NYC Teens: What the Latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey Shows
Key finding
In 2025, 34.1% of New York City public high school students said they had felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more that they stopped some usual activities, down from 38.2% in 2021 but still above 29.4% in 2015, according to CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The share was similar to the U.S. figure of 33.3%.
In crisis or thinking about suicide? Call or text 988 now (in New York City it reaches NYC 988). If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
Key numbers
- 34.1%felt sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in the past year (38.2% in 2021)CDC YRBS, NYC public high schools, 2025
- 41.8%of girls felt this way, compared with 26.2% of boysCDC YRBS, NYC, 2025
- 14.7%seriously considered suicide in the past year, down from 17.9% in 2023CDC YRBS, NYC, 2023 and 2025
- 19.6%said their mental health was not good most of the time or always in the past month, below the U.S. figure of 23.3%CDC YRBS, 2025
- 22.6%got 8 or more hours of sleep on an average school nightCDC YRBS, NYC, 2025
Persistent sadness and suicidal thoughts, NYC vs U.S., 2015 to 2025
Share of high school students who said they felt sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row (top) and who seriously considered attempting suicide (bottom) in the past 12 months. New York City in red, all U.S. high school students in the dashed line. Each point is a survey year; the tables below give every value with its 95% confidence interval.
Felt sad or hopeless
Seriously considered attempting suicide
- New York City public high school students
- U.S. high school students (dashed)
| Indicator | New York City | United States | NYC compared with U.S. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Felt sad or hopeless (two weeks or more, past year) | 34.1% (32.2 to 35.9) | 33.3% (31.2 to 35.5) | Similar |
| Seriously considered attempting suicide | 14.7% (13.4 to 16.2) | 14.5% (13.4 to 15.6) | Similar |
| Made a suicide plan | 13.6% (12.3 to 14.9) | 12.5% (11.4 to 13.6) | Similar |
| Attempted suicide one or more times | 11.2% (9.6 to 13.0) | 6.4% (5.7 to 7.1) | Higher |
| Mental health not good most of the time or always (past month) | 19.6% (18.3 to 21.0) | 23.3% (21.3 to 25.3) | Lower |
| Got 8 or more hours of sleep on a school night | 22.6% (21.3 to 24.1) | 24.3% (22.0 to 26.7) | Similar |
Weighted percentage of students who answered the question, with the 95% confidence interval in brackets. "Higher", "Lower" or "Similar" comes from a t-test at p < 0.05. New York City: 7,532 public high school students surveyed; United States: 10,710 students in the national survey.
| Indicator | 2015 | 2017 | 2019 | 2021 | 2023 | 2025 | 2025 vs 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Felt sad or hopeless (two weeks or more, past year) | 29.4% | 31.6% | 35.9% | 38.2% | 35.5% | 34.1% | Similar |
| Seriously considered attempting suicide | 13.7% | 16.2% | 15.6% | 15.6% | 17.9% | 14.7% | Lower |
| Attempted suicide one or more times | 8.3% | 11.0% | 9.2% | 9.2% | 13.6% | 11.2% | Similar |
| Got 8 or more hours of sleep on a school night | 25.2% | 22.6% | 19.6% | 24.1% | 19.8% | 22.6% | Higher |
"n/a" = question not asked of New York City students that year. The last column says whether the 2025 figure differs from 2023 at p < 0.05. Confidence intervals for every year are in the CSV file.
| Indicator | Girls | Boys | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Felt sad or hopeless (two weeks or more, past year) | 41.8% (39.2 to 44.4) | 26.2% (24.3 to 28.2) | Girls higher |
| Seriously considered attempting suicide | 17.1% (15.3 to 19.1) | 12.0% (10.4 to 13.8) | Girls higher |
| Made a suicide plan | 15.4% (13.8 to 17.1) | 11.4% (10.0 to 13.1) | Girls higher |
| Attempted suicide one or more times | 10.1% (8.6 to 11.9) | 11.3% (9.1 to 13.9) | Similar |
| Mental health not good most of the time or always (past month) | 26.4% (24.7 to 28.2) | 12.3% (11.0 to 13.7) | Girls higher |
| Got 8 or more hours of sleep on a school night | 22.3% (20.3 to 24.5) | 23.0% (21.2 to 24.9) | Similar |
The survey records sex as female or male. Differences tested at p < 0.05.
