New York State may have one of the country’s largest prison populations, but the state is not part of a nationwide trend that has raised the number of incarcerated Americans to record levels, a new report has found.

For the first time in the country’s history, one in 100 Americans is in prison, according to the report released yesterday by the Pew Center on the States, a nonpartisan research organization. Among people in their 20s, one in every 53 is in prison, while one in 30 black men is a prison inmate. In contrast to most other states, however, New York’s prison system is slowly shrinking.

Researchers found that New York State cut the number of prison inmates by 695 in 2007, to 62,620 from 63,315. They also reported that the percentage of the state budget going toward housing inmates has fallen two percentage points, to 5.1%, since 1987.

New York State’s per capita rate of incarceration is also lower than in most states: 482 per 100,000 New York residents are imprisoned, compared to 976 in Texas and 1,138 in Louisiana, according to data cited in the report from 2005.

This is a good thing for New York, the authors of the report, titled “One in 100,” said. States seeing a flattening or decline in prison populations “may soon have lots of company,” the report said. “Prison costs are blowing holes in state budgets but barely making a dent in recidivism rates.”

The report noted that several states such as New York, where prison populations have dropped, have also managed to maintain public safety and preside over drops in the crime rate.

The decline in prisoners appears to be part of a dedicated effort by New York officials. Speaking at a conference of mayors yesterday on prison issues, Mayor Bloomberg outlined some of New York City’s recent efforts to help reduce the recidivism rate by sending some nonviolent criminals to alternative programs.

“For some people who are guilty of minor misdemeanors, like petty theft or possession of a small amount of drugs, there may be some sentences more effective than jail,” Mr. Bloomberg said, according to his prepared remarks. New York’s ratio of corrections spending to higher education spending was higher than most states, however. New York spends 73 cents on prisons for every dollar it spends on higher education, compared to a countrywide average of 60 cents, the report said.

New York is also among the top 10 states in the percentage of its workforce employed by prisons, 13.6%.

Some state leaders, led by Senate Republicans, have argued that the state should be cracking down harder on criminals. They have criticized recent trends in the state prison system, including a rise in the release rate for violent felons up for parole, as “soft on crime.” The director of the Correctional Association of New York, a nonprofit organization that advocates for prisoners, Robert Gangi, said the report shows the state is ” headed in the right direction.”

New York “still needs to take steps to create a more rational system,” he said. “Many of the people we send to prison could be diverted to treatment programs that are more effective, and a lot less expensive.”