What NYC can say internationally that the United States cannot

The UN graph is national-level: a city can only ever be placed against countries. For 130 of the 442 usable SDG indicators the United States reports nothing at all — and on those, NYC vs the US is not a weaker comparison than NYC vs the world. It is the only one available, and the US is not in it.

Of those, 67 are judged city-scoped by the embedding classifier in probe/scope.py — and 28 of them are not, because their subject is a country rather than a place that can hold a value. 39 survive and are listed below.

38 have a peer group of 15+ reporting countries, which is the column that decides whether a placement means anything. The rest are listed too, with their true count.

This is a worksheet, not a crosswalk. Under comparability spec v0.1 a grade is a human judgment, so every row here is graded: false. The NYC candidates are proposals from an embedding matcher whose precision on hand-read lists is roughly half.

Removed: the subject is a country, not a place

The scope classifier reads an indicator’s topic — health, water, education — and judges it municipal. It cannot see that “extent to which countries have laws and regulations that guarantee…” is not a quantity a city can have. 28 rows were removed on a lexical rule, which is stated here so it can be argued with:

Count	Indicator family
18	Extent to which countries have laws and regulations
3	Extent to which global citizenship education and edu
1	Amount of tracked re-imported Environmentally Sound
1	Total inbound official flows for infrastructure
1	International financial flows to developing countrie
1	Degree of implementation of international instrument
1	Countries with users/communities participating in pl
1	Countries with procedures in law or policy for parti
1	Monetary amount committed to public-private partners

Eighteen are one family — the SDG 5.6.2 legal provisions — and the matcher paired every one of them with NYC’s Local Law 37/2011 Temporary Housing Assistance, on the token “Law”. A worksheet that shipped them would have wasted a reviewer’s afternoon before they reached anything real.

Every row below was re-checked against the country observations: none of them has a single United States datapoint. The screening proxy and the data agree.

