WASHINGTON — Thirteen American cities were rated better than New York in a study of emergency communications, according to draft portions of a federal report obtained yesterday by the Associated Press.

A portion of the report, to be released today, gives the highest ratings to Washington, San Diego, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Columbus, Ohio, Sioux Falls, S.D., and Laramie County, Wyoming.

Four small city areas did not make perfect grades but still scored higher than New York, according to federal officials: Anchorage, Alaska, Ada County, Idaho, Topeka, Kan., and Portland, Maine.

Three major urban centers in California — Los Angeles, Anaheim and Long Beach — also scored above New York.

Asked if New York officials agreed with the assessment that 13 other regions have surpassed their emergency communications, Mayor Bloomberg’s spokesman Stuart Loeser, said the city “has improved emergency communications immensely in the most complicated operating environment in the country and now has interoperable communications both at the command and operational levels.”

Mr. Loeser added: “We are well aware that there is always more for us to do, and we are continuously improving our systems.”

The lowest scores went to Chicago, Cleveland, Baton Rouge, La., Mandan, N.D., and American Samoa.

The study, conducted by the Department of Homeland Security, comes five years after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, revealed major problems in how well emergency agencies were able to talk to each other during a catastrophe. Many firefighters climbing the World Trade Center towers died when they were unable to hear police radio warnings.

In New York now, the report said, first responders were found to have well-established systems.