Economy of New York City
[5] Anchored by Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City has been characterized as the world's premier financial center.
[12] New York City is distinctive for its high concentrations of advanced service sector firms in the law, accountancy, banking, and management consultancy fields.
Finance, health care and life sciences,[13] high technology and biotechnology, real estate, and insurance all form the basis of New York City's economy.
Creative industries such as digital media, advertising, fashion, design, and architecture account for a growing share of employment.
[17] New York City is a global hub of business and commerce, as a center for banking and finance, retailing, world trade, transportation, tourism, real estate, new media, traditional media, advertising, legal services, accountancy, insurance, theater, fashion, and the arts in the United States; while Silicon Alley, metonymous for New York's broad-spectrum high technology sphere, continues to expand.
The Port of New York and New Jersey is also a major economic engine, handling record cargo volume in 2017, over 6.7 million TEUs.
[28] Entrepreneurs were forming a "Chocolate District" in Brooklyn as of 2014[update],[29] while Godiva, one of the world's largest chocolatiers, continues to be headquartered in Manhattan.
[30] New York City's most important economic sector lies in its role as the headquarters for the U.S. financial industry, metonymously known as "Wall Street".
[36] New York City remains the largest global center for trading in public equity and debt capital markets, driven in part by the size and financial development of the U.S.
[37]: 34–35 Some of the largest commercial and investment banks in the world are headquartered in New York City: including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Morgan Stanley.
In 2015, Silicon Alley generated over US$7.3 billion in venture capital investment across a broad spectrum of high technology enterprises,[42] most based in Manhattan, with others in Brooklyn, Queens, and elsewhere in the region.
High technology startup companies and employment are growing in New York City and the metropolitan region, bolstered by the city's position in North America as the leading Internet hub and telecommunications center, including its vicinity to several transatlantic fiber optic trunk lines,[43] New York's intellectual capital, and its extensive outdoor wireless connectivity.
[44] Verizon Communications, headquartered at 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan, was at the final stages in 2014 of completing a US$3 billion fiberoptic telecommunications upgrade throughout New York City.
On December 19, 2011, then Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced his choice of Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to build a US$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.
[49][50] By mid-2014, Accelerator, a biotech investment firm, had raised more than US$30 million from investors, including Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson, for initial funding to create biotechnology startups at the Alexandria Center for Life Science, which encompasses more than 700,000 square feet (65,000 m2) on East 29th Street and promotes collaboration among scientists and entrepreneurs at the center and with nearby academic, medical, and research institutions.
The city has the most post-graduate life sciences degrees awarded annually in the United States, 60,000 licensed physicians, and 127 Nobel laureates with roots in local institutions.
[52] The Smithsonian magazine remarked the importance of family and community ties due to high levels of trust required in the diamond trade.
The magazine further remarked how even in New York, trade was reputation based and businesses family oriented in order to maintain trust.
[55] According to Forbes, in 2014, Manhattan was home to six of the top ten ZIP Codes in the United States by median housing price.
[57] In 2019, the most expensive home sale ever in the United States achieved completion in Manhattan, at a selling price of US$238 million, for a 24,000 square feet (2,200 m2) penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park.
Examples of goods manufactured in the city include Broadway costumes, custom-made cabinets, croissants for hotels, and wooden crates for shipping fine art.
In recent years, as real estate and globalization pressures have increased, the remaining manufacturers have become more design-oriented and single customer-focused.
The facility processes used cooking oil collected by TSB from over 2000[60] New York restaurants with methanol and a catalyst to create biodiesel fuel.
[61] In 2015, fewer than 23,000 New York City residents were employed in the manufacture of garments, accessories, and finished textiles, although efforts to revive the industry were underway.
These companies represent a broad array of industries including shipping, steel, energy and manufacturing firms, and services.
Some cargo shipping remains; for example, Brooklyn still handles the majority of cocoa bean imports to the United States.
New York is a prominent location for the American entertainment industry, with many films, television series, books, and other media being set there.