Other findings
- Suicide attempts. 11.2% of New York City students said they had attempted suicide at least once in the past year, higher than the U.S. figure of 6.4% and not significantly different from 2023.
- Girls and boys. Girls were more likely than boys to report persistent sadness, poor mental health and thoughts of suicide. Similar shares of girls (10.1%) and boys (11.3%) reported a suicide attempt.
- Sleep. 22.6% of students got 8 or more hours of sleep on an average school night, up from 19.8% in 2023. Most students still slept less than that.
- Down from the 2021 level, here and nationally. Across the U.S., persistent sadness fell from 42.3% in 2021 to 33.3% in 2025. In New York City it fell from 38.2% to 34.1%.
What this means for parents and teens in New York City
- A hard stretch is common, and it is worth talking about. About one in three NYC high schoolers (34.1%) went through weeks of sadness or hopelessness in the past year. If your teen seems down for a while, it is fine to ask how they are doing and to listen.
- Check in with boys too. Girls report sadness more often, but 26.2% of boys also did. Our article on telling a normal phase from something more may help you decide when to ask for help.
- Know the warning signs and where to turn. Our guide to teen suicide warning signs explains what to watch for and what to do. If you are worried about your teen's safety right now, call or text 988 at any time; in New York City it reaches NYC 988, which is free and confidential.
- Survey numbers describe students citywide, not your child. They show how common these experiences are, not what any one teen is going through. If you would like a professional view, our child and adolescent team can talk it through with you.
Method, sources and limits
CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) asks a representative sample of high school students about their health every two years. New York City runs its own survey in public high schools; the national survey covers public and private high schools across the U.S. We used CDC's 2025 Combined Datasets, which hold the anonymous student-level answers for every survey year, and kept New York City and the national survey for 2015 to 2025.
For each question and year we computed the weighted percentage of students who answered "yes", using CDC's survey weights, and a 95% confidence interval that accounts for the survey's sampling design (strata and schools). When the page says a figure is higher, lower, up or down, a t-test found the difference significant at p < 0.05; otherwise we call the figures similar. CDC uses the same kind of test.
A script computes every figure from CDC's files (each checked against a SHA-256 hash). A second script fetches CDC's own published estimates from the YRBS Explorer and the YRBSS mental health indicators table on data.cdc.gov and confirms every percentage on this page matches them, with confidence limits within 0.1 point. All checks matched on November 12, 2026.
Sources
- CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2025 Combined Datasets (SADC), district and national high school files (opens in a new tab). Survey years 2015 to 2025.
- CDC YRBS Explorer (opens in a new tab). Published estimates for New York City and the U.S., used to check our figures.
- CDC, Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System (YRBSS): Mental Health Indicators (data.cdc.gov) (opens in a new tab). U.S. figures for 2019, 2021 and 2023, used to check our figures.
Limits
- The YRBS is a survey of students who were in school on the day it was given, and answers are self-reported. Students who were absent, or who have left school, are not included.
- New York City's survey covers public high schools only; the national survey includes private schools. The 2021 New York City survey was smaller (3,944 students, against 7,532 in 2025), so its figures carry wider ranges.
- Some questions were not asked of New York City students in every year (of the years shown, New York City asked the suicide plan question only in 2025 and the mental health question only in 2023 and 2025; it did not ask the question about getting needed help), so they are missing from the trend table.
- These figures describe how common certain feelings and experiences are. They are not diagnoses and say nothing about any individual student.
Cite this study
Mind Body Seven. (2026). NYC Teens: What the Latest Youth Risk Behavior Survey Shows. https://www.mindbody7.com/research/nyc-teen-mental-health-yrbs/
Journalists, researchers and community groups are welcome to quote these figures with a link to this page. The data behind the chart and tables is free to download as a CSV file (nyc-teen-mental-health-yrbs.csv) under the CC BY 4.0 license: reuse it with credit to Mind Body Seven and a link here. Please also credit the original sources listed above.
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This page reports public population data. It is general information, not medical advice, a diagnosis or a treatment plan, and reading it does not make you a patient of Mind Body Seven.