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"NYC" and "New York, New York" redirect here. For other uses, see New York City
(disambiguation); NYC (disambiguation); and New York, New York (disambiguation).

New York

City

Midtown Manhattan with the Empire State

Building (center) and Lower Manhattan with One
WTC (background)

UN headquarters

Statue of Liberty
Times Square

Unisphere

Central Park

Brooklyn Bridge

Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
Bronx Zoo

Flag

Seal

Wordmark

Nicknames:

The Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps, Gotham,

[1]
and others
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap

Interactive map outlining New York City

New York City

Location within the state of New York

Show map of New YorkShow map of the United

StatesShow all

Coordinates: 40°42′46″N 74°0′22″W[2]

Country United States

State New York

Constituent  Bronx (The Bronx)

counties (borough
 Kings (Brooklyn)
s)
 New York (Manhattan)

 Queens (Queens)

 Richmond (Staten
Island)

Settled 1624 (401 years ago)

Consolidated 1898 (127 years ago)

Named after York, England

Government

• Type Strong mayor–council

• Body New York City Council

• Mayor Eric Adams (D)

Area
[3]

• Total 472.43 sq mi (1,223.59 km2)

• Land 300.46 sq mi (778.18 km2)

• Water 171.97 sq mi (445.41 km2)

Highest elevation 401 ft (122 m)

[a]

Lowest elevation 0 ft (0 m)

Population
 (2020)[4]

• Total 8,804,190

• Estimate 8,478,072

(July 2024)[5][6]

• Rank 1st in the United States

• Density 29,302.7/sq mi (11,313.8/km2)

• Urban 19,426,449
[7]

• Urban density 5,980.8/sq mi (2,309.2/km2)

• Metro 20,140,470
[8]

Demonym New Yorker

GDP
[9][10]

• Total $1.286 trillion (2023)

• Metro $2.299 trillion (2023) (1st)

Time zone UTC−05:00 (EST)

• Summer (DST) UTC−04:00 (EDT)

ZIP Codes 100xx–104xx, 11004–05,

111xx–114xx, 116xx

Area codes 212/646/332, 718/347/929, 91

7

FIPS code 36-51000

GNIS feature ID 975772

Website www.nyc.gov

Part of a series on

Regions of New York

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 Long Island

 Hudson Valley (Lower)

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Upstate New York

 Hudson Valley (Middle and Upper)

 Capital District

 North Country

 Southern Tier

 Mohawk Valley

 Central New York

 Finger Lakes

 Western New York

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New York, often called New York City (NYC),[b] is the most populous city in the United States,
located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The
city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a respective county. The city is the
geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York
metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population
and urban area. New York is a global center of finance[12] and commerce, culture, technology,
[13]
entertainment and media, academics, and scientific output,[14] the arts and fashion, and, as
home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy.[15][16][17][18][19]

With an estimated population in 2024 of 8,478,072[5][6] distributed over 300.46 square miles
(778.2 km2),[4] the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York
City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous
city.[20] With more than 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area[21] and 23.5 million
in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York City is one of the world's most
populous megacities.[22] The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for
legal immigration to the United States. As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York City,
[23]
making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. In 2021, the city was home to
nearly 3.1 million residents who were born outside the United States,[20] the largest foreign-born
city population in the world.[24]

New York City traces its origins to Fort Amsterdam and a trading post founded on Manhattan
Island by Dutch colonists around 1624. The settlement was named New Amsterdam in 1626 and
was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under English control in 1664 and was
temporarily renamed New York after King Charles II granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of
York,[25] before being permanently renamed New York in November 1674. Following
independence from Great Britain, the city was the national capital of the United States from
1785 until 1790.[26] The modern city was formed by the 1898 consolidation of its
five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.
Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District, Manhattan, New York City has been called both
the world's premier financial and fintech center[27][28] and the most economically powerful city in
the world.[29] As of 2022, the New York metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan economy in
the world, with a gross metropolitan product of over US$2.16 trillion.[10] The New York
metropolitan area's economy is larger than all but nine countries in the world. Despite having
a 24/7 rapid transit system, New York also leads the world in urban automobile traffic
congestion.[30] The city is home to the world's two largest stock exchanges by market
capitalization of their listed companies: the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. New York
City is an established safe haven for global investors.[31] As of 2023, New York City is the most
expensive city in the world for expatriates[32] and has by a wide margin the highest residential
rents of any city in the nation.[33] Fifth Avenue is the most expensive shopping street in the
world.[34] New York City is home to the highest number of billionaires, [35] individuals of ultra-
high net worth (greater than US$30 million),[36] and millionaires of any city in the world by a
significant margin.[37]

Etymology

See also: Nicknames of New York City

In 1664, New York was named in honor of the Duke of York (later King James II of England).
[38]
James's elder brother, King Charles II, appointed him proprietor of the former territory
of New Netherland, including the city of New Amsterdam, when the Kingdom of England seized
it from Dutch control.[39]

History

Main articles: History of New York City and Timeline of New York City

Further information: History of Manhattan, Timeline of Brooklyn, Timeline of Queens, Timeline

of the Bronx, and Timeline of Staten Island

Early history

Main article: History of New York City (prehistory–1664)

In the pre-Columbian era, the area of present-day New York City was inhabited by Algonquians,
including the Lenape. Their homeland, known as Lenapehoking, included the present-day areas
of Staten Island, Manhattan, the Bronx, the western portion of Long
Island (including Brooklyn and Queens), and the Lower Hudson Valley.[40]

The first documented visit into New York Harbor by a European was in 1524 by
explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano.[41] He claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle
Angoulême (New Angoulême).[42] A Spanish expedition, led by the Portuguese captain Estêvão
Gomes sailing for Emperor Charles V, arrived in New York Harbor in January 1525 and charted
the mouth of the Hudson River, which he named Río de San Antonio ('Saint Anthony's River').[43]

In 1609, the English explorer Henry Hudson rediscovered New York Harbor while searching for
the Northwest Passage to the Orient for the Dutch East India Company.[44] He sailed up what the
Dutch called North River (now the Hudson River), named first by Hudson as
the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange.[45]

Hudson claimed the region for the Dutch East India Company. In 1614, the area between Cape
Cod and Delaware Bay was claimed by the Netherlands and called Nieuw-Nederland ('New
Netherland'). The first non–Native American inhabitant of what became New York City was Juan
Rodriguez, a merchant from Santo Domingo who arrived in Manhattan during the winter of
1613–14, trapping for pelts and trading with the local population as a representative of the
Dutch.[46][47]

Dutch rule

Main articles: New Amsterdam, Fort Amsterdam, and New Netherland

The Castello Plan, a 1660 map of New Amsterdam in Lower Manhattan

New Amsterdam, centered in what eventually became Lower Manhattan, in 1664, the
year England took control and renamed it New York

A permanent European presence near New York Harbor was established in 1624, making New
York the 12th-oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental
United States, with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625,
construction was started on a citadel and Fort Amsterdam, later called Nieuw Amsterdam (New
Amsterdam), on present-day Manhattan Island.[48][49]

The colony of New Amsterdam extended from the southern tip of Manhattan to modern-
day Wall Street, where a 12-foot (3.7 m) wooden stockade was built in 1653 to protect against
Native American and English raids.[50] In 1626, the Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit,
as charged by the Dutch West India Company, purchased the island of Manhattan from
the Canarsie, a small Lenape band,[51] for "the value of 60 guilders"[52] (about $900 in 2018).[53] A
frequently told but disproved legend claims that Manhattan was purchased for $24 worth of
glass beads.[54][55]

Following the purchase, New Amsterdam grew slowly.[25] To attract settlers, the Dutch instituted
the patroon system in 1628, whereby wealthy Dutchmen (patroons, or patrons) who brought 50
colonists to New Netherland would be awarded land, local political autonomy, and rights to
participate in the lucrative fur trade. This program had little success.[56]

Since 1621, the Dutch West India Company had operated as a monopoly in New Netherland, on
authority granted by the Dutch States General. In 1639–1640, in an effort to bolster economic
growth, the Dutch West India Company relinquished its monopoly over the fur trade, leading to
growth in the production and trade of food, timber, tobacco, and slaves (particularly with
the Dutch West Indies).[25][57]

In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant began his tenure as the last Director-General of New Netherland.
During his tenure, the population of New Netherland grew from 2,000 to 8,000. [58][59] Stuyvesant
has been credited with improving law and order; however, he earned a reputation as
a despotic leader. He instituted regulations on liquor sales, attempted to assert control over
the Dutch Reformed Church, and blocked other religious groups from establishing houses of
worship.[60]

English rule

Main articles: Province of New York and History of New York City (1665–1783)
The Fall of New Amsterdam, painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, depicting the Conquest of
New Netherland

Fort George and New York with British warships, c. 1731

In 1664, unable to summon any significant resistance, Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam
to English troops, led by Colonel Richard Nicolls, without bloodshed.[60][61] The terms of the
surrender permitted Dutch residents to remain in the colony and allowed for religious freedom.
[62]

In 1667, during negotiations leading to the Treaty of Breda after the Second Anglo-Dutch War,
the victorious Dutch decided to keep the nascent plantation colony of what is now Suriname,
which they had gained from the English,[63] and in return the English kept New Amsterdam. The
settlement was promptly renamed "New York" after the Duke of York (the future King James II
and VII).[64] The duke gave part of the colony to proprietors George Carteret and John Berkeley.
[65]

On August 24, 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Anthony Colve of the Dutch navy seized
New York at the behest of Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and rechristened it "New Orange"
after William III, the Prince of Orange.[66] The Dutch soon returned the island to England under
the Treaty of Westminster of November 1674.[67][68]

Several intertribal wars among the Native Americans and epidemics brought on by contact with
the Europeans caused sizeable population losses for the Lenape between 1660 and 1670. [69] By
1700, the Lenape population had diminished to 200.[70] New York experienced several yellow
fever epidemics in the 18th century, losing ten percent of its population in 1702 alone. [71][72]

In the early 18th century, New York grew in importance as a trading port while as a part of
the colony of New York.[73] It became a center of slavery, with 42% of households enslaving
Africans by 1730.[74] Most were domestic slaves; others were hired out as labor. Slavery became
integrally tied to New York's economy through the labor of slaves throughout the port, and the
banking and shipping industries trading with the American South. During construction in Foley
Square in the 1990s, the African Burying Ground was discovered; the cemetery included 10,000
to 20,000 graves of colonial-era Africans, some enslaved and some free.[75]
The 1735 trial and acquittal in Manhattan of John Peter Zenger, who had been accused
of seditious libel after criticizing colonial governor William Cosby, helped to establish freedom
of the press in North America.[76] In 1754, Columbia University was founded.[77]

