Raising a stink: The Post sniffed out NYCs smelliest neighborhoods, according to 311 complaints

Grab your noses, folks.While New York City has always been aromatic, it’s been a particularly pungent year so far, with smell complaints soaring higher than the Freedom Tower itself.With 5,332 stench reports to NYC’s non-emergency 311 hotline already this year, 2026 is shaping up to be quite a stinker — and we haven’t yet even hit the peak summer stink season.In fact, during the highly aromatic period from May 1 through July 31 last year, a whopping 4,093 smell complaints were logged, according to an analysis by The Post — a marked increase from the same period in 2024, which saw 3,756 calls.In 2025, the city logged a gag-inducing total of 15,322 odor-related complaints, with categories ranging from “sewer odor” to “pigeon odor,” plus fumes emanating from “nail salons” and “food vendors.”The top five olfactory infractions were for vehicle idling (5,381 complaints), chemical/gases and vapors (2,812), sewage odor (1,487), chemical odor (1,357) and sewer odor (1,202).According to a spokesperson from the New York State Department of Environmental Protection, chemical gases, vapors and odors all generally refer to the same thing — smells resembling familiar chemicals, like cleaners, gasoline, tar or paint products — rather than more common everyday odors people may be more accustomed to, such as garbage, exhaust and animal waste.The state DEP itself received just over 11,200 odor complaints in 2025, compared to more than 10,600 in 2024. Perhaps it’s no wonder the Big, Rotten Apple was named 2025’s third-smelliest US city by online retailer Prilla, only out-stunk by No.

1 Houston and No.2 Los Angeles — although NYC posted far more sewage complaints than the winner, according to Secret NYC.Wondering whether your neighborhood was among the worst-smelling last year? Below are NYC’s top 2025 offenders seemingly in need of a hose-down — either that, or their residents just enjoy raising a stink.If you can’t stand the stench, get ou...