Organization and Basis of Presentation - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended
	Nov. 23, 1993	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Initial public offering of common stock, par value per share	$ 0.01	$ 0.01	$ 0.01
Initial public offering of common stock, price per share	$ 25
Description of historical stock splits	Reflecting nine stock splits, the Company's initial offering price adjusts to $0.93 per share.
Adjusted for Stock Split
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Initial public offering of common stock, price per share		$ 0.93
New York Community Bank
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of branches		241
New York Community Bank | Directly Operated Banks
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of branches		4
New York Community Bank | Divisional Banks
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of branches		237
New York Commercial Bank
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of branches		34
New York Commercial Bank | Atlantic Bank
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements Disclosure [Line Items]
Number of branches		17