American Revolution

Further information: American Revolution

The Battle of Long Island, one of the largest battles of

the American Revolutionary War, which took place in Brooklyn on August 27, 1776

The Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October 1765, as the Sons of Liberty organization
emerged in the city and skirmished over the next ten years with British troops stationed there.
[78]
The Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War, was fought in
August 1776 within modern-day Brooklyn.[79] A British rout of the Continental Army at the Battle
of Fort Washington in November 1776 eliminated the last American stronghold in Manhattan,
causing George Washington and his forces to retreat across the Hudson River to New Jersey,
pursued by British forces.[80][81]

After the battle, in which the Americans were defeated, the British made New York their military
and political base of operations in North America.[82] The city was a haven for Loyalist refugees
and escaped slaves who joined the British lines for freedom promised by the Crown, with as
many as 10,000 escaped slaves crowded into the city during the British occupation, the largest
such community on the continent.[83][84] When the British forces evacuated New York at the close
of the war in 1783, they transported thousands of freedmen for resettlement in Nova Scotia,
England, and the Caribbean.[85]

The attempt at a peaceful solution to the war took place at the Conference House on Staten
Island between American delegates, including Benjamin Franklin, and British general Lord
Howe on September 11, 1776.[86] Shortly after the British occupation began, the Great Fire of
New York destroyed nearly 500 buildings, about a quarter of the structures in the city,
including Trinity Church.[87][88]

Post-revolutionary period and early 19th century

Main article: History of New York City (1784–1854)

 A portrait of the first inauguration of George
Washington in 1789

In January 1785, the assembly of the Congress of the Confederation made New York City the
national capital.[89] New York was the last capital of the United States under the Articles of
Confederation and the first under the Constitution.[90] As the capital, New York City hosted the
inauguration of the first President, George Washington, and the first Congress, at Federal
Hall on Wall Street. Congress drafted the Bill of Rights there.[90] The Supreme Court held its first
organizational sessions in New York in 1790.

In 1790, for the first time, New York City surpassed Philadelphia as the nation's largest city. At
the end of 1790, the national capital was moved to Philadelphia, where it remained while the
new capital in Washington, D.C. was being constructed.[91][92]

During the 19th century, New York City's population grew from 60,000 to 3.43 million.[93] Under
New York State's gradual emancipation act of 1799, children of slave mothers were to be
eventually liberated but to be held in indentured servitude until their mid-to-late twenties.[94]
[95]
A significant free Black population gradually developed in Manhattan, made up of former
slaves who had been freed by their masters after the American Revolutionary War, as well as
escaped slaves. The New York Manumission Society worked for abolition and established
the African Free School to educate Black children.[96] It was not until 1827 that slavery was
completely abolished in the state.[97] Free Blacks struggled with discrimination and interracial
abolitionist activism continued. New York City's population jumped from 123,706 in 1820
(10,886 of whom were Black and of which 518 were enslaved) to 312,710 by 1840 (16,358 of
whom were Black).[98]
 Broadway, which follows the Native
American Wecquaesgeek Trail through Manhattan, 1840[99]

Also in the 19th century, the city was transformed by both commercial and residential
development relating to its status as a national and international trading center, as well as by
European immigration, respectively.[100] The city adopted the Commissioners' Plan of 1811,
which expanded the city street grid to encompass almost all of Manhattan. The 1825
completion of the Erie Canal through central New York connected the Atlantic port to the
agricultural markets and commodities of the North American interior via the Hudson River and
the Great Lakes.[101] Local politics became dominated by Tammany Hall, a political
machine supported by Irish and German immigrants.[102] In 1831, New York University was
founded.[103]

Several prominent American literary figures lived in New York during the 1830s and 1840s,
including William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, Herman Melville, Rufus Wilmot
Griswold, John Keese, Nathaniel Parker Willis, and Edgar Allan Poe. Members of the business
elite lobbied for the establishment of Central Park, which in 1857 became the first landscaped
park in an American city.[104]

The Great Irish Famine brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, of whom more than 200,000
were living in New York by 1860, representing over a quarter of the city's population.
[105]
Extensive immigration from the German provinces meant that Germans comprised another
25% of New York's population by 1860.[106][107]

American Civil War

Main articles: New York City in the American Civil War and History of New York City (1855–
1897)
 Departure of the 7th New York Militia Regiment for the
defense of Washington, D.C., April 19, 1861

Democratic Party candidates were consistently elected to local office, increasing the city's ties to
the South and its dominant party. In 1861, Mayor Fernando Wood called on the aldermen to
declare independence from Albany and the United States after the South seceded, but his
proposal was not acted on.[96] Anger at new military conscription laws during the American Civil
War (1861–1865), which spared wealthier men who could afford to hire a substitute, led to
the Draft Riots of 1863, whose most visible participants were ethnic Irish working class.[96]

The draft riots deteriorated into attacks on New York's elite, followed by attacks on Black New
Yorkers after fierce competition for a decade between Irish immigrants and Black people for
work. Rioters burned the Colored Orphan Asylum to the ground.[106] At least 120 people were
killed.[108] Eleven Black men were lynched over five days, and the riots forced hundreds of Blacks
to flee. The Black population in Manhattan fell below 10,000 by 1865. The White working class
had established dominance.[106][108] It was one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American
history.[109]

Late 19th and early 20th century

Main articles: History of New York City (1898–1945) and History of New York City (1946–1977)

Manhattan's Little Italy c. 1900

In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, was dedicated in New York Harbor. The statue
welcomed 14 million immigrants as they arrived via Ellis Island by ship in the late 19th and early
20th centuries, and is a symbol of the United States and American ideals of liberty and peace.
[110][111]

In 1898, the City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then a
separate city), the County of New York (which then included parts of the Bronx), the County of
Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens.[112] The opening of the New York
City Subway in 1904, first built as separate private systems, helped bind the new city together.
[113]
Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry,
commerce, and communication.[114]

In 1904, the steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River, killing 1,021 people.[115] In
1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the city's worst industrial disaster, killed 146 garment
workers and spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and major
improvements in factory safety standards.[116]

A construction worker atop the Empire State

Building during its construction in 1930. The Chrysler Building is visible to the right.

New York's non-White population was 36,620 in 1890.[117] New York City was a prime destination
in the early 20th century for Blacks during the Great Migration from the American South, and by
1916, New York City had the largest urban African diaspora in North America.[118] The Harlem
Renaissance of literary and cultural life flourished during the era of Prohibition.[119] The larger
economic boom generated construction of skyscrapers competing in height.[120]

New York City became the most populous urbanized area in the world in the early 1920s,
overtaking London. The metropolitan area surpassed 10 million in the early 1930s, becoming
the first megacity.[121] The Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello La Guardia as
mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance.[122]

Returning World War II veterans created a post-war economic boom and the development of
large housing tracts in eastern Queens and Nassau County, with Wall Street leading America's
place as the world's dominant economic power. The United Nations headquarters was
completed in 1952, solidifying New York's global geopolitical influence, and the rise of abstract
expressionism in the city precipitated New York's displacement of Paris as the center of the art
world.[123]

Late 20th and early 21st centuries

Main articles: History of New York City (1978–present) and September 11 attacks

Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, the site of the June

1969 Stonewall riots and the cradle of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement[124][125][126]

In 1969, the Stonewall riots were a series of violent protests by members of the gay
community against a police raid that took place in the early morning of June 28, 1969, at
the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village.[127] They are widely considered to be the single most
important event leading to the gay liberation movement[124][128][129][130] and the modern fight
for LGBT rights.[131][132] Wayne R. Dynes, author of the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality, wrote
that drag queens were the only "transgender folks around" during the Stonewall riots. The
transgender community in New York City played a significant role in fighting for LGBT equality.
[133]

October 1975 New York Daily News front page on President Ford's
refusal to help the city avert bankruptcy
In the 1970s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City to suffer from
economic problems and rising crime rates.[134] Growing fiscal deficits in 1975 led the city to
appeal to the federal government for financial aid; President Gerald Ford gave a speech denying
the request, which was paraphrased on the front page of the New York Daily News as "FORD TO
CITY: DROP DEAD".[135] The Municipal Assistance Corporation was formed and granted oversight
authority over the city's finances.[136] While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly
improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase
through that decade and into the beginning of the 1990s.[137]

New York City's population exceeded 8 million for the first time in the 2000 census;[138] further
records were set in the 2010 and 2020 censuses.[139] Important new economic sectors, such
as Silicon Alley, emerged.[140]

The World Trade Center, in Lower Manhattan, during

the September 11 attacks in 2001

The year 2000 was celebrated with fanfare in Times Square.[141]

New York City suffered the bulk of the economic damage and largest loss of human life in the
aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks.[142] Two of the four hijacked airliners were flown
into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, resulting in the collapse of both buildings and
the deaths of 2,753 people, including 343 first responders from the New York City Fire
Department and 71 law enforcement officers.[143]

The area was rebuilt with a new World Trade Center, the National September 11 Memorial and
Museum, and other new buildings and infrastructure,[144] including the World Trade Center
Transportation Hub, the city's third-largest hub.[145] The new One World Trade Center is the
tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere[146] and the world's seventh-tallest
building by pinnacle height, with its spire reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet (541.3 m), a reference
to the year of American independence.[147][148][149]

The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan
began on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and popularizing the Occupy
movement against social and economic inequality worldwide.[150]
New York City was heavily impacted by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, including flooding that
led to the days-long shutdown of the subway system,[151] and flooding of all East River subway
tunnels and of all road tunnels entering Manhattan except the Lincoln Tunnel.[152] The New York
Stock Exchange closed for two days due to weather for the first time since the Great Blizzard of
1888.[153] At least 43 people died in New York City as a result of Sandy, and the economic losses
in New York City were estimated to be roughly $19 billion.[154] The disaster spawned long-term
efforts towards infrastructural projects to counter climate change and rising seas, with
$15 billion in federal funding received through 2022 towards those resiliency efforts. [155][156]

In March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the city was confirmed.[157] With its population
density and extensive exposure to global travelers, the city rapidly replaced Wuhan, China as
the global epicenter of the pandemic during the early phase, straining the city's healthcare
infrastructure.[158][159] Through March 2023, New York City recorded more than 80,000
deaths from COVID-19-related complications.[160]

Geography

Main articles: Geography of New York City and Geography of New York–New Jersey Harbor
Estuary

Aerial view of the New York City metropolitan area with

Manhattan at its center

New York City lies in the northeastern United States, in southeastern New York State,
approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston. Its location at the mouth of
the Hudson River, which feeds into a naturally sheltered harbor and then into the Atlantic
Ocean, has helped the city become a significant trading port. Most of the city is built on the
three islands of Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island.
During the Wisconsin glaciation, 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, the New York City area was
situated at the edge of a large ice sheet.[161] The erosive forward movement of the ice (and its
subsequent retreat) contributed to the separation of what is now Long Island and Staten Island.
That action left bedrock at a relatively shallow depth, providing a solid foundation for most of
Manhattan's skyscrapers.[162]

The Hudson River flows through the Hudson Valley into New York Bay. Between New York City
and Troy, New York, the river is an estuary.[163] The Hudson River separates the city from New
Jersey. The East River—a tidal strait—flows from Long Island Sound and separates the Bronx and
Manhattan from Long Island. The Harlem River, another tidal strait between the East and
Hudson rivers, separates most of Manhattan from the Bronx. The Bronx River, which flows
through the Bronx and Westchester County, is the only entirely freshwater river in the city.[164]
[importance?]

