Like one of their other signature songs, "Let's Dance to Joy Division", the song was written by lead singer Matthew Murphy after an experience he had at a nightclub in the band's home city of Liverpool; however, whereas "Let's Dance to Joy Division" was inspired by spending a joyous night out with his then-girlfriend, Murphy wrote "Moving to New York" after being told by a girl he liked that she was going to stay in for the night before he went out to a nightclub and saw her there.

[1] "Moving to New York" was classified Silver by the BPI in 2015, meaning it has sold over 200,000 copies in the UK alone.

Track listings of major single releases of "Moving to New York".

[2] The song was used in the end credits of the sitcom The Inbetweeners in the episode "Thorpe Park".

The song has also been remixed and released as a single by trance music DJ Paul van Dyk.