The New York City ZIP codes with the most air quality and mold complaints

New York’s 311 helpline sees it all. In 311’s 20-year history, New Yorkers have called the number over 500 million times to get help and information from non-emergency City services. The 311 call records database has become a virtual portrait of New York City — from the point of view of what its inhabitants feel the need to complain about.

As often as not, the bizarre 311 calls make the headlines. These quirky inquiries capture the unique character of the Big Apple and its inhabitants. But 311’s true purpose is to improve home and street life for locals. And so it becomes the battleground for more serious issues, from a police parking abuse case that remains unresolved after 232 calls or a decline in reports of rat sightings that may be down to New Yorkers “just getting used to them.”

In a tight and industrious city like New York, health issues like mold and air quality have the potential to impact every area of life. But all of New York City is not the same, and the 311 calls database reveals a very uneven spread of air quality and mold complaints from borough to borough. To see which ZIP codes are the worst hit, we at HouseFresh analyzed call volume from the 311 database to rank and map the neighborhoods with the most complaints in New York.

Key Findings

• The Bronx has the most mold complaints, with 73.31 calls per 10,000 inhabitants per year.
• Manhattanites make 12.12 indoor air quality complaints per 10,000 people per year, the most of any borough.
• Manhattanites also make the most outdoor air quality complaints: 13.47 per 10,000 people per year.
• However, indoor air quality complaints in Queens have risen by 82.28% over five years, the biggest change in our study.

The places in New York City with the most and least mold complaints

First, we mapped the New York boroughs with the most mold complaints per 10,000 inhabitants. The Bronx is way ahead with 73.31 complaints, practically twice that of second-placed Manhattan. This is despite complaints in Manhattan rising by 32.59% over the past five years.

The Bronx is home to a dense level of public housing, an area where mold management can be slow and inconclusive. Some 8% of children living in the Bronx are living with chronic lung disease, and in the South Bronx, asthma rates are eight times the national average. The Bronx has long been New York City’s leading borough for mold, and mold reports have risen by 17.12% over the past five years.

Next, we zeroed in on the precise neighborhood ZIP codes where mold reports are most and least common. Sure enough, the two outliers are in Manhattan — specifically, in the 10030 ZIP code of Harlem — and 10474 in the Bronx, at Hunts Point.

Hunts Point has become known for a number of buildings kept in a poor state of repair, although much of this is the responsibility of landlords rather than the city. “It is draining to have to fight for something that’s really just the right that should be given to you,” says Grace Medico Cuapio, a Hunts Point organizer for Banana Kelly, a community improvement association.

The neighborhood with the tenth most complaints about mold is NYC 10040, covering parts of Washington Heights and Inwood in Manhattan. Some 99.25 complaints per 10,000 people were made here last year, an increase of 200% from 2017 to 18 figures. This makes it the ZIP code where complaints have risen most dramatically over the past five years.

Washington Heights resident Jose Jimenez has had mold growing in his apartment for 20 years, with a succession of landlords either ignoring the damage or painting over it temporarily. “It is no secret there are landlords who neglect units occupied by long-term tenants, as part of a broader strategy to increase turnover and displacement,” claims Jason Wu, the attorney representing Jimenez in court. Painting over mold covers the problem, but if moisture remains, the mold will reappear and continue to grow.

The places in New York City with the most and least indoor air quality complaints

Manhattan is the leading district for indoor air quality complaints, with 44.6% more complaints per 10,000 inhabitants than second-placed Brooklyn. And this is despite complaints from Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn rising significantly more than Manhattan over the past five years. There were 12.12 complaints per 10,000 people in Manhattan last year.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced a $3.5 million boost in state funding for environmental justice initiatives in November 2023, with substantial investment in air quality monitoring and improvement. “Both the community impact and air monitoring grants support the crucial work of not-for-profit, community-based organizations that develop a wide variety of projects that drive positive change and improved environmental outcomes in their communities,” said Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos.