The city's land has been altered substantially by human intervention, with considerable land
reclamation along the waterfronts since Dutch colonial times; reclamation is most prominent in
Lower Manhattan, with developments such as Battery Park City in the 1970s and 1980s.
[165]
Some of the natural relief in topography has been evened out, especially in Manhattan. [166]

The city's total area is 468.484 square miles (1,213.37 km2). 302.643 sq mi (783.84 km2) of the
city is land and 165.841 sq mi (429.53 km2) of it is water.[167][168] The highest point in the city
is Todt Hill on Staten Island, which, at 409.8 feet (124.9 m) above sea level, is the highest point
on the eastern seaboard south of Maine.[169] The summit of the ridge is mostly covered
in woodlands as part of the Staten Island Greenbelt.[170]

Boroughs

Main articles: Boroughs of New York City and Neighborhoods in New York City

1. Manhattan
 2. Brooklyn

3. Queens

4. The Bronx

5. Staten Island

New York City is sometimes referred to collectively as the Five Boroughs.[171] Each borough is
coextensive with a respective county of New York State, making New York City one of the U.S.
municipalities in multiple counties.

Manhattan (New York County) is the geographically smallest and most densely populated
borough. It is home to Central Park and most of the city's skyscrapers, and is sometimes locally
known as The City.[172] Manhattan's population density of 70,450.8 inhabitants per square mile
(27,201.2/km2) in 2022 makes it the highest of any county in the United States and higher than
the density of any individual American city.[173] Manhattan is the cultural, administrative,
and financial center of New York City and contains the headquarters of many
major multinational corporations, the United Nations headquarters, Wall Street, and a number
of important universities. The borough is often described as the financial and cultural center of
the world.[174][175]

Brooklyn (Kings County), on the western tip of Long Island, is the city's most populous borough.
Brooklyn is known for its cultural, social, and ethnic diversity, an independent art scene, distinct
neighborhoods, and a distinctive architectural heritage. Downtown Brooklyn is the largest
central core neighborhood in the Outer Boroughs. The borough has a long beachfront shoreline
including Coney Island, established in the 1870s as one of the earliest amusement grounds in
the United States[176] Marine Park and Prospect Park are the two largest parks in Brooklyn.
[177]
Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a thriving hub of entrepreneurship and high
technology startup firms,[178][179] and of postmodern art and design.[179][180] Brooklyn is also home
to Fort Hamilton, the U.S. military's only active duty installation within New York City,[181] aside
from Coast Guard operations. The facility was established in 1825 on the site of a battery used
during the American Revolution, and it is one of America's longest-serving military forts.[182]

Queens (Queens County), on Long Island north and east of Brooklyn, is geographically the
largest borough, the most ethnically diverse county in the United States,[183] and the most
ethnically diverse urban area in the world.[184][185] Queens is the site of the Citi Field, home of
the New York Mets, and hosts the annual US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean
King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, with plans to build Etihad Park,
a soccer-specific stadium for New York City FC.[186] Additionally, two of the three busiest airports
serving the New York metropolitan area, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia
Airport, are in Queens.[187]
The Bronx (Bronx County) is both New York City's northernmost borough and the only one that
is mostly on the U.S. mainland. It is the location of Yankee Stadium, the baseball park of
the New York Yankees, and home to the largest cooperatively-owned housing complex in the
United States, Co-op City.[188] It is home to the Bronx Zoo, the world's largest metropolitan zoo,
[189]
which spans 265 acres (1.07 km2) and houses more than 6,000 animals.[190] The Bronx is the
birthplace of hip hop music and its associated culture.[191] Pelham Bay Park is the largest park in
New York City, at 2,772 acres (1,122 ha).[192]

Staten Island (Richmond County) is the most suburban in character of the five boroughs. It is
connected to Brooklyn by the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and to Manhattan by way of the
free Staten Island Ferry. In central Staten Island, the Staten Island Greenbelt spans
approximately 2,500 acres (10 km2), including 28 miles (45 km) of walking trails and one of the
last undisturbed forests in the city.[193] Designated in 1984 to protect the island's natural lands,
the Greenbelt comprises seven city parks.

Climate

Main article: Climate of New York City

New York

Climate chart (explanation)

J F M A MJ J A S O N D

3. 3. 4. 4. 4 4. 4. 4. 4. 4. 3. 4.
6 2 3 1 5 6 6 3 4 6 4

7
4 4 5 6 1 8 8 8 7 6 5 4
0 2 0 2 0 5 3 6 5 4 4
5
2 3 3 4 5 6 7 6 6 5 4 3
8 0 6 6 4 0 9 2 1 2 4

█ Average max. and min. temperatures

 in °F

█ Precipitation totals in inches

Source: "New York City Weatherbox

NOAA"

showMetric conversion

Under the Köppen climate classification, New York City has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa),
and is the northernmost major city on the North American continent with this categorization.
The suburbs to the immediate north and west are in the transitional zone between humid
subtropical and humid continental climates (Dfa).[194][195] The city receives an average of 49.5
inches (1,260 mm) of precipitation annually, which is relatively evenly spread throughout the
year. New York averages over 2,500 hours of sunshine annually.[196]

Winters are chilly and damp, and prevailing wind patterns that blow sea breezes offshore
temper the moderating effects of the Atlantic Ocean; yet the Atlantic and the partial shielding
from colder air by the Appalachian Mountains keep the city warmer in the winter than inland
North American cities at similar or lesser latitudes.[197] The daily mean temperature in January,
the area's coldest month, is 33.3 °F (0.7 °C).[198] Temperatures usually drop to 10 °F (−12 °C)
several times per winter,[199] yet can also reach 60 °F (16 °C) for several days even in the coldest
winter month. Spring and autumn are unpredictable and can range from cool to warm, although
they are usually mild with low humidity. Summers are typically hot and humid, with a daily
mean temperature of 77.5 °F (25.3 °C) in July.[198]

Nighttime temperatures are 9.5 °F (5.3 °C) degrees higher for the average city resident due to
the urban heat island effect, caused by paved streets and tall buildings.[200] Daytime
temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on average of 17 days each summer and in some years
exceed 100 °F (38 °C), although this is a rare occurrence, last noted on July 18, 2012. [201][202][203]
[204]
Similarly, readings of 0 °F (−18 °C) are extremely rare, last occurring on February 14, 2016.
[205]
Extreme temperatures have ranged from 106 °F (41 °C), recorded on July 9, 1936, down to
−15 °F (−26 °C) on February 9, 1934;[198] the coldest recorded wind chill was −37 °F (−38 °C) on
the same day as the all-time record low.[206] Average winter snowfall between 1991 and 2020
was 29.8 inches (76 cm); this varies considerably between years. The record cold daily maximum
was 2 °F (−17 °C) on December 30, 1917, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum was
87 °F (31 °C), on July 2, 1903.[201] The average water temperature of the nearby Atlantic Ocean
ranges from 39.7 °F (4.3 °C) in February to 74.1 °F (23.4 °C) in August.[207]
Hurricanes and tropical storms are rare in the New York area.[208] Hurricane Sandy brought a
destructive storm surge to New York City on the evening of October 29, 2012, flooding
numerous streets, tunnels, and subway lines in Lower Manhattan and other areas of the city
and cutting off electricity in many parts of the city and its suburbs. [209] The storm and its
profound impacts have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal
barriers around the shorelines of the city and the metropolitan area to minimize the risk of
destructive consequences from another such event in the future.[155]

show

 v

 t

 e

Climate data for New York (Belvedere Castle, Central Park), 1991–2020 normals,[c] extremes
1869–present[d]

Parks

Main articles: New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and List of New York City
parks

The Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York

Harbor, a global symbol of the United States and its ideals of liberty, freedom, and
opportunity[110] The Pond and Midtown Manhattan as
seen from Gapstow Bridge in Central Park

The city of New York has a complex park system, with various lands operated by the National
Park Service, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and
the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. In its 2023 ParkScore ranking, the Trust
for Public Land reported that the park system in New York City was the tenth-best park system
among the most populous U.S. cities, citing the city's park acreage, investment in parks and that
99% of residents are within 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) of a park.[211]

Gateway National Recreation Area contains over 26,000 acres (110 km2), most of it in New York
City.[212] In Brooklyn and Queens, the park contains over 9,000 acres (36 km2) of salt
marsh, wetlands, islands, and water, including most of Jamaica Bay and the Jamaica Bay Wildlife
Refuge. Also in Queens, the park includes a significant portion of the western Rockaway
Peninsula, most notably Jacob Riis Park and Fort Tilden.[213] In Staten Island, it includes Fort
Wadsworth, with historic pre-Civil War era Battery Weed and Fort Tompkins, and Great Kills
Park.[214]

The Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island Immigration Museum are managed by
the National Park Service and are in both New York and New Jersey. They are joined in the
harbor by Governors Island National Monument. Historic sites under federal management on
Manhattan Island include Stonewall National Monument; Castle Clinton National Monument;
Federal Hall National Memorial; Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site; General
Grant National Memorial (Grant's Tomb); African Burial Ground National Monument;
and Hamilton Grange National Memorial. Hundreds of properties are listed on the National
Register of Historic Places or as a National Historic Landmark.

There are seven state parks within the confines of New York City. They include: the Clay Pit
Ponds State Park Preserve, a natural area that includes extensive riding trails; the Riverbank
State Park, a 28-acre (11 ha) facility;[215] and the Marsha P. Johnson State Park, a state park in
Brooklyn and Manhattan that borders the East River renamed in honor of Marsha P. Johnson.[216]
New York City has over 28,000 acres (110 km2) of municipal parkland and 14 miles (23 km) of
public beaches.[217] The largest municipal park in the city is Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, with
2,772 acres (1,122 ha),[192][218] and the most visited urban park is the Central Park, and one of the
most filmed and visited locations in the world, with 42 million visitors in 2023.[219]

Environment

Main article: Environmental issues in New York City

The Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility is the

largest commingled recycling facility in the United States.[220][221]

Environmental issues in New York City are affected by the city's size, density, abundant public
transportation infrastructure, and its location at the mouth of the Hudson River. For example, it
is one of the country's biggest sources of pollution and has the lowest per-capita greenhouse
gas emissions rate and electricity usage. Governors Island is planned to host a US$1 billion
research and education center to make New York City the global leader in addressing
the climate crisis.[222]

As an oceanic port city, New York City is vulnerable to long-term manifestations of global
warming like sea level rise exacerbated by land subsidence.[223] Climate change has spawned the
development of a significant climate resiliency and environmental sustainability economy in the
city. New York City has focused on reducing its environmental impact and carbon footprint.
[224]
Mass transit use is the highest in the country.