The worksheet

Indicator	SDG series	Countries	Years	Unit	Best NYC candidate
Proportion of population living below the national poverty lin	SI_POV_NAHC	156	2000–2024	Percent	Census Demographics at the Neighborhoo (0.563)
Number of missing persons due to disaster	VC_DSR_MISS	152	2005–2025	COUNT	DHS Daily Report (Historical) (0.423, below floor)
Number of new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population	SH_HIV_INCD	146	2000–2024	RATIO_COUNT_PER_1000_C	HIV/AIDS Diagnoses by Neighborhood, Se (0.597)
Employed persons in the tourism industries (number)	ST_EMP_TRSMN	144	2008–2024	COUNT	NYC Business Acceleration Business (0.437, below floor)
Prevalence rate of bribery	IU_COR_BRIB	140	2004–2024	Percent	DOHMH HIV/AIDS Annual Report (0.404, below floor)
Number of undernourished people	SN_ITK_DEFCN	138	2001–2023	COUNT	2017-18 Financial Services for NYC (0.273, below floor)
Municipal waste collected	EN_MWT_COLLV	133	2000–2023	WEIGHT_TN	Recycling Diversion and Capture Rates (0.633)
Number of people whose livelihoods were disrupted or destroyed	VC_DSR_PDLN	122	2005–2025	COUNT	TLC Vehicles Involved in Crashes ( (0.34, below floor)
Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area	AG_LND_DGRD	121	2015–2019	Percent	Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output (PLUTO (0.518)
Proportion of population with basic handwashing facilities on	SH_SAN_HNDWSH	120	2000–2024	Percent	Radiation Producing Equipment (0.426, below floor)
[World Bank] Proportion of population covered by social insura	SI_COV_SOCINS	119	1999–2024	Percent	Directory Of Unsheltered Street Ho (0.444, below floor)
Direct economic loss to cultural heritage damaged or destroyed	VC_DSR_CHLN	117	2005–2024	CR_USD	Recoupment for Damaged City-owned (0.394, below floor)
Number of destroyed or damaged health facilities attributed to	VC_DSR_HFDN	116	2005–2025	COUNT	TLC Vehicles Involved in Crashes ( (0.416, below floor)
Malaria incidence per 1,000 population at risk	SH_STA_MALR	109	2000–2024	RATIO_COUNT_PER_1000_C	Projected Population 2010-2040 - Summa (0.477)
Hazardous waste generated per unit of GDP	EN_HAZ_GENGDP	107	2000–2024	RATIO_WEIGHT_KG_PER_CR	Wastewater Co-digestion and Biogas-to- (0.531)
Percentage of bloodstream infection due to methicillin-resista	SH_BLD_MRSA	98	2016–2022	Percent	DOHMH Covid-19 Milestone Data: Per (0.438, below floor)
Hazardous waste exported	EN_HAZ_EXP	97	2000–2024	WEIGHT_TN	DSNY Disposal Sites Used by Facilities (0.521)
Total waste generation	EN_TWT_GENV	97	2000–2023	WEIGHT_TN	DSNY Waste Characterization - Comparat (0.515)
Percentage of bloodstream infection due to Escherichia coli re	SH_BLD_ECOLI	97	2016–2022	Percent	Drinking Water Quality Distribution Mo (0.48)
Proportion of results indicators which will be monitored using	SG_PLN_RECRIMON	96	2016–2026	Percent	Evaluation and Monitoring Reports for (0.597)
Total wastewater treated	EN_WWT_TREAT	94	2022 only	RATIO_VOL_M3_PER_TIME_	Watershed Water Quality - Wastewater (0.542)
Hazardous waste treated or disposed	EN_HAZ_TRTDISV	93	2000–2024	WEIGHT_TN	Dewatered Solids and Biosolids Allocat (0.51)
Labour share of GDP	SL_EMP_GTOTL	93	2004–2025	Percent	Personal Income By AGI Range (0.409, below floor)
Proportion of hazardous waste that is treated or disposed	EN_HAZ_TRTDISR	88	2000–2024	Percent	Dewatered Solids and Biosolids Allocat (0.506)
Hazardous waste imported	EN_HAZ_IMP	85	2000–2024	WEIGHT_TN	DSNY Disposal Sites Used by Facilities (0.492)
Proportion of groundwater bodies with good ambient water quali	EN_H2O_GRAMBQ	84	2017–2023	Percent	Watershed Water Quality - Limnology (0.516)
Total wastewater generated	EN_WWT_GEN	84	2022 only	RATIO_VOL_M3_PER_TIME_	Wastewater Co-digestion and Biogas-to- (0.586)
Proportion of population who believe decision-making is inclus	IU_DMK_INCL	83	2015–2025	Percent	2015-2016 Demographic Data - Diversity (0.48)
Total public expenditure per capita on cultural and natural he	GB_XPD_CULNAT_PB	77	2017–2024	CR_USD_PPP	City of New York Municipal Solar-R (0.418, below floor)
Proportion of population living in multidimensional poverty	SD_MDP_MUHC	76	2010–2024	Percent	Census Demographics at the Neighborhoo (0.518)
[World Bank] Proportion of population covered by labour market	SI_COV_LMKT	76	2002–2024	Percent	New York City Population By Community (0.479)
Proportion of wastewater treated	EN_WWT_TREATR	72	2022 only	Percent	Dewatered Solids and Biosolids Allocat (0.519)
Extent of human made wetlands	EN_WBE_HMWTL	55	2021–2025	AREA_KM2	NYC Wetlands (0.497)
Average income of small-scale food producers, at purchasing-po	SI_AGR_SSFP	51	2001–2024	CR_USD_PPP	Income By Type Of Income And AGI Range (0.524)
Average income of large-scale food producers, at purchasing-po	SI_AGR_LSFP	50	2001–2024	CR_USD_PPP	Income By Type Of Income And AGI Range (0.534)
Proportion of population who say that overall they are satisfi	SP_PSR_OSATIS_GOV	46	2015–2025	Percent	2013 - 2014 School Survey Data (0.513)
Proportion of population who say that overall they are satisfi	SP_PSR_OSATIS_SEC	44	2015–2025	Percent	2013 - 2014 School Survey Data (0.565)
Proportion of population subjected to physical violence in the	VC_VOV_PHYL	23	2011–2024	Percent	New York City Population by Borough, 1 (0.451)
Proportion of population subjected to psychological violence i	VC_VOV_PSYCHL	13 ⚠	2013–2024	Percent	Youth Risk Behavior Survey (Middle Sch (0.459)

