But it wasn't until the curfews and talk of the National Guard entering the city started that she considered leaving her home.

For Ms. Miller-Lachmann, 63, the chaos of the past week has "shown us that freedoms we've come to take for granted in this country may not be there for us," she said. "We're watching the warning signs."

New Yorkers have been fleeing for months. But the fear some residents have of the violent reactions to the protests here is adding a new challenge to those asking themselves whether they can hack the city. Many are deciding not to return.

It's a decision that must be made individually and privately, one that some 420,000 New Yorkers with the resources to do so had already made between March and May in reaction to the pandemic, according to cellphone data analyzed by the Times.