New York's high rate of public transit use, more than 610,000 daily cycling trips as of 2022,
[225]
and many pedestrian commuters make it the most energy-efficient major city in the United
States.[226] Walk and bicycle modes of travel account for 21% of all modes for trips in the city;
nationally, the rate for metro regions is about 8%.[227] In both 2011 and 2015, Walk Score named
New York City the most walkable large city in the United States,[228][229][230] and in
2018, Stacker ranked New York the most walkable American city.[231] Citibank sponsored public
bicycles for the city's bike-share project, which became known as Citi Bike, in 2013.[232] New York
City's numerical "in-season cycling indicator" of bicycling in the city had hit an all-time high of
437 when measured in 2014.[233]
The New York City drinking water supply is extracted from the protected Catskill
Mountains watershed.[234] As a result of the watershed's integrity and undisturbed natural water
filtration system, New York is one of only four major cities in the United States the majority of
whose drinking water is pure enough not to require water treatment.[235] The city's municipal
water system is the nation's largest, moving more than 1 billion U.S. gallons (3.8 billion liters) of
water daily from a watershed covering 1,900 square miles (4,900 km2)[236][237]

According to the 2016 World Health Organization Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database,
[238]
the annual average concentration in New York City's air of particulate matter measuring
2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5) was 7.0 micrograms per cubic meter, or 3.0 micrograms within
the recommended limit of the WHO Air Quality Guidelines for the annual mean PM2.5.
[239]
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, in partnership with Queens
College, conducts the New York Community Air Survey to measure pollutants at about 150
locations.[240]

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of New York City and Demographic history of New York City

Historical population

Year Pop. ±%

1698 4,937 —

1712 5,840 +18.3%

1723 7,248 +24.1%

1737 10,664 +47.1%

1746 11,717 +9.9%

1756 13,046 +11.3%

1771 21,863 +67.6%

1790 33,131 +51.5%

1800 60,515 +82.7%

1810 96,373 +59.3%

1820 123,706 +28.4%

1830 202,589 +63.8%

 1840 312,710 +54.4%

1850 515,547 +64.9%

1860 813,669 +57.8%

1870 942,292 +15.8%

1880 1,206,299 +28.0%

1890 1,515,301 +25.6%

1900 3,437,202 +126.8%

1910 4,766,883 +38.7%

1920 5,620,048 +17.9%

1930 6,930,446 +23.3%

1940 7,454,995 +7.6%

1950 7,891,957 +5.9%

1960 7,781,984 −1.4%

1970 7,894,862 +1.5%

1980 7,071,639 −10.4%

1990 7,322,564 +3.5%

2000 8,008,288 +9.4%

2010 8,175,133 +2.1%

2020 8,804,190 +7.7%

2024 est. 8,478,072 −3.7%

[e]

New York City is the most populous city in the US, with 8,804,190 residents as of the 2020
census, its highest decennial count ever, incorporating more immigration into the city than
outmigration since the 2010 census.[4][243][244] More than twice as many people live in New York
City as in Los Angeles, the second-most populous American city.[245] The city's population in 2020
was 35.9% White, 22.7% Black, 14.6% Asian, 10.5% Mixed, 0.7% Native American and
0.1% Pacific Islander; 28.4% identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino.[4]

Between 2010 and 2020, New York City gained 629,000 residents, more than the total gains
over the same decade of the next four largest American cities (Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston,
and Phoenix) combined.[246][247] The city's population density of 27,744.1 inhabitants per square
mile (10,712.1/km2) makes it the densest of any American municipality with a population above
100,000.[173] Manhattan's population density is 70,450.8 inhabitants per square mile
(27,201.2/km2), the highest of any county in the United States.[173]

Based on data from the 2020 census, New York City comprises about 43.6% of the state's
population of 20,202,320,[4] and about 39% of the population of the New York metropolitan
area.[248] The majority of New York City residents in 2020 (5,141,539 or 58.4%) were living in
Brooklyn or Queens, the two boroughs on Long Island.[249] As many as 800 languages are spoken
in New York,[23][250][251][252] and the New York City metropolitan statistical area has the
largest foreign-born population of any metropolitan region in the world. The New York region
continues to be by far the leading metropolitan gateway for legal immigrants admitted into the
United States, substantially exceeding the combined totals of Los Angeles and Miami.[253] Nearly
seven times as many young professionals applied for jobs in New York City in 2023 as compared
to 2019, making New York the most popular destination for recent college graduates. [254]

Ethnicity and nationality

Main articles: Race and ethnicity in New York City and New York City ethnic enclaves

According to 2022 estimates from the American Community Survey, the largest self-reported
ancestries in New York City were Dominican (8.7%), Chinese (7.5%), Puerto
Rican (6.9%), Italian (5.5%), Mexican (4.4%), Irish (4.4%), Asian
Indian (3.1%), German (2.9%), Jamaican (2.4%), Ecuadorian (2.3%), English (2.1%), Polish (1.9%),
Russian (1.7%), Arab (1.4%), Haitian (1.4%), Guyanese (1.3%), Filipino (1.1%), and Korean (1.1%).
[255][15][16]

showHistorical demographics 2020[256] 2010[255] 1990[257] 1970[257] 1940[257]

Based on American Community Survey data from 2018 to 2022, approximately 36.3% of the
city's population is foreign born (compared to 13.7% nationwide),[4] and 40% of all children are
born to mothers who are immigrants.[258] Throughout its history, New York has been a
major port of entry for immigrants.[259][260] No single country or region of origin dominates.
[259]
Queens has the largest Asian American and Andean populations in the United States, and is
also the most ethnically and linguistically diverse urban area in the world.[261][185]
New York City ethnic enclaves

Little Fuzhou, Manhattan

Little Italy, Manhattan

Little Russia, Brooklyn

Little India, Queens

The metropolitan area has the largest Asian Indian population in the Western Hemisphere; the
largest Russian American,[262] Italian American, and African American populations; the
largest Dominican American, Puerto Rican American, and South American[262] and second-largest
overall Hispanic population in the United States, numbering over
5 million. Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana, Peru, and Brazil, are the top source countries
from South America for immigrants to the New York City region; the Dominican
Republic, Jamaica, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago in
the Caribbean; Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, and South Africa from Africa; and El
Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala in Central America.[263]

New York contains the highest total Asian population of any U.S. city proper.[264] Asian Americans
in New York City, according to the 2010 census, number more than 1.2 million,[4] greater than
the combined totals of San Francisco and Los Angeles.[265] New York has the
largest Chinese population of any city outside Asia,[266] Manhattan's Chinatown is the highest
concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere,[267] and Queens is home to the
largest Tibetan population outside Asia.[268] Arab Americans number over 160,000 in New York
City,[269] with the highest concentration in Brooklyn. New York City has the
highest Palestinian population in the United States.[270] Central Asians, primarily Uzbek
Americans, are a rapidly growing segment of the city's non-Hispanic White population. [271] The
metropolitan area is home to 20% of the nation's Indian Americans and at least twenty Little
India enclaves, and 15% of all Korean Americans and four Koreatowns.[272]

New York City has the largest European and non-Hispanic white population of any American city,
numbering 2.7 million in 2012.[273] The European diaspora residing in the city is very diverse and
many European ethnic groups have formed enclaves.[274][275][276] With 960,000 Jewish inhabitants
as of 2023, New York City is home to the highest Jewish population of any city in the world,
[277]
and its metropolitan area concentrated over 2 million Jews as of 2021, the second largest
Jewish population worldwide after the Tel Aviv metropolitan area in Israel.[278] In the borough of
Brooklyn, an estimated one in four residents was Jewish as of 2018.[279]

Sexual orientation and gender identity

Main articles: LGBTQ culture in New York City, Transgender culture of New York City, Same-sex
marriage in New York, and NYC Pride March

Further information: New York City Drag March, Queens Pride Parade, List of LGBT people from
New York City, and List of largest LGBT events

New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of
the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one
of the world's largest LGBT populations and the most prominent.[280] The New York metropolitan
area is home to about 570,000 self-identifying gay and bisexual people, the largest in the
country.[281][282] Same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults has been legal in New York
since 1980's New York v. Onofre case, which invalidated the state's sodomy law.[283] Same-sex
marriage in New York was legalized on June 24, 2011, and were authorized to take place on July
23, 2011.[284]
 The NYC Pride March is the largest pride parade in the
[285]
world.

The annual NYC Pride March proceeds southward down Fifth Avenue and ends at Greenwich
Village in Lower Manhattan; the parade is the largest pride parade in the world, attracting tens
of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators each June.[285][286] The
annual Queens Pride Parade is held in Jackson Heights and is accompanied by the
ensuing Multicultural Parade.[287]

Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 was the largest international Pride celebration in history,
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, with 150,000 participants and
five million spectators attending in Manhattan alone.[288] New York City is home to the
largest transgender population in the world, estimated at more than 50,000 in 2018,
concentrated in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens; however, until the June 1969 Stonewall
riots, this community had felt marginalized and neglected by the gay community. [287]
[133]
Brooklyn Liberation March, the largest transgender-rights demonstration in LGBT history,
took place on June 14, 2020, stretching from Grand Army Plaza to Fort Greene, Brooklyn,
focused on supporting Black transgender lives, drawing an estimated 15,000 to 20,000
participants.[289][290]

Religion

Further information: St. Patrick's Cathedral (Midtown Manhattan), Rockefeller Center Christmas
Tree, History of the Jews in New York City, Jewish arrival in New Amsterdam, Islam in New York
City, Hindu Temple Society of North America, Mahayana Buddhism North America, and Falun
Gong

Notable religious buildings in New York City

Left to right from the top: The Temple Emanu-El; St. Patrick's Cathedral; Islamic Cultural Center
of New York; and Hindu Temple Society of North America

Christianity is the largest religion (59% adherent) in New York City,[291] which is home to the
highest number of churches of any city in the world.[18] Catholicism is the largest Christian
denomination (33%), followed by Protestantism (23%), and other Christian denominations (3%).
The Latin Catholic population is primarily served by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New
York and Diocese of Brooklyn, while Eastern Catholics are divided into numerous jurisdictions
throughout the city. Evangelical Protestantism is the largest branch of Protestantism in the city
(9%), followed by Mainline Protestantism (8%), while the converse is usually true for other cities
and metropolitan areas.[292]

With 960,000 Jewish inhabitants as of 2023, Judaism is the second-largest religion practiced in
New York City.[277] Nearly half of the city's Jews live in Brooklyn.[293][294]

Islam ranks as the third-largest religion in New York City, following Christianity and Judaism, with
estimates ranging between 600,000 and 1,000,000 observers of Islam, including 10% of the
city's public school children.[295] 22.3% of American Muslims live in New York City, with 1.5
million Muslims in the greater New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan Muslim
population in the Western Hemisphere[296]—and the most ethnically diverse Muslim population
of any city in the world.[297] Powers Street Mosque in Brooklyn is one of the oldest continuously
operating mosques in the United States, and represents the first Islamic organization in both the
city and the state.[298][299]

