Pothole Claims Against New York City: Claims Filed FY2016–FY2023 and FY2023 Payouts
Original analysis of 256,923 records from the New York City Comptroller, FY2016–FY2023. Published October 10, 2026.
We counted the 16,825 roadway-defect claims filed against New York City in fiscal years 2016 through 2023 in the Comptroller's claim-level data, split pothole damage from injury claims, and broke them down by year, borough and month.
What the NYC pothole claim data show
Property-damage claims over potholes and other roadway defects filed against New York City fell from 1,592 in FY2016, the first year in the Comptroller's open data, to 731 in FY2023, a drop of 54.1%, while roadway injury claims ended where they started, at 1,073 and 1,072. The trend depends on the starting year: the Comptroller's reports count 1,036 such claims in FY2013 and 2,844 in FY2014. In FY2023 the City paid $47.5 million to resolve 307 roadway claims; 99.8% of that money went to injury claims.
- 54.1%Drop in pothole damage claims, FY2016 to FY2023
- $47.5MPaid on roadway claims in FY2023
- 16.8KRoadway claims filed, FY2016–FY2023
Pothole damage claims fell by more than half
Property-damage roadway claims, which the Comptroller's 2015 ClaimStat report called pothole claims, went from 1,592 in FY2016, the first year of the open data, to 731 in FY2023, with a low of 707 in FY2020. The Comptroller's reports count 1,036 in FY2013 and 2,844 in FY2014, so the trend depends on the starting year.
Injury claims did not follow
Personal-injury roadway claims, such as falls or crashes blamed on street defects, numbered 1,073 in FY2016 and 1,072 in FY2023, with a low of 810 in FY2021. Over the eight years they made up 7,786 of the 16,825 roadway claims.
Injuries account for almost all of the money
Of the $47.5 million paid on roadway claims in FY2023, $47.4 million went to 242 injury claims. The 65 pothole damage claims the City paid averaged $1,761 each.
Seven payouts made up nearly half the total
In FY2023, 7 roadway claims resolved for $22.7 million, or 47.7% of all roadway dollars that year. The median injury payout was $47,500.
Most pothole claims arise in Queens
Queens accounts for 2,888 pothole damage claims filed in FY2016–FY2023, or 32.0% of the citywide total, in raw counts not adjusted for population or road miles; Manhattan has the most roadway injury claims (2,330).
February is pothole month
Incidents in February produced 1,273 pothole damage claims, 2.3× the number from September incidents. February through April account for 34.3% of pothole damage claims with a recorded incident date.
How Many Pothole Claims Are Filed Against NYC Each Year
Bars show property-damage roadway claims (pothole claims) filed with the Comptroller in each fiscal year; the line below each bar gives the roadway injury claims filed that year.
Claimants filed 731 pothole damage claims in FY2023, down from 1,592 in FY2016; roadway injury claims were 1,072 in FY2023.
Across fiscal years 2016 through 2023, 16,825 roadway claims were filed against the City, about 2,103 a year: 9,039 for property damage and 7,786 for personal injury. Roadway claims made up 8.7% of all 193,005 tort claims filed in those years.
Within this series, pothole damage claims were highest in its first year, FY2016, with 1,592, and lowest in FY2020, a year that ended in June 2020, with 707. They rose again to 1,060 in FY2022 before falling to 731 in FY2023. The series starts in FY2016 because the open data do. The Comptroller's reports show 1,036 such claims in FY2013, 2,844 in FY2014 and 2,239 in FY2015 (Table IV), so FY2016 followed the two highest years of FY2013–FY2023 and the size of the decline depends on the starting year.
Injury claims ranged between 810 (FY2021) and 1,073 (FY2016). The data show how many claims were filed, not how many potholes there were; weather, traffic volume, repair work and the effort it takes to file a claim can all affect the count.
