of the dogs involved in reported New York City bites were not spayed or neutered. That field is recorded in the city dataset, but it does not prove why any individual bite happened. The U.S. Postal Service, the federal mail agency, ranked New York fourth in the nation for dog attacks on carriers in 2025 with 269, and Rochester was the only New York city to appear in the national city rankings.
The national picture
New York's costs sit against a large national backdrop. Each figure below links to its source.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emergency-room figure is from a 2001 study and is included only for historical national scale, not as a current number.
If a dog bit you in New York
Dog-bite cases can raise questions about owner responsibility, prior knowledge of a dog's behavior, medical treatment, scarring, and whether any other party had a legal duty. The available claims depend on the facts and the law. This report does not predict any case result.
If you were injured by a dog in New York, the team at Porter Law Group can review your injury and your options at no cost. There is no obligation.
Methodology
The average-claim figure is the Insurance Information Institute and State Farm 2025 dog-bite liability data. New York City bite counts come from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene DOHMH Dog Bite Data dataset and cover reported bites from 2015 through 2024, which is not a complete count of all bites. Breed is self-reported free text, and about a quarter of records list no usable breed, so breed-label counts are conservative. The bites-per-1,000 rate divides 2024 reported bites by 2024 registered dogs from the New York City Dog Licensing Dataset, mapped to boroughs by ZIP code. Because licensing compliance varies, the rate is a relative comparison across boroughs rather than a true per-dog probability. U.S. Postal Service figures are the 2025 national rankings.