Following these three largest religious groups in New York City

are Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, and others. As of 2023, 24% of Greater New
Yorkers identified with no organized religious affiliation, and 4% were self-identified atheists.[300]

Economy

Main article: Economy of New York City

Midtown Manhattan is the world's largest central

business district.[301] Lower Manhattan, including Wall

[27]
Street, the world's principal financial center, and One World Trade Center, the tallest
skyscraper in the United States
New York City is a global hub of business and commerce, sometimes called the "Capital of the
World".[302] Greater New York is the world's largest metropolitan economy, with a gross
metropolitan product estimated at US$2.16 trillion in 2022.[9][10] New York is a center for
worldwide banking and finance, health care, and life sciences,[303] medical
technology and research, retailing, world trade, transportation, tourism, real estate, new
media, traditional media, advertising, legal services, accountancy, insurance, and the arts in the
United States; while Silicon Alley, metonymous for New York's high technology sphere,
continues to expand. The Port of New York and New Jersey is a major economic engine,
benefitting post-Panamax from the expansion of the Panama Canal.[304][305][306]

Many Fortune 500 corporations are headquartered in New York City,[307] as are a large number
of multinational corporations. New York City has been ranked first among cities across the globe
in attracting capital, business, and tourists.[308][309] New York City's role as the top global center
for the advertising industry is metonymously reflected as Madison Avenue.[310] The city's fashion
industry provides approximately 180,000 employees with $11 billion in annual wages.[311]

Significant other economic sectors include universities and non-profit

institutions. Manufacturing declined over the 20th century but still accounts for significant
employment. The city's apparel and garment industry, historically centered on the Garment
District in Manhattan, peaked in 1950, when more than 323,000 workers were employed in the
industry in New York. In 2015, fewer than 23,000 New York City residents were employed in the
industry, although revival efforts were underway,[312] and the American fashion industry
continues to be metonymized as Seventh Avenue.[313] In 2017, the city had 205,592 employer
firms, of which 22.0% were owned by women, 31.3% were minority-owned and 2.7% were
owned by veterans.[4]

In 2022, the gross domestic product of New York City was US$1.053 trillion, of which $781
billion (74%) was produced by Manhattan.[9] Like other large cities, New York City has a degree
of income disparity, as indicated by its Gini coefficient of 0.55 as of 2022.[314][315] In November
2023, the city had total employment of over 4.75 million of which more than a quarter were in
education and health services.[316] Manhattan, which accounted for more than half of the city's
jobs, had an average weekly wage of $2,590 in the second quarter of 2023, ranking fourth-
highest among the nation's 360 largest counties.[317] New York City is one of the relatively few
American cities levying an income tax (about 3%) on its residents;[318][319][320] despite this tax levy,
New York City in 2024 was home by a significant margin to the highest number of billionaires of
any city in the world, with a total of 110.[35]

Wall Street

Main articles: Wall Street and Financial District, Manhattan

 The New York Stock Exchange is the world's largest stock
exchange per total market capitalization of its listed companies.[321][322]

New York City's most important economic sector lies in its role as a comprehensive financial
center, metonymously known as Wall Street. Lower Manhattan is home to the New York Stock
Exchange and the Nasdaq, representing the world's largest and second largest stock exchanges,
respectively, when measured both by overall average daily trading volume and by total market
capitalization of their listed companies in 2013.[321][322] In fiscal year 2013–14, Wall
Street's securities industry generated 19% of New York State's tax revenue.[323]

New York City remains the largest global center for trading in public equity and debt capital
markets.[324]: 31–32 [325] New York also leads in hedge fund management; private equity; and the
monetary volume of mergers and acquisitions. Several investment banks and investment
managers headquartered in Manhattan are important participants in other global financial
centers.[324]: 34–35 New York is the principal commercial banking center of the United States.[326]

Manhattan contained over 500 million square feet (46.5 million m2) of office space in 2018,
[327]
making New York City the largest office market in the world,[328][329] while Midtown
Manhattan, with 400 million square feet (37.2 million m2) in 2018,[327] is the largest central
business district in the world.[330]

Tech and biotech

Further information: Tech:NYC, Tech companies in New York City, Biotech companies in New
York City, and Silicon Alley
 The Flatiron District is the cradle of Silicon Alley, initially
metonymous for the New York metropolitan region's high tech sector

Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island

New York is a top-tier global technology hub.[13][331] Silicon Alley, once a metonym for the sphere
encompassing the metropolitan region's high technology industries,[332] is no longer a relevant
moniker as the city's tech environment has expanded dramatically both in location and in scope
since at least 2003, when tech business appeared in more places in Manhattan and in other
boroughs, and not much silicon was involved.[332][333] New York City's current tech sphere
encompasses the array of applications involving universal applications of artificial
intelligence (AI),[334][335] broadband internet,[336] new media, financial technology (fintech)
and cryptocurrency, biotechnology, game design, and other fields within information
technology that are supported by its entrepreneurship ecosystem and venture
capital investments. Technology-driven startup companies and entrepreneurial employment are
growing in New York City and the region. The technology sector has been claiming a greater
share of New York City's economy since 2010.[337] Tech:NYC, founded in 2016, is a non-profit
organization which represents New York City's technology industry with government, civic
institutions, in business, and in the media, and whose primary goals are to further augment
New York's substantial tech talent base and to advocate for policies that will nurture tech
companies to grow in the city.[338]

New York City's AI sector raised US$483.6 million in venture capital investment in 2022. [339] In
2023, New York unveiled the first comprehensive initiative to create both a framework of rules
and a chatbot to regulate the use of AI within the sphere of city government.[340]

The biotechnology sector is growing in New York City, based on the city's strength in
academic scientific research and public and commercial financial support. On December 19,
2011, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced his choice of Cornell University and Technion-
Israel Institute of Technology to build a $2 billion graduate school of applied
sciences called Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island with the goal of transforming New York City into
the world's premier technology capital.[341][342]

Real estate

Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan is the most

expensive shopping street in the world.[34]

New York City real estate is a safe haven for global investors.[31] The total value of all New York
City property was assessed at US$1.479 trillion for the 2017 fiscal year, an increase of 6.1% from
the previous year. Of the total market value, single family homes accounted for $765 billion
(51.7%); condominiums, co-ops, and apartment buildings totaled $351 billion (23.7%); and
commercial properties were valued at $317 billion (21.4%).[343][344] Fifth Avenue in Midtown
Manhattan commands the highest retail rents in the world, at $2,000 per square foot
($22,000/m2) in 2023.[345]

New York City has one of the highest costs of living in the world, which is exacerbated by the
city's housing shortage.[346][347] In 2023, one-bedroom apartments in Manhattan rented at a
median monthly price of US$4,443.[348] The median house price city-wide is over $1 million as of
2023.[349] With 33,000 units available in 2023 among the city's 2.3 million rentable apartments,
the vacancy rate was 1.4%, the lowest level since 1968 and a rate that is indicative of a shortage
of available units, especially among those with rents below a monthly rental of $1,650, where
less than 1% of units were available.[350] Perennially high demand has pushed median monthly
one-bedroom apartment rents in New York City to over US$4,000 and two-bedroom rents to
over $5,000, the highest in the United States by a significant margin.[33]

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in New York City

Times Square is one of the world's leading tourist

attractions with 50 million tourists annually.[219]

Tourism is a vital industry for New York City, and New York City Tourism +
Conventions represents the city's official bureau of tourism.[351] New York has witnessed a
growing combined volume of international and domestic tourists, with as many as 66.6 million
visitors to the city per year, including as many as 13.5 million international visitors, with the
highest numbers from the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, and China.[352] Multiple sources have
called New York the most photographed city in the world.[353][354][355] I Love New York (stylized
I ❤ NY) is both a logo and a song that are the basis of an advertising campaign and have been
used since 1977 to promote tourism in New York City,[356] and later to promote New York State
as well. The trademarked logo is owned by New York State Empire State Development.[357]

Many districts and monuments in New York City are major landmarks, including three of the
world's ten-most-visited tourist attractions in 2023.[358] A record 66.6 million tourists visited New
York City in 2019, bringing in $47.4 billion in tourism revenue. Visitor numbers dropped by two-
thirds in 2020 during the pandemic, rebounding to 63.3 million in 2023.[352][359] Major landmarks
in New York City include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire
State Building, and Central Park.[360] Times Square is the brightly illuminated hub of
the Broadway Theater District,[361] and a major center of the world's entertainment industry,
[362]
attracting 50 million visitors annually to one of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections.
[219]
According to The Broadway League, shows on Broadway sold approximately US$1.54 billion
worth of tickets in both the 2022–2023 and the 2023–2024 seasons. Both seasons featured
theater attendance of approximately 12.3 million each.[363]

Media and entertainment

Main article: Media in New York City

Further information: New Yorkers in journalism

Rockefeller Center, one of Manhattan's leading media

and entertainment hubs The headquarters of the New

York Times Company, publisher of The New York Times

New York City has been described as the entertainment[18][364][365] and digital media capital of the
world.[366] It is a center for the advertising, music, newspaper, digital media, and publishing
industries and is the largest media market in North America.[367] Many of the world's
largest media conglomerates are based in the city, including Warner Bros. Discovery,
the Thomson Reuters Corporation, the Associated Press, Bloomberg L.P., the News Corp, The
New York Times Company, NBCUniversal, the Hearst Corporation, AOL, Fox Corporation,
and Paramount Global. Seven of the world's top eight global advertising agency networks have
their headquarters in New York.[368]

More than 200 newspapers and 350 consumer magazines have an office in the city, [369] and the
publishing industry employs about 11,500 people, with an economic impact of $9.2 billion.
[370]
The two national daily newspapers with the largest daily circulations in the United States are
published in New York: The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times broadsheets.[371] With
132 awards through 2022, The Times has won the most Pulitzer Prizes for journalism[372] and is
considered the U.S. media's newspaper of record.[373] Tabloid newspapers in the city include
the New York Daily News, which was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson,[374] and
the New York Post, founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton.[375][376]

As of 2019, New York City was the second-largest center for filmmaking and television
production in the United States, producing about 200 feature films annually. The industry
employed more than 100,000 people in 2019, generating $12.2 billion in wages and a total
economic impact of $64.1 billion.[377] By volume, New York is the world leader in independent
film production—one-third of all American independent films are produced there.[378][369]

New York is a major center for non-commercial educational media. NYC Media is the official
public radio, television, and online media network and broadcasting service of New York City,
[379]
and has produced several original Emmy Award-winning shows covering music and culture
in city neighborhoods and city government. The oldest public-access television channel in the
United States is the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, founded in 1971.[380] WNET is the city's
major public television station and produces a third of national Public Broadcasting
Service (PBS) television programming.[381] WNYC, a public radio station owned by the city until
1997,[382] has the largest public radio audience in the United States.[383]