Pothole (property-damage roadway) claims filed against NYC by fiscal year
- 20161,5921,073 injury claims · roadway claims 9.8% of all tort claims
- 20171,335941 injury claims · roadway claims 9.1% of all tort claims
- 20181,398930 injury claims · roadway claims 9.2% of all tort claims
- 20191,2171,039 injury claims · roadway claims 9.3% of all tort claims
- 2020707913 injury claims · roadway claims 7.6% of all tort claims
- 2021999810 injury claims · roadway claims 9.0% of all tort claims
- 20221,0601,008 injury claims · roadway claims 8.0% of all tort claims
- 20237311,072 injury claims · roadway claims 7.5% of all tort claims
New York City's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30; FY2023 is July 2022 through June 2023.
Which NYC Borough Has the Most Pothole Claims
Roadway claims filed FY2016–FY2023 by the borough in which the claim arose, as recorded by the Comptroller.
Queens had the most pothole damage claims, 2,888; Manhattan had the most roadway injury claims, 2,330.
Queens accounts for 32.0% of pothole damage claims filed in the eight years. Staten Island has the fewest, 975. In Manhattan and Brooklyn, and narrowly in the Bronx (1,264 to 1,257), injury claims outnumber property-damage claims; in Queens and Staten Island it is the other way round. A further 929 claims carry no borough or a location outside the city.
These are raw counts. They do not adjust for population, road miles or traffic, so a borough with more streets or more drivers can be expected to file more claims.
Roadway claims filed against NYC by borough, FY2016–FY2023
| Borough | Pothole | Injury | Roadway share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queens | 2,888 | 1,504 | 26.1% |
| Brooklyn | 1,703 | 2,109 | 22.7% |
| Manhattan | 1,498 | 2,330 | 22.8% |
| Bronx | 1,257 | 1,264 | 15.0% |
| Staten Island | 975 | 368 | 8.0% |
| Not recorded or outside NYC | 718 | 211 | 5.5% |
Roadway share is the borough's share of all roadway claims (pothole plus injury) filed FY2016–FY2023.
When Do Pothole Claims Happen
Pothole damage claims filed FY2016–FY2023, grouped by the calendar month in which the damage occurred.
February incidents produced the most pothole damage claims, 1,273, against 561 for September.
Pothole claims peak in late winter and spring. Incidents in February through April account for 34.3% of the 9,005 pothole damage claims with a recorded incident date, although those months are a quarter of the year. Injury claims show a different pattern: they are spread more evenly and are somewhat higher in summer.
The Comptroller's earlier ClaimStat review of FY2010–FY2015 found that heavy snowfall years coincided with more pothole claims; we did not test weather data.
Pothole damage claims by month of incident, FY2016–FY2023
- January7468.3% of pothole claims · 515 injury claims
- February1,27314.1% of pothole claims · 485 injury claims
- March8839.8% of pothole claims · 587 injury claims
- April93010.3% of pothole claims · 634 injury claims
- May8529.5% of pothole claims · 698 injury claims
- June6757.5% of pothole claims · 738 injury claims
- July6987.8% of pothole claims · 802 injury claims
- August6086.8% of pothole claims · 755 injury claims
- September5616.2% of pothole claims · 719 injury claims
- October6096.8% of pothole claims · 731 injury claims
- November5716.3% of pothole claims · 579 injury claims
- December5996.7% of pothole claims · 513 injury claims
How Much Does NYC Pay on Roadway and Pothole Claims
Roadway claims the City resolved by settlement or judgment in FY2023, grouped by the amount paid.
New York City paid $47,525,964 on 307 roadway claims in FY2023, 6.4% of the $739.6 million it paid on all tort claims.
Injury claims dominate the money. The City paid $47,411,478 on 242 roadway injury claims in FY2023, an average of $195,915 and a median of $47,500. The 65 pothole damage claims it paid totaled $114,486, a median of $767.
The largest single roadway payout in FY2023 was $6,950,000. Payouts of one million dollars or more, 7 in all, made up 47.7% of roadway dollars. Payouts lag the incidents: the median injury claim paid in FY2023 was resolved 5.6 years after the incident, and 88.4% were paid more than two years later. FY2023 payouts are therefore not a measure of FY2023 road conditions.
NYC roadway claim payouts by size, FY2023
| Payout | Claims | Paid | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under $10,000 | 120 | $250K | 0.5% |
| $10,000 to $99,999 | 103 | $4.2M | 8.7% |
| $100,000 to $499,999 | 68 | $14.2M | 29.9% |
| $500,000 to $999,999 | 9 | $6.3M | 13.2% |
| $1 million or more | 7 | $22.7M | 47.7% |
Payouts include pre-litigation settlements by the Comptroller and settlements or judgments in lawsuits defended by the Law Department.
