Transit & Streets Data retrieved 2026-08-22
Subway fare evasion
The MTA's own estimate of subway fare evasion, averaged by year since 2018: 3.2% that first year, 10.2% in 2025.
10.2%
of subway trips were estimated fare evasion in 2025
Down from the 12.9% peak of 2022, but far above the 3.2% of 2018, before the pandemic.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Subway fare evasion rate, annual average of quarterly estimates |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 3.2% |
| 2019 | 4.6% |
| 2020 | 10.5% |
| 2021 | 10.2% |
| 2022 | 12.9% |
| 2023 | 12.7% |
| 2024 | 12.8% |
| 2025 | 10.2% |
The key years
What this counts
The share of subway trips MTA surveyors observed a rider enter without paying, from the agency's own quarterly fare-evasion audits at a sample of stations; this page averages the reported quarters into one rate for each calendar year.
What it does not say
- This is a sampled estimate from periodic manual observation, not a full count of every fare beat; the MTA reports its own margin of error alongside each quarter.
- The state never published a rate for the second quarter of 2020, when ridership had collapsed and surveying was disrupted; that year's figure averages the three quarters that were reported.
- It covers the subway only. Bus fare evasion, which the MTA tracks separately and reports as substantially higher, is not part of this rate.
The questions New Yorkers actually ask
How many people skip paying the subway fare?
The MTA's own quarterly surveys, averaged over 2025, put fare evasion at 10.2% of subway trips.
Has fare evasion gotten worse since the pandemic?
Yes: it averaged 3.2% in 2018, before the pandemic, and peaked at 12.9% in 2022, before easing to 10.2% by 2025.
The numbers move. We watch them.
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