Culture

Main article: Culture of New York City

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum seen from Fifth

Avenue

New York City is frequently the setting for novels, movies, and television programs and has been
described as the cultural capital of the world.[384][385][386][387] The city is the birthplace of many
cultural movements, including the Harlem Renaissance in literature and visual art;[388]
[389]
abstract expressionism (known as the New York School) in painting; and hip-hop,[191]
[390]
punk,[391] hardcore,[392] salsa, freestyle, Tin Pan Alley, certain forms of jazz,[393] and (along with
Philadelphia) disco in music. New York City has been considered the dance capital of the world.
[394][395]

One of the most common traits attributed to New York City is its fast pace,[396][397][398] which
spawned the term New York minute.[399] New York City's residents are prominently known for
their resilience historically, and more recently related to their management of the impacts of
the September 11 terrorist attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic.[400][401][402] New York was voted
the world's most resilient city in 2021 and 2022, per Time Out's global poll of urban residents.
[401]
Theater

Further information: Broadway theatre and Theater District, Manhattan

The Golden; Jacobs; Schoenfeld; and Booth theatres

in Theater District

The central hub of the American theater scene is Manhattan, with its divisions of Broadway, off-
Broadway, and off-off-Broadway.[403] Many movie and television stars have gotten their big break
working in New York productions.[404]

Broadway theatre is one of the premier forms of English-language theatre in the world, named
after Broadway, the major thoroughfare that crosses Times Square,[405] sometimes referred to as
"The Great White Way".[406][407][408]

Forty-one venues mostly in Midtown Manhattan's Theatre District, each with at least 500 seats,
are classified as Broadway theatres.[409] The 2018–19 Broadway theatre season set records with
total attendance of 14.8 million and gross revenue of $1.83 billion[410] Recovering from closures
forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2022–23 revenues rebounded to $1.58 billion with total
attendance of 12.3 million.[411][412] The Tony Awards recognizes excellence in live Broadway
theatre and are presented at an annual ceremony in Manhattan.[413]

Accent and dialect

Main articles: New York City English and New York accent

The New York area is home to a distinctive regional accent and speech pattern called the New
York dialect, alternatively known as Brooklynese or New Yorkese. It has been considered one of
the most recognizable accents within American English.[414] The traditional New York area
speech pattern is known for its rapid delivery, and its accent is characterized as non-rhotic so
that the sound [ɹ] does not appear at the end of a syllable or immediately before a consonant,
therefore the pronunciation of the city name as "New Yawk".[415] The classic version of the New
York City dialect is centered on middle- and working-class New Yorkers. The influx of non-
European immigrants in recent decades has led to changes in this distinctive dialect,[415] and the
traditional form of this speech pattern is no longer as prevalent.[415]

Architecture

Main article: Architecture of New York City

Further information: List of buildings, sites, and monuments in New York City and List of tallest
buildings in New York City

Row houses in Crown Heights North Historic District,

Brooklyn

New York has architecturally noteworthy buildings in a wide range of styles and from distinct
time periods, from the Dutch Colonial Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, the oldest
section of which dates to 1656, to the modern One World Trade Center, the skyscraper
at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan and the most expensive office tower in the world by
construction cost.[416]

Manhattan's skyline, with its many skyscrapers, has been recognized as an iconic symbol of the
city,[417][418][419] and the city has been home to several of the tallest buildings in the world. As of
2019, New York City had 6,455 high-rise buildings, the third most in the world after Hong
Kong and Seoul.[420]

The character of New York's large residential districts is often defined by the
elegant brownstone rowhouses and townhouses and shabby tenements that were built during a
period of rapid expansion from 1870 to 1930.[421] Stone and brick became the city's building
materials of choice after the construction of wood-frame houses was limited in the aftermath of
the Great Fire of 1835.[422]

In contrast, New York City also has neighborhoods that are less densely populated and feature
free-standing dwellings. In neighborhoods such as Riverdale (in the Bronx), Ditmas Park (in
Brooklyn), and Douglaston (in Queens), large single-family homes are common in various
architectural styles such as Tudor Revival and Victorian.[423][424][425]

High-resolution panorama of Midtown Manhattan, taken from Weehawken, New Jersey, on

September 2021.

Arts

Further information: List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City and Music of
New York City

The Lincoln Center: David H. Koch Theater (left), home of

the NY City Ballet; Metropolitan Opera House (center), home of the Metropolitan Opera;
and David Geffen Hall (right), home of the NY Philharmonic

Metropolitan Museum of Art, the largest art museum in

the Americas

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, anchoring Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side of
Manhattan, is home to numerous influential arts organizations, including the Metropolitan
Opera, New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, and New York City Ballet, as well as
the Vivian Beaumont Theater, the Juilliard School, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Alice Tully Hall.
The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute is in Union Square, and Tisch School of the Arts is
based at New York University, while Central Park SummerStage presents free concerts in Central
Park.[426]

New York City has more than 2,000 arts and cultural organizations and more than 500 art
galleries.[427] The city government funds the arts with a larger annual budget than the National
Endowment for the Arts.[427] The city is also home to hundreds of cultural institutions and
historic sites. Museum Mile is the name for a section of Fifth Avenue running from 82nd to
105th streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan,[428] in the upper portion of Carnegie Hill.[429]

Nine museums occupy this section of Fifth Avenue, including the Guggenheim, Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Neue Galerie New York, the Jewish Museum, and The Africa Center, making it
one of the densest displays of high culture in the world.[430] In addition to other programming,
the museums collaborate for the annual Museum Mile Festival, held each year in June, to
promote the museums and increase visitation.[431] Many of the world's most lucrative art
auctions are held in New York City.[432][433]

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the Americas. In 2022, it
welcomed 3.2 million visitors, ranking it the third-most visited museum in the country,
and eighth-most visited art museum in the world.[434] Its permanent collection contains more
than two million works across 17 curatorial departments,[435] and includes works of art
from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt; paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European
masters; and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met maintains extensive
holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art.[436]

Cuisine

Main articles: Cuisine of New York City, List of restaurants in New York City, and List of Michelin
starred restaurants in New York City

New York-style bagel with lox

New York City's food culture includes an array of international cuisines influenced by the city's
long immigrant history. Central and Eastern European immigrants, especially Jewish immigrants
from those regions, brought New York-style bagels, cheesecake, hot dogs, knishes,
and delicatessens (delis) to the city. Italian immigrants brought New York-style pizza and Italian
cuisine into the city, while Jewish immigrants and Irish immigrants
brought pastrami[437] and corned beef,[438] respectively. Chinese and other Asian restaurants,
sandwich joints, trattorias, diners, and coffeehouses are ubiquitous throughout the city. Some
4,000 mobile food vendors licensed by the city, many immigrant-owned, have made Middle
Eastern foods such as falafel and kebabs[439] examples of modern New York street food. The city
is home to "nearly one thousand of the finest and most diverse haute cuisine restaurants in the
world", according to Michelin.[440] The New York City Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene assigns letter grades to the city's restaurants based on inspection results.[441] As of
2019, there were 27,043 restaurants in the city, up from 24,865 in 2017. [442] The Queens Night
Market in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park attracts more than ten thousand people nightly to
sample food from more than 85 countries.[286]

Fashion

Further information: New York Fashion Week and Met Gala

Haute couture fashion models walk

the runway during NYFW

New York City is a global fashion capital, and the fashion industry employs 4.6% of the city's
private workforce.[443] New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is a high-profile semiannual event
featuring models displaying the latest wardrobes created by fashion designers worldwide in
advance of these fashions proceeding to the marketplace.[444]

NYFW sets the tone for the global fashion industry.[445] New York's fashion district encompasses
roughly 30 city blocks in Midtown Manhattan,[446] clustered around a stretch of Seventh
Avenue nicknamed Fashion Avenue.[447] New York's fashion calendar also includes Couture
Fashion Week to showcase haute couture styles.[448] The Met Gala is often described as
"Fashion's biggest night".[449]

Parades

Further information: List of parades in New York City

 The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the world's
[450]
largest parade

New York City is well known for its street parades, the majority in Manhattan. The primary
orientation of the annual street parades is typically from north to south, marching along major
avenues. The annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the world's largest parade,[450] beginning
alongside Central Park and proceeding southward to the flagship Macy's Herald Square store;
[451]
the parade is viewed on telecasts worldwide and draws millions of spectators in person.
[450]
Other notable parades including the annual New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade in March,
the NYC LGBT Pride March in June, the LGBT-inspired Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in
October, and numerous parades commemorating the independence days of many
nations. Ticker-tape parades celebrating championships won by sports teams as well as other
accomplishments march northward along the Canyon of Heroes on Broadway from Bowling
Green to City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan.

Sports

Main articles: Sports in the New York metropolitan area and Traditional games of New York City

The US Open Tennis Championships in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens

Citi Field, also in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, has been home to the New York Mets since
2009.

Yankee Stadium in The Bronx is home to the New York Yankees and New York City FC.

Barclays Center, home to the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA and the New York Liberty of the WNBA

Madison Square Garden, home to the New York Knicks of the NBA and New York Rangers of
the NHL

New York City is home to the headquarters of the National Football League,[452] Major League
Baseball,[453] the National Basketball Association,[454] the National Hockey League,[455] and Major
League Soccer.[456]
New York City hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympics[457] and the 1998 Goodwill Games.[458] New
York City's bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics was one of five finalists, but lost out
to London.[459]

The city has played host to more than 40 major professional teams in the five sports and their
respective competing leagues. Four of the ten most expensive stadiums ever built worldwide
(MetLife Stadium, the new Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden, and Citi Field) are in the
New York metropolitan area.[460]

The city is represented in the National Football League by the New York Giants and the New
York Jets, although both teams play their home games at MetLife Stadium in nearby East
Rutherford, New Jersey,[461] which hosted Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014.[462]

The city's two Major League Baseball teams are the New York Mets, who play at 41,800-seat Citi
Field in Queens and the New York Yankees, who play at 47,400-seat Yankee Stadium in the
Bronx.[463] The two rivals compete in six games of interleague play every regular season, called
the Subway Series.[464] The Yankees have won an MLB-record 27 championships,[465] while the
Mets have won the World Series twice.[466] The city was once home to the Brooklyn Dodgers
(now the Los Angeles Dodgers), who won the World Series once,[467] and the New York
Giants (now the San Francisco Giants), who won the World Series five times. Both teams moved
to California in 1958.[468] There is one Minor League Baseball team in the city, the Mets-
affiliated Brooklyn Cyclones,[469] and the city gained a club in the independent Atlantic
League when the Staten Island FerryHawks began play in 2022.[470]

The city's National Basketball Association teams are the New York Knicks, who play at Madison
Square Garden, and the Brooklyn Nets, who play at the Barclays Center. The New York Liberty is
the city's Women's National Basketball Association team. The first national college-level
basketball championship, the National Invitation Tournament, was held in New York in 1938 and
remains in the city.[471]

The metropolitan area is home to three National Hockey League teams. The New York Rangers,
one of the league's Original Six, play at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. The New York
Islanders, traditionally representing Long Island, play in UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, but
played in Brooklyn's Barclays Center from 2015 to 2020. The New Jersey Devils play
at Prudential Center in nearby Newark, New Jersey.