⚠ = fewer than 15 reporting countries; a placement among them says little. A single year supports a level comparison and not a trend — 3 of these have one year only, which is the finding that removed road safety as our headline demo. A candidate in italics scores below 0.45, the floor under which a proposal is noise.

The strongest rows, in detail

Proportion of population living below the national poverty line

undata/sdg/SI_POV_NAHC · 156 countries · 2000–2024 · 1,038 observations · unit Percent · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• Census Demographics at the Neighborhood Tabulation Area (NTA) level — rnsn-acs2, score 0.563, z 4.63
• Directory Of Unsheltered Street Homeless To General Population Ratio 2009 — x56h-7iwp, score 0.497, z 3.84
• New York City Population By Community Districts — xi7c-iiu2, score 0.497, z 3.84

Number of missing persons due to disaster

undata/sdg/VC_DSR_MISS · 152 countries · 2005–2025 · 1,489 observations · unit COUNT · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• DHS Daily Report (Historical) — dwrg-kzni, score 0.423, z 3.89
• DHS Daily Report — k46n-sa2m, score 0.417, z 3.8
• 2018-2019 Daily Attendance — x3bb-kg5j, score 0.417, z 3.8

Number of new HIV infections per 1,000 uninfected population

undata/sdg/SH_HIV_INCD · 146 countries · 2000–2024 · 3,565 observations · unit RATIO_COUNT_PER_1000_COUNT_POP_UNINFECTED · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• HIV/AIDS Diagnoses by Neighborhood, Sex, and Race/Ethnicity (Historical) — ykvb-493p, score 0.597, z 5.55
• HIV/AIDS Diagnoses by Neighborhood, Age Group, and Race/Ethnicity (Historical) — dxnu-p2qd, score 0.59, z 5.46
• DOHMH HIV/AIDS Annual Report — fju2-rdad, score 0.519, z 4.53

Employed persons in the tourism industries (number)

undata/sdg/ST_EMP_TRSMN · 144 countries · 2008–2024 · 1,115 observations · unit COUNT · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• NYC Business Acceleration Businesses Served and Jobs Created — 9b9u-8989, score 0.437, z 3.6
• Local Law 18 Pay and Demographics Report - Agency Report Table — 423i-ukqr, score 0.435, z 3.58
• Resident Economic Empowerment and Sustainability (REES) for NYCHA Residents – Council District - Local Law 163 — h65x-gk9r, score 0.425, z 3.43

Prevalence rate of bribery

undata/sdg/IU_COR_BRIB · 140 countries · 2004–2024 · 279 observations · unit Percent · screened AMBER

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• DOHMH HIV/AIDS Annual Report — fju2-rdad, score 0.404, z 3.42
• Policy and Procedure Recommendations (PPR) Portal — jstn-jaut, score 0.371, z 2.97
• Local Law 33 - Security Indicators Report — 2wuc-x56b, score 0.371, z 2.96

Number of undernourished people

undata/sdg/SN_ITK_DEFCN · 138 countries · 2001–2023 · 2,710 observations · unit COUNT · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• 2017-18 Financial Services for NYCHA Residents - Local Law 163 — g4tm-nibn, score 0.273, z 3.57
• DOHMH Cryptosporidiosis by Race/Ethnicity, Age Group, and Borough of Residence — fkec-mjr6, score 0.272, z 3.56
• Projected Public School Ratio — n7ta-pz8k, score 0.261, z 3.35