The 10282 ZIP code, representing the area between Battery Park and Rockefeller Park, just north of the 9/11 memorial in Manhattan, is New York’s worst area for indoor air quality complaints. Here, complaints are made at just over double the citywide average rate. While developers in this area pioneered green building in New York, Battery Park remains known for its high-density population. The contrast between the area’s famed green spaces and busy living spaces may draw attention to poor air quality when it occurs.

Meanwhile, residents in the New Hyde Park area at ZIP code 11040 made just 0.23 per 10,000 people last year. In a previous study, HouseFresh discovered that New Hyde Park also receives the fewest sanitation-related 311 complaints, suggesting that the area is kept very clean — or that the locals don’t like to complain.

Two ZIP code areas have seen an increase of well over 1,000% in complaints made about indoor air quality. Complaints in Woodhaven (ZIP 11421) rose by 4100%, while in Middle Village (11379) they rose by 1480%. Ironically, Woodhaven nestles up alongside the Ozone Park neighborhood — the area was named before the ozone gas was properly understood, back when it was associated with fresh, healthy air. In fact, ozone — the gas, not the place — smells somewhat bleach-like.

Additionally, the Glendale Superfund site, just north of the Woodhaven neighborhood, “has been known to send a plume of toxic tetrachloroethylene” skywards due to industrial activity when a knitting mill occupied the site nearly sixty years ago. Although the Department of Health has insisted there is no continued danger, the issue continues to rear its head due to an ongoing remediation process with locals.

The places in New York City with the most and least outdoor air quality complaints

As with indoor air quality, Manhattan is the leading borough for outdoor air quality complaints — in this case, with 52.42% more than Brooklyn. While the Bronx is the third worst area for indoor air complaints, Bronx residents make the fewest complaints (per 10,000 people) about outdoor quality out of any of the five boroughs.

Amidst the June 2023 wildfires, New York City reached an AQI of 342, making it temporarily the worst city in the world for air quality. “This may be the first time we’ve experienced something like this of this magnitude,” said Mayor Eric Adams. “Climate change is accelerating these conditions. We must continue to draw down emissions and improve air quality and build resiliency.”

Multiple lower Manhattan ZIP codes are among those making the most complaints of all. The Tribeca Festival organizers provided masks to its staffers and considered postponing events in June 2023 as worsening conditions impacted incoming flights.

SoHo occupies much of the 10012 ZIP code, where the fourth-highest number of complaints were made. Workers at the SoHo branch of outdoor retail chain REI “successfully pressured management to close,” but only after the AQI levels reached over 400, according to a union Instagram post. “Before that, they held our reduced wages over our heads, forcing workers to choose between our own safety and our livelihoods,” claimed the workers.

A Bronx ZIP code, 10462, has shown the most significant growth in complaints over the past five years. This ZIP covers Parkchester, Westchester Square and Castle Hill. Across the Bronx, the Co-op City area has seen the largest reduction in complaints.

Some four out of five Parkchester homes have air conditioners installed, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The air in Parkchester was found to contain 7.6 micrograms of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) per cubic meter — a little over the city average and a little under the Bronx average.

How to protect yourself from mold and common air quality issues at home

Mold and poor air quality can significantly damage your health, and researchers have shown air pollution to have a negative impact on the academic performance of children. Many issues that arise require civic or corporate intervention on a grand scale. But there are achievable steps you can take around the home to protect your family from the effects of these public health issues.

Methodology

To identify the New York neighborhoods and ZIP codes with the highest number of 311 complaints per 10k population for mold, indoor air quality and outdoor air quality, we analyzed 311 data for the most recent 12 months from the NYC Open Data website (November 2022 to October 2023).

For each complaint type, we recorded complaint counts for each borough and ZIP code between November 2022 and October 2023. We then repeated this process for the corresponding time period five years prior (November 2017 to October 2018).

This allowed us to calculate the boroughs and ZIP codes with the most and fewest complaints per 10k population for each metric and the five-year change in complaints per 10k.