Because crime is not uniform across the city the numbers are far more dramatic in particular sections of the city as well.
Also, talking about the subway:
"Despite ridership numbers gutted by COVID-19, reports of assault and murder hit their highest numbers since the late 1990s.
Eight homicides and eight rapes were reported on the subways in 2021 — more than double the four murders and three rapes reported in 1997, some 25 years earlier.
The NYPD also counted 461 underground assaults across the city last year — 102 more than in 2020. That was the highest number of assaults counted since 1997, when police counted 501 subway attacks.
The eight reported homicides in the subways last year were two more than were reported in 2020, and the eight reported rapes underground last year were the most since 2012, which saw 10 incidents of rape."
"Despite the uptick in victims of violent crime in the subway system, ridership was down about 50% last year from pre-pandemic numbers."