Municipal waste collected

undata/sdg/EN_MWT_COLLV · 133 countries · 2000–2023 · 1,909 observations · unit WEIGHT_TN · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• Recycling Diversion and Capture Rates — gaq9-z3hz, score 0.633, z 6.31
• Location of Disposal Facilities and Sites Used for DSNY-Managed Waste — ufxk-pq9j, score 0.564, z 5.35
• DSNY Waste Characterization 2023 - Main Sort Results — bpea-2i5q, score 0.559, z 5.28

Number of people whose livelihoods were disrupted or destroyed, attributed to disasters

undata/sdg/VC_DSR_PDLN · 122 countries · 2005–2025 · 1,051 observations · unit COUNT · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• TLC Vehicles Involved in Crashes (Local Law 31) — 5esv-8c3f, score 0.34, z 4.79
• Sandy Inundation Zone — 5xsi-dfpx, score 0.33, z 4.62
• Youth Count — qx6a-vcwx, score 0.306, z 4.25

Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area

undata/sdg/AG_LND_DGRD · 121 countries · 2015–2019 · 240 observations · unit Percent · screened AMBER

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output (PLUTO) — 64uk-42ks, score 0.518, z 4.17
• Census Demographics at the Neighborhood Tabulation Area (NTA) level — rnsn-acs2, score 0.5, z 3.96
• Suitability of City-Owned and Leased Property for Urban Agriculture (LL 48 of 2011) — 4e2n-s75z, score 0.457, z 3.47

Proportion of population with basic handwashing facilities on premises

undata/sdg/SH_SAN_HNDWSH · 120 countries · 2000–2024 · 1,792 observations · unit Percent · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• Radiation Producing Equipment — i595-2byq, score 0.426, z 3.76
• NYC Pool Inspections — 3kfa-rvez, score 0.42, z 3.67
• DOHMH HIV Service Directory — pwts-g83w, score 0.376, z 3.05

[World Bank] Proportion of population covered by social insurance programs

undata/sdg/SI_COV_SOCINS · 119 countries · 1999–2024 · 557 observations · unit Percent · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• Directory Of Unsheltered Street Homeless To General Population Ratio 2009 — x56h-7iwp, score 0.444, z 3.26
• Equitable Health Systems - Health Insurance Enrollment — gfej-by6h, score 0.441, z 3.22
• Census Demographics at the Neighborhood Tabulation Area (NTA) level — rnsn-acs2, score 0.436, z 3.16

Direct economic loss to cultural heritage damaged or destroyed attributed to disasters

undata/sdg/VC_DSR_CHLN · 117 countries · 2005–2024 · 793 observations · unit CR_USD · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• Recoupment for Damaged City-owned Property — 68k5-hdzw, score 0.394, z 6.02
• TLC Vehicles Involved in Crashes (Local Law 31) — 5esv-8c3f, score 0.318, z 4.61
• Sandy Inundation Zone — 5xsi-dfpx, score 0.301, z 4.3

Number of destroyed or damaged health facilities attributed to disasters

undata/sdg/VC_DSR_HFDN · 116 countries · 2005–2025 · 628 observations · unit COUNT · screened AMBER

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• TLC Vehicles Involved in Crashes (Local Law 31) — 5esv-8c3f, score 0.416, z 5.02
• Staff Injuries - Class A Injuries — 7hi3-kaps, score 0.396, z 4.7
• Construction-Related Incidents — bf97-mjsy, score 0.375, z 4.36

Malaria incidence per 1,000 population at risk

undata/sdg/SH_STA_MALR · 109 countries · 2000–2024 · 2,725 observations · unit RATIO_COUNT_PER_1000_COUNT_POP · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• Projected Population 2010-2040 - Summary — ph5g-sr3v, score 0.477, z 4.31
• Mosquito control events in NYC – Adult Mosquito Truck Spraying and Aerial Larviciding Events — msid-end4, score 0.473, z 4.26
• SARS-CoV-2 concentrations measured in NYC Wastewater — f7dc-2q9f, score 0.463, z 4.12