Download the Data and Cite This Study
Every table on this page as a CSV file, free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
- NYC roadway-defect claims filed by borough, FY2016–FY2023Roadway claims filed FY2016–FY2023 by the borough in which the claim arose, split into property damage and personal injury. · 6 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- NYC roadway-defect claims filed by fiscal year, FY2016–FY2023Property-damage (pothole) and personal-injury roadway claims filed against New York City per fiscal year, with all tort claims filed and the roadway share. · 8 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- NYC roadway-defect claims by month of the incident, FY2016–FY2023Roadway claims filed FY2016–FY2023 grouped by the calendar month in which the incident occurred; shares are of claims with a recorded incident date. · 12 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- NYC roadway claim settlements and judgments by size, FY2023Roadway claims settled or resolved by judgment in FY2023, grouped by amount paid. · 5 rows · CSV, 1 KB
How to cite
Goldberg, L. (2026). NYC Pothole Claims — Roadway-Defect Claims Filed by Year, Borough and Month, and FY2023 Payouts (FY2016–FY2023) [Data set]. Settlement Insight. https://settlementinsight.com/research/pothole-claims
BibTeX
@dataset{goldberg_2026_pothole_claims,
author = {Goldberg, Leonard},
title = {NYC Pothole Claims --- Roadway-Defect Claims Filed by Year, Borough and Month, and FY2023 Payouts (FY2016--FY2023)},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Settlement Insight},
url = {https://settlementinsight.com/research/pothole-claims}
}How We Measured
Checked against published figures
- Personal-injury roadway claim settlements and judgments paid by New York City, FY2023 (USD): published $47,411,478, our count $47,411,478 (exact match).New York City Comptroller, Annual Claims Report, Fiscal Year 2023 (April 2024), Table VI
- Property-damage roadway (pothole) claim settlements and judgments paid by New York City, FY2023 (USD): published $114,486, our count $114,486 (exact match).New York City Comptroller, Annual Claims Report, Fiscal Year 2023 (April 2024), Table VI
- Property-damage roadway (pothole) claims filed against New York City, FY2016: published 1,585, our count 1,592 (0.44% apart).New York City Comptroller, Annual Claims Report, Fiscal Year 2023 (April 2024), Table IV
- Personal-injury roadway claims filed against New York City, FY2016: published 1,049, our count 1,073 (2.29% apart).New York City Comptroller, Annual Claims Report, Fiscal Year 2023 (April 2024), Table IV
- Property-damage roadway (pothole) claims filed against New York City, FY2023: published 731, our count 731 (exact match).New York City Comptroller, Annual Claims Report, Fiscal Year 2023 (April 2024), Table IV
- Personal-injury roadway claims filed against New York City, FY2023: published 1,072, our count 1,072 (exact match).New York City Comptroller, Annual Claims Report, Fiscal Year 2023 (April 2024), Table IV
- All tort claim settlements and judgments paid by New York City, FY2023 (USD): published $739,628,596, our count $739,628,596 (exact match).New York City Comptroller, Annual Claims Report, Fiscal Year 2023 (April 2024), Table VI
- Personal-injury roadway claim payouts, FY2022, as first published (FY2022 report) (USD): published $32,432,450, our count $32,432,450 (exact match).New York City Comptroller, Annual Claims Report, Fiscal Year 2022 (April 2023), Table VI
Full method and limits of the data
Scope: a claim counts as a roadway claim if the Comptroller's claim type is "Roadway", "Defective Roadway" or "Defective Roadway (PI)". For injuries, the Comptroller's definition covers people claiming injury from alleged defects in a street or roadway, such as potholes, cracked, wet or snow-covered roadways, sewer gratings, manhole covers or roadways under repair. For property damage it covers vehicles damaged by allegedly defective roadways or by objects that have fallen from bridges or overpasses, and pedestrians' personal property damaged in a fall on an allegedly defective roadway. Property damage and personal injury are separated by the claim number. The Comptroller's 2015 ClaimStat report called property-damage defective roadway claims "pothole claims"; we use that name, although the category covers more than potholes.