New York City is represented by New York City FC of Major League Soccer, who play their home
games at Yankee Stadium[472] and the New York Red Bulls, who play their home games at Sports
Illustrated Stadium in nearby Harrison, New Jersey.[473] Gotham FC in the National Women's
Soccer League plays their home games in Sports Illustrated Stadium. Brooklyn FC is a
professional soccer club based in that borough, fielding a women's team in the first-division USL
Super League starting in 2024 and a men's team in the second-division USL Championship in
2025.[474] New York was a host city for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, with matches being played
at Giants Stadium in neighboring East Rutherford, New Jersey.[475] New York City will be one of
eleven host cities for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with the final set to be played at MetLife
Stadium.[476][477]

The annual US Open is one of four Grand Slam tennis tournaments and is held at the National
Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park.[478] The New York City Marathon, which
courses through all five boroughs, is the world's largest running marathon, with 51,402 finishers
in 2023, who came from all 50 states and 148 nations.[479] The Millrose Games is an annual track
and field meet held at the Fort Washington Avenue Armory, whose featured event is
the Wanamaker Mile.[480] Boxing is a prominent part of the city's sporting scene, with events like
the New York Golden Gloves held at Madison Square Garden each year.[481]

Human resources

Education

Main article: Education in New York City

The Low Memorial Library at Columbia University

New York City has the largest educational system of any city.[18] The city's educational
infrastructure spans primary education, secondary education, higher education, and research.
The New York City Public Schools system, managed by the New York City Department of
Education, is the largest public school system in the United States, serving about 1.1 million
students in approximately 1,800 separate primary and secondary schools, including charter
schools, as of 2017–2018.[482] There are approximately 900 additional privately run secular and
religious schools.[483]
 The Stephen A. Schwarzman Headquarters Building of
the New York Public Library

The New York Public Library (NYPL) has the largest collection of any public library system in the
United States.[484] Queens is served by the Queens Borough Public Library (QPL), the nation's
second-largest public library system, while the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) serves Brooklyn.[484]

More than a million students, the highest number of any city in the United States, [485] are
enrolled in New York City's more than 120 higher education institutions, with more than half a
million in the City University of New York (CUNY) system alone as of 2020.[486] According
to Academic Ranking of World Universities, New York City has, on average, the best higher
education institutions of any global city.[487]

The public CUNY system comprises 25 institutions across all five boroughs. The public State
University of New York (SUNY) system's campuses in New York City include SUNY Downstate
Health Sciences University, Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY Maritime College, and SUNY
College of Optometry. New York City is home to such notable private universities as Adelphi
University, Barnard College, Columbia University, Cooper Union, Fordham University, New York
University, New York Institute of Technology, Rockefeller University, Mercy University, Cornell
Tech and Yeshiva University; several of these are ranked among the top universities in the world,
[488][489]
while some of the world's most prestigious institutions like Princeton University and Yale
University remain in the New York metropolitan area.

Much of the scientific research in the city is done in medicine and the life sciences. In 2019, the
New York metropolitan area ranked first by share of published articles in life sciences.[490] New
York City has the most postgraduate life sciences degrees awarded annually in the United
States, and in 2012, 43,523 licensed physicians were practicing in New York City. [491] There are
127 Nobel laureates with roots in local institutions as of 2004.[492]

Health

Main articles: Healthcare in New York City, NYC Health + Hospitals, and New York City
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
 New York-Presbyterian Hospital, affiliated with Columbia
University and Cornell University, is the largest hospital and largest private employer in New
York City and one of the world's busiest hospitals.[493]

New York City is a center for healthcare and medical training, with employment of over 750,000
in the city's health care sector.[494][495] Private hospitals in New York City include the Hospital for
Special Surgery, Lenox Hill Hospital, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Memorial Sloan
Kettering Cancer Center, Mount Sinai Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and NYU
Langone Health.[496] Medical schools include SUNY Downstate College of Medicine in
Brooklyn, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, and CUNY School of Medicine, Touro
College of Osteopathic Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and
Surgeons, Weill Cornell Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and New York
University School of Medicine in Manhattan.[497]

NYC Health + Hospitals (HHC) is a public-benefit corporation established in 1969 which operates
the city's public hospitals and a network of outpatient clinics.[498][499] As of 2021, HHC is the
largest American municipal healthcare system with $10.9 billion in annual revenues. [500] HHC
serves 1.4 million patients, including more than 475,000 uninsured city residents. [501] HHC
operates eleven acute-care hospitals, four skilled nursing facilities, six diagnostic and treatment
centers, and more than 70 community-based primary care sites, serving primarily the city's poor
and working-class residents.[502][503] HHC's MetroPlus Health Plan is one of New York City's largest
providers of government-sponsored health insurance, enrolling 670,000 city residents as of June
2022.[504]

HHC's facilities annually provides service to millions of New Yorkers, interpreted in more than
190 languages.[505] The best-known hospital in the HHC system is Bellevue Hospital, the oldest
public hospital in the United States, established in 1736.[506] Bellevue is the designated hospital
for treatment of the president and other world leaders should they require care while in New
York City.[507]

The city banned smoking in most parts of restaurants in 1995 and prohibited smoking in bars,
restaurants and places of public employment in 2003.[508] Pharmacies are banned from selling
smoked and vaped products in New York State.[509]
New York City enforces a right-to-shelter law guaranteeing shelter to anyone who needs it,
regardless of their immigration, socioeconomic, or housing status, which entails providing
adequate shelter and food.[510] As a result, while New York has the highest total homeless
population of American cities, only 5% were unsheltered by the city, representing a significantly
lower percentage of outdoor homelessness than in other cities.[511] As of 2023, there were
92,824 homeless people sleeping nightly in the shelter system.[512]

Public safety

Main articles: New York City Police Department, New York City Fire Department, Crime in New
York City, and Law enforcement in New York City

New York Police Department (NYPD) police officers in

Brooklyn The Fire Department of New York (FDNY), the

largest municipal fire department in the United States

The New York Police Department (NYPD) is the largest police force in the United States, with
more than 36,000 sworn officers.[513] Members of the NYPD are frequently referred to by
politicians, the media, and their own police cars by the nickname, New York's Finest.[514]

The city saw a spike in crime in the 1970s through 1990s.[515] Crime overall has trended
downward in New York City since the 1990s;[516] violent crime decreased more than 75% from
1993 to 2005, and continued decreasing during periods when the nation as a whole saw
increases.[517] The NYPD's stop-and-frisk program was declared unconstitutional in 2013 as a
"policy of indirect racial profiling" of Black and Mixed residents,[518] although claims of disparate
impact continued in subsequent years.[519] The stop-and-frisk program had been widely credited
as being behind the decline in crime, though rates continued dropping in the years after the
program ended.[520][521]

The city set a record high of 2,245 murders in 1990 and hit a near-70-year record low of 289 in
2018.[522] The number of murders and the rate of 3.3 per 100,000 residents in 2017 was the
lowest since 1951.[523] New York City recorded 386 murders in 2023, a decline of 12% from the
previous year.[524][525] New York City had one of the lowest homicide rates among the ten largest
U.S. cities at 5.5 per 100,000 residents in 2021.[526]

New York City has stricter gun laws than most other cities in the United States—a license to own
any firearm is required, and the NY SAFE Act of 2013 banned assault weapons. New York State
had the fifth-lowest gun death rate of the states in 2020.[527]

Organized crime has long been associated with New York City, beginning with the Forty
Thieves and the Roach Guards in the Five Points neighborhood in the 1820s, followed by
the Tongs in the same neighborhood, which ultimately evolved into Chinatown, Manhattan. The
20th century saw a rise in the Mafia, dominated by the Five Families, as well as in gangs,
including the Black Spades.[528] The Mafia and gang presence has declined in the city in the 21st
century.[529][530]

The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) provides fire protection, technical rescue, primary
response to biological, chemical, and radioactive hazards, and emergency medical services.
FDNY faces multifaceted firefighting challenges in many ways unique to New York. In addition to
responding to building types that range from wood-frame single family homes to high-rise
structures, the FDNY responds to fires that occur in the New York City Subway.[531] Secluded
bridges and tunnels, as well as large parks and wooded areas that can give rise to brush fires,
also present challenges. The FDNY is headquartered at 9 MetroTech Center in Downtown
Brooklyn,[532] and the FDNY Fire Academy is on Randalls Island.[533]

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in New York City

Rapid transit
 Port Authority Bus Terminal, the world's busiest bus
station, at Eighth Avenue and 42nd Street[534][535]

Mass transit in New York City, most of which runs 24 hours a day, accounts for one in every
three users of mass transit in the country, and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in the
New York City metropolitan area.[536][537]

Buses

New York City's public bus fleet runs 24/7 and is the largest in North America.[538] The New York
City bus system serves the most passengers of any city in the nation: In 2022, MTA New York
City Transit's buses served 483.5 million trips, while MTA Regional Bus Operations handled
100.3 million trips.[539]

The Port Authority Bus Terminal is the city's main intercity bus terminal and the world's busiest
bus station, serving 250,000 passengers on 7,000 buses each workday in a building opened in
1950 that was designed to accommodate 60,000 daily passengers. A 2021 plan announced by
the Port Authority would spend $10 billion to expand capacity and modernize the facility. [535][540]
[534]
In 2024, the Port Authority announced plans for a new terminal that would feature a glass
atrium at a new main entrance on 41st Street.[541][542]

Rail

Main article: New York City Subway

New York City is home to the two busiest train stations in

the United States, Grand Central Terminal (pictured) and Penn Station.
 The New York City Subway, the world's largest rapid
transit system by number of stations

The New York City Subway system is the largest rapid transit system in the world when
measured by stations in operation, with 472, and by length of routes. Nearly all of New York's
subway system is open 24 hours a day, in contrast to the overnight shutdown common to most
subway systems.[543] The New York City Subway is the busiest metropolitan rail transit system in
the Western Hemisphere,[544] with 1.70 billion passenger rides in 2019.[545]

Public transport is widely used in New York City. 54.6% of New Yorkers commuted to work in
2005 using mass transit.[546] This is in contrast to the rest of the country, where 91% of
commuters travel in automobiles to their workplace.[547] According to the New York City
Comptroller, workers in the New York City area spend an average of 6 hours and 18 minutes
getting to work each week, the longest commute time in the nation among large cities.[548] New
York is the only American city in which a majority (52%) of households do not have a car; only
22% of Manhattanites own a car.[549] Due to their high usage of mass transit, New Yorkers spend
less of their household income on transportation than the national average, saving $19 billion
annually on transportation compared to other urban Americans.[550]