Hazardous waste generated per unit of GDP

undata/sdg/EN_HAZ_GENGDP · 107 countries · 2000–2024 · 1,140 observations · unit RATIO_WEIGHT_KG_PER_CR_USD_K · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• Wastewater Co-digestion and Biogas-to-grid Performance Indicators — b3mq-yvvr, score 0.531, z 4.6
• Energy and Water Data Disclosure for Local Law 84 2015 (Data for Calendar Year 2014) — nbun-wekj, score 0.512, z 4.35
• Energy and Water Data Disclosure for Local Law 84 2016 (Data for Calendar Year 2015) — 77q4-nkfh, score 0.487, z 4.01

Percentage of bloodstream infection due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among patients seeking care and whose blood sample is taken and tested

undata/sdg/SH_BLD_MRSA · 98 countries · 2016–2022 · 404 observations · unit Percent · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• DOHMH Covid-19 Milestone Data: Percent of NYC residents tested who tested positive — 7434-7ua6, score 0.438, z 5.5
• DOHMH Covid-19 Milestone Data: Daily Number of People Admitted to NYC hospitals for Covid-19 like Illness — sj3k-gzyx, score 0.39, z 4.82
• DOHMH COVID-19 Antibody-by-Borough — x98t-3bbk, score 0.347, z 4.22

Hazardous waste exported

undata/sdg/EN_HAZ_EXP · 97 countries · 2000–2024 · 1,148 observations · unit WEIGHT_TN · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• DSNY Disposal Sites Used by Facilities by Year — 99xv-he3n, score 0.521, z 6.67
• DSNY Commercial Waste Zones — 8ev8-jjxq, score 0.437, z 5.43
• Wastewater Co-digestion and Biogas-to-grid Performance Indicators — b3mq-yvvr, score 0.426, z 5.26

Total waste generation

undata/sdg/EN_TWT_GENV · 97 countries · 2000–2023 · 1,043 observations · unit WEIGHT_TN · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• DSNY Waste Characterization - Comparative Results — bibp-6ff7, score 0.515, z 5.18
• Recycling Diversion and Capture Rates — gaq9-z3hz, score 0.508, z 5.07
• DSNY Waste Characterization 2023 - Main Sort Results — bpea-2i5q, score 0.496, z 4.92

Percentage of bloodstream infection due to Escherichia coli resistant to 3rd-generation cephalosporin (e.g., ESBL- E. coli) among patients seeking care and whose blood sample is taken and tested

undata/sdg/SH_BLD_ECOLI · 97 countries · 2016–2022 · 413 observations · unit Percent · screened GREEN

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• Drinking Water Quality Distribution Monitoring Data — bkwf-xfky, score 0.48, z 5.77
• Harbor Water Quality — 5uug-f49n, score 0.405, z 4.6
• DOHMH Covid-19 Milestone Data: Percent of NYC residents tested who tested positive — 7434-7ua6, score 0.392, z 4.4

Proportion of results indicators which will be monitored using government sources and monitoring systems - data by recipient

undata/sdg/SG_PLN_RECRIMON · 96 countries · 2016–2026 · 203 observations · unit Percent · screened AMBER

Candidate NYC datasets (proposals, ungraded):

• Evaluation and Monitoring Reports for Program Sites — 9f5n-qdib, score 0.597, z 4.29
• Monthly Performance Management Reports (includes Corruption Lectures and Customer Service indicators) — i8ua-bnkj, score 0.583, z 4.12
• OneNYC Indicators (Historical) — f34v-uffx, score 0.561, z 3.87

Reproducing

python3 probe/us_silent.py

Reads probe/cache/screened.json and the cached corpus sweep in probe/cache/smell-raw.json; no network calls.