It’s lonely at the top — especially in NYC.
The Bronx, the northernmost borough in the Big Apple, has been named New York’s most lonely county, per a surprising new study.
Despite its bustling population of over 1.4 million — not to mention its people-happy hubs like Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Zoo — The Bronx is a hotbed of solitude for the whopping 41% of its residents, according to an August 2026 report from the cannabis sales site Mood.com.
Researchers analyzed recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that broke down statistics about community, mood and loneliness across 39 states, using 184.2 million adults as data points.
The experts also asked test subjects how often they felt lonely — always, usually or sometimes.
While Bronx County residents claim to feel the most isolated, Queens and Manhattan secured the second and third place positions on the sad-faced poll, with 39.4% of Queens residents and 38.1% of City-folk yearning for more connection.
New York as a whole is the 11th loneliest state in America with 35.1% of residents wishing they had more friends.
And even with its wealth of sororities claiming “sisterhood,” Mississippi and Georgia top Mood.com’s list as the No. 1 and No. 2 loneliest places in America.
“What these figures show is how local loneliness is,” said David Charles, the CEO of Mood, in a statement, urging people to find community. “A standing weekly call, a shared walk, a club you actually turn up to on a Tuesday, these do more over a year than any one big gesture.”
But loneliness isn’t endemic to the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Unfortunately, it’s a global crisis.
The universal “alone-virus” was recently declared a “pressing health threat” with risks as deadly as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day by the World Health Organization (WHO).
An international collection of clinicians hailing from Colombia, Spain and Sweden determined the negative impacts of chronic loneliness on memory, citing social isolation as one cause of longterm brain deterioration.
In a statement, psychotherapist Amy Morin advised, “It’s important to be proactive about social activities,” even if you don’t have a group of built-in friends. “Joining a book club, having coffee with a friend, or attending faith-based services can be a powerful way to maintain connections.”
Here are the top 10 loneliest counties in New York City:
- Bronx County — 41%
- Queens County — 39.4%
- New York County — 38.1%
- Kings County — 36.7%
- Albany County — 36.1%
- Broome County — 35.6%
- Cayuga County — 35.5%
- Richmond County — 35.4%
- Rockland County — 35.2%
- Seneca County — 35%
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