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Average daily cost per juvenile in detention ($)
Provide custody and care of youth in secure and safe detention and placement facilities while providing casework services. — Assure that detention and placement facilities are safe and secure.
The average daily cost per youth in detention has fallen every year since Fiscal 2021, but this isn't because ACS is spending less — the agency's own performance report says overall detention spending actually rose slightly. Instead, the decline mainly reflects the average daily detention population more than doubling over the same period, which spreads largely fixed costs like staffing and facilities across more youth and drives the per-person daily figure down.
Researched July 15, 2026 — ACS, Fiscal 2025 Mayor's Management Report
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual |
|---|---|
| FY22 | $1,576 |
| FY23 | $1,231 |
| FY24 | $1,137 |
| FY25 | $1,021 |
| FY26 (YTD) | Not available |
Why this is tracked
Before 2012, New York City youth adjudicated as juvenile delinquents who didn't require secure confinement were often placed in New York State youth prisons far from home, facilities that cost over $200,000 per youth per year to run and had documented histories of dangerous and abusive practices, with more than 80% of released youth re-offending. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Close to Home legislation in March 2012, transferring custody of these youth from the state to ACS, which began operating non-secure facilities that fall. The goal was to keep young people connected to family, school, and community supports while still providing supervision and casework services, rather than warehousing them upstate.
NYC Opportunity - The Close to Home Initiative and Related Reforms, NYS Office of Children and Family Services - Close to Home
Source: Division of Financial Services — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported annually.
Definition: The average daily dollar value of all secure and non-secure detention costs (including staff salaries and fringe benefits, contracts and indirect costs) divided by the average daily population.