Calculation: claims filed are counted by the fiscal year of filing; payouts are settlements and judgments recorded in FY2023, whatever the year in which the claim was filed. Borough is the borough in which the claim arose; month is the month of the incident, counted only where the incident date is recorded.
Calibration: our counts match the Comptroller's FY2023 Annual Claims Report closely. FY2023 claims filed match Table IV exactly; earlier years differ by a few percent at most, the largest gap being FY2016 injury claims (1,073 against 1,049, 2.29% more). For FY2016 pothole claims we count 1,592 against 1,585 (0.44% more). FY2023 roadway payouts match Table VI to the dollar: $47,411,478 for injury and $114,486 for property damage.
What this data cannot tell you
- Payouts are shown for FY2023 only. Each fiscal year in the open data is the snapshot first published for that year, and later Comptroller reports restate settlement totals, sometimes substantially: roadway injury payouts for FY2022 were $32,432,450 in the open data and in the FY2022 report, but $43,380,950 in the FY2023 report. The FY2023 payouts shown here are likewise a first published figure and may be revised. Roadway claims filed show the same counts for the same years in both reports.
- A claim is an allegation. The data do not say whether a pothole caused the damage, whether the City was at fault, or why a claim was denied or withdrawn. The Comptroller's report notes that the City's "prior written notice" law was enacted in 1979 in an effort to limit the City's liability in slip and fall claims on City sidewalks and streets; the data do not show how often it decided a roadway claim.
- Counts are not adjusted for population, road miles, traffic or weather, and fewer claims do not by themselves mean fewer potholes. The study covers New York City only.
- The series covers FY2016 through FY2023, the years in the open data, and its starting year shapes the trend: the Comptroller's reports count 1,036 pothole claims in FY2013, 2,844 in FY2014 and 2,239 in FY2015, so FY2016 followed the two highest years of FY2013–FY2023. Claims filed after June 2023 are not included.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pothole claims are filed against New York City each year?
In FY2023, the latest year in the open data, 731 property-damage roadway claims (pothole claims) and 1,072 roadway injury claims were filed against the City. From FY2016 through FY2023 the total was 16,825 roadway claims, about 2,103 a year.
How much does NYC pay for pothole damage?
In FY2023 the City paid $114,486 on 65 pothole damage claims, a median of $767. Roadway injury claims cost far more: $47,411,478 on 242 claims.
Are pothole claims against NYC going down?
In the open data, which run from FY2016 to FY2023, property-damage pothole claims fell 54.1%, from 1,592 to 731. The trend depends on the starting year: the Comptroller's reports count 1,036 in FY2013 and 2,844 in FY2014. Roadway injury claims ended where they started (1,073 and 1,072), with a low of 810 in FY2021.
Which NYC borough has the most pothole claims?
Queens, with 2,888 pothole damage claims filed in FY2016–FY2023, or 32.0% of the citywide total. The counts are not adjusted for population or road miles.
When are pothole claims most common in New York City?
Incidents in February produce the most pothole damage claims. February through April account for 34.3% of pothole damage claims filed FY2016–FY2023 that have a recorded incident date.
How do I file a pothole claim against New York City?
Claims for property damage or injury are filed as a notice of claim with the New York City Comptroller's Office, generally within 90 days of the incident. A lawsuit must generally be filed within one year and 90 days of the loss.
Sources
- Annual Claims Report, Fiscal Year 2023 — Office of the New York City Comptroller
- Claims Report - Underlying Settlements and Claims Filed Data — Office of the New York City Comptroller (NYC Open Data)
- ClaimStat Alert – Pothole City: A Data-Driven Look at NYC Roadways — Office of the New York City Comptroller
- Annual Claims Report, Fiscal Year 2022 — Office of the New York City Comptroller
- Comptroller Lander's New Dashboard Tracks City Claims & Settlements (April 30, 2025) — Office of the New York City Comptroller
- Independent analysis. Settlement Insight is not a law firm and not affiliated with any agency named here. Analysis by Leonard Goldberg, Editor. How we work: methodology, our data.
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