New York City's commuter rail network is the largest in North America.[536] The rail network,
connecting New York City to its suburbs, consists of the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North
Railroad, and New Jersey Transit. The combined systems converge at Grand Central Terminal
and New York Penn Station and contain more than 250 stations and 20 rail lines.[536] The
elevated AirTrain JFK in Queens connects JFK International Airport to the New York City Subway
and the Long Island Rail Road.[551] For inter-city rail, New York City is served by Amtrak, whose
busiest station by a significant margin is Penn Station on the West Side of Manhattan, from
which Amtrak provides connections to Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. along
the Northeast Corridor, and long-distance train service to other North American cities.[552]

The Staten Island Railway rapid transit system solely serves Staten Island, operating 24 hours a
day, with access to Manhattan from the St. George Terminal via the Staten Island Ferry.
[553]
The PATH train links Midtown and Lower Manhattan with Hoboken Terminal and Newark
Penn Station in New Jersey, and then those stations with the World Trade Center Oculus across
the Hudson River.[554] Like the New York City Subway, the PATH operates 24 hours a day, meaning
three of the five American rapid transit systems which operate on 24-hour schedules are wholly
or partly in New York.[555] Grand Central Terminal is the world's largest train station by number
of rail platforms and acres occupied.[556]

Multibillion-dollar heavy rail transit projects under construction in New York City include
the Second Avenue Subway.[557]

Air

Main article: Aviation in the New York metropolitan area

John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens

New York's airspace is the busiest in the United States and one of the world's busiest air
corridors. The three busiest airports in the New York metropolitan area are John F. Kennedy
International Airport (with 55.3 million passengers), Newark Liberty International
Airport (43.6 million) and LaGuardia Airport (29.0 million); 127.9 million travelers used these
three airports in 2022.[558] JFK and Newark Liberty were the busiest and fourth-busiest U.S.
gateways for international air passengers, respectively, in 2023.[559] As of 2011, JFK was
the busiest airport for international passengers in North America.[560]

Described in 2014 by then-Vice President Joe Biden as the kind of airport travelers would see in
"some third world country", LaGuardia Airport has undergone an $8 billion project with federal
and state support that has replaced its aging facilities with modern terminals and roadways. [561]
[562][563][564]
Plans have advanced to expand passenger volume at a fourth airport, Stewart
International Airport, near Newburgh, New York, by the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey.[565] Other commercial airports in or serving the New York metropolitan area include Long
Island MacArthur Airport, Trenton–Mercer Airport and Westchester County Airport. The
primary general aviation airport serving the area is Teterboro Airport.

Ferries, taxis and trams

Main articles: Staten Island Ferry, NYC Ferry, Taxis of New York City, and Roosevelt Island
Tramway
 The Staten Island
Ferry shuttles commuters between Manhattan and Staten Island

The Staten Island Ferry is the world's busiest ferry, carrying more than 23 million passengers
from July 2015 through June 2016 on a 5.2-mile (8.4 km) route between Staten Island and
Lower Manhattan and running 24/7.[566][567] Other ferry systems shuttle commuters between
Manhattan and other locales within the city and the metropolitan area. NYC Ferry,
a NYCEDC initiative with routes planned to travel to all five boroughs, was launched in 2017. [568]

Identified by their color and taxi medallion, the city's 13,587 yellow taxicabs are the only
vehicles allowed to pick up riders making street hails throughout the city. [569] Apple green-
colored boro taxis can pick up street hails in Upper Manhattan and the four outer boroughs.
[570]
Long dominated by yellow taxis, high-volume for-hire vehicles from Uber and Lyft have
provided the most trips in the city since December 2016, when the for-hire vehicles and cabs
each had about 10.5 million trips. By October 2023, the 78,000 vehicles-for-hire combined for
20.3 million trips, while 3.5 million trips were in yellow taxis.[571][572]

The Roosevelt Island Tramway, an aerial tramway that began operation in 1976,[573] transports
2 million passengers per year the 3,140 feet (960 m) between Roosevelt Island and 59th
Street and Second Avenue on Manhattan Island.[574]

Cycling network

Main article: Cycling in New York City

Citi Bike bike share service, which started in May 2013

New York City has mixed cycling conditions which include urban density, relatively flat terrain,
congested roadways with stop-and-go traffic, and many pedestrians. The city's large cycling
population includes utility cyclists, such as delivery and messenger services; recreational cycling
clubs; and an increasing number of commuters. Cycling is increasingly popular in New York City;
in 2022 there were approximately 61,200 people who commuted daily using a bicycle and
610,000 daily bike trips, both nearly doubling over the previous decade. [225] As of 2022, New
York City had 1,525 miles (2,454 km) of bike lanes, including 644 miles (1,036 km) of segregated
or "protected" bike lanes citywide.[225]

Streets and highways

Tourists observing Manhattanhenge on 42nd Street on July 12,

2016

Streets are also a defining feature of the city. New York has been found to lead the world in
urban automobile traffic congestion.[30] The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 greatly influenced its
physical development. New York City has an extensive web of freeways and parkways, which
link the city's boroughs to each other and to North Jersey, Westchester County, Long Island, and
southwestern Connecticut through bridges and tunnels. Because these highways serve millions
of outer borough and suburban residents who commute into Manhattan, it is common for
motorists to be stranded for hours in dense traffic congestion that is a daily occurrence,
particularly during rush hour.[575][576] Congestion pricing in New York City, first such program in
the nation,[577] was activated in January 2025, applying to most motor vehicular traffic using the
area of Manhattan south of 60th Street, in an effort to encourage commuters to use rapid
transit instead.[578] Unlike the rest of the country, New York State prohibits turns on red lights in
cities with a population greater than one million, to reduce collisions and increase pedestrian
safety. In New York City, therefore, all turns on red lights are illegal unless a sign permitting such
maneuvers is present.[579]

Bridges and tunnels

Further information: List of bridges and tunnels in New York City and Commissioners' Plan of
1811

The Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge on the East

River

The boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island are located on islands with the same names,
while Queens and Brooklyn are at the west end of the larger Long Island, and the Bronx is on
New York State's mainland. Manhattan Island is linked to the outer boroughs and to New Jersey
by an extensive network of bridges and tunnels. The 14-lane George Washington Bridge,
connecting Manhattan to New Jersey across the Hudson River, is the world's busiest motor
vehicle bridge.[580][581] The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, spanning the Narrows between Brooklyn
and Staten Island, is the longest suspension bridge in the Americas and one of the world's
longest.[582][583] The Brooklyn Bridge, with its stone neo-Gothic suspension towers, is an icon of
the city; opened in 1883, it was the first steel-wire suspension bridge and was the longest
suspension bridge in the world until 1903.[584][585] The Queensboro Bridge "was the
longest cantilever span in North America" from 1909 to 1917.[586] The Manhattan Bridge, opened
in 1909, "is considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges", and its design
"served as the model for the major long-span suspension bridges" of the early 20th century.
[587]
The Throgs Neck Bridge and Whitestone Bridge connect Queens and the Bronx, while
the Triborough Bridge connects Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx.

Lincoln Tunnel

The Lincoln Tunnel, which carries 120,000 vehicles a day under the Hudson River between New
Jersey and Midtown Manhattan, is the busiest vehicular tunnel in the world. [588] The tunnel was
built instead of a bridge to allow unfettered passage of large passenger and cargo ships that
sailed through New York Harbor and up the Hudson River to Manhattan's piers. The Holland
Tunnel, connecting Lower Manhattan to Jersey City, New Jersey, was the first mechanically
ventilated vehicular tunnel when it opened in 1927.[589][590] The Queens–Midtown Tunnel, built
to relieve congestion on the bridges connecting Manhattan with Queens and Brooklyn, was the
largest non-federal project in its time when it was completed in 1940.[591] The Brooklyn–Battery
Tunnel (officially the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) is the longest continuous underwater vehicular
tunnel in North America and runs underneath Battery Park, connecting the Financial District,
Manhattan, to Red Hook, Brooklyn.[592]

Government and politics

Main articles: Government of New York City, Politics of New York City, and Elections in New York
City

Government

New York City Hall

New York City is a metropolitan municipality with a strong mayor–council form of government.
[593]
The city government is responsible for public education, correctional institutions, public
safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services.

The City Council is a unicameral body of 51 council members whose districts are defined by
geographic population boundaries.[594] Each term for the mayor and council members lasts four
years and has a two consecutive-term limit,[595] (reset after a four-year break). The New York City
Administrative Code, the New York City Rules, and The City Record are the code of local laws,
compilation of regulations, and official journal, respectively.[596][597]

Each borough is coextensive with a judicial district of the state Unified Court System, of which
the Criminal Court and the Civil Court are the local courts, while the New York Supreme
Court conducts major trials and appeals. Manhattan hosts the First Department of the Supreme
Court, Appellate Division, while Brooklyn hosts the Second Department. There are several
extrajudicial administrative courts, which are executive agencies and not part of the state
Unified Court System.

New York City is divided between, and is host to the main branches of, two different U.S. district
courts: the District Court for the Southern District of New York, whose main courthouse is
on Foley Square in Manhattan and whose jurisdiction includes Manhattan and the Bronx;
[598]
and the District Court for the Eastern District of New York, whose main courthouse is in
Brooklyn and whose jurisdiction includes Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. [599] The U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Second Circuit and U.S. Court of International Trade are also based on Foley
Square.[600][601]

Politics

Eric Adams, the current Mayor of New York City

The city's mayor is Eric Adams, a Democrat who was elected in 2021.[602] The Democratic Party
holds the majority of public offices. As of November 2023, 67% of active registered voters in the
city are Democrats and 10.2% are Republicans.[603] New York City has not been carried by a
Republican presidential candidate since 1924, and no Republican candidate for statewide office
has won all five boroughs since the city was incorporated in 1898. In redistricting following the
2020 census, 14 of New York's 26 congressional districts include portions of New York City.[604]

New York City is a significant source of political fundraising.[605] The city has a strong imbalance
of payments with the national and state governments. It receives 83 cents in services for every
$1 it sends to the federal government in taxes (or annually sends $11.4 billion more than it
receives back). City residents and businesses also sent an additional $4.1 billion in the 2009–
2010 fiscal year to the state than the city received in return.[606]

International relations

Main article: List of sister cities of New York City

In 2006, the sister city program[607] was restructured as New York City Global Partners. New
York's historic sister cities are denoted below by the year they joined New York City's
partnership network.[608]
 showNew York City Global Partners network

Notable people

Main article: List of people from New York City

See also

 Index of New York City-related articles

 Outline of New York City

Notes

1. ^ The highest point in New York City is Todt Hill.

2. ^ To distinguish it from the state of New York

3. ^ Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the expected highest and lowest
temperature readings at any point during the year or given month) calculated
based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020

4. ^ Official weather observations for Central Park were conducted at the Arsenal at
Fifth Avenue and 64th Street from 1869 to 1919, and at Belvedere Castle since
1919.[210]

5. ^ 1880 & 1890 figures include part of the Bronx. Beginning with 1900, figures are
for consolidated city of five boroughs. Sources: 1698–1771,[241] 1790–1990,
[98]
2000 and 2010 Censuses,[242] 2020 Census.[4][5]

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