New York metropolitan area

[23] Greater New York, known as the financial capital of the world, is also the hub of multiple industries, including health care, pharmaceuticals, and scientific output in life sciences,[24][25] international trade, publishing, real estate, education, fashion, entertainment, tourism, law, and manufacturing; and if the New York metropolitan area were an independent sovereign state, it would constitute the eighth-largest economy in the world.

[27][31] According to Forbes, in 2014, the New York metropolitan area was home to eight of the top ten ZIP Codes in the United States by median housing price, with six in Manhattan alone.

The Hudson Valley and Connecticut are sometimes grouped together and referred to as the Northern Suburbs, largely because of the shared usage of the Metro-North Railroad system.

Although prevailing winds in winter are offshore, and temper the moderating effects of the Atlantic Ocean, the Atlantic and the partial shielding by the Appalachians from colder air keep the New York area warmer in the winter than inland North American metropolitan areas located at similar or lesser latitudes including Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis.

The South Fork, in particular, comprises numerous towns and villages known collectively as "The Hamptons" and has an international reputation as a "playground for the rich and famous", with some of the wealthiest communities in the United States.

In 2015, according to Business Insider, the 11962 zip code encompassing Sagaponack, within Southampton, was listed as the most expensive in the U.S. by real estate-listings site Property Shark, with a median home sale price of $5,125,000.

[86] During the summer season, many celebrities and the wealthy visit or reside in mansions and waterfront homes, while others spend weekends enjoying the beaches, gardens, bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.

Southern Westchester County contains more densely populated areas and includes the cities of Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, and White Plains.

Many of the suburban communities of Westchester are known for their affluence and expense (some examples: Bronxville, Scarsdale, Chappaqua, Armonk, Pound Ridge, Katonah, and Briarcliff Manor).

After years of lingering pollution, cleanup efforts to improve the Hudson River water quality are currently planned and will be supervised by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

[90][91] The region also encompasses a significant portion of the Jersey Shore, including the cities of Red Bank, Long Branch, and Asbury Park.

The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the geologic foundation for much of the New York metropolitan region today.

The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor greeted millions of immigrants as they came to America by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries[110] and is a globally recognized symbol of the United States and its democracy.

New York newspapers were read around the country as media moguls James Gordon Bennett, Sr., Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst battled for readership.

The Broadway Theater District began to develop with the opening of the New York Subway in 1904 and, by the early part of the twentieth century, had been made world-famous as New York's theatrical and entertainment center through popular musical productions like Ziegfeld Follies and Show Boat and the opening of multiple large, extravagantly decorated theatres in the area spanning Broadway from 47th to 42nd Streets.

Businesses led an exodus from Lower Manhattan because of this but were replaced by an increased number of high-rise residences and a building boom in New York continues to this day.

On October 29 and 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive destruction in the metropolitan area, ravaging portions of the Atlantic coastline with record-high storm surge, severe flooding, and high winds, causing power outages for millions of residents via downed trees and power lines and malfunctions at electrical substations, leading to gasoline shortages and snarling mass transit systems.

Damage to New York and New Jersey in terms of physical infrastructure and private property as well as including interrupted commerce was estimated at several tens of billions of dollars.

[114] The storm and its profound impacts have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of the metropolitan area to minimize the risk of destructive consequences from another such event in the future.

Asian Americans in New York City, according to the 2010 Census, number more than one million, greater than the combined totals of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

[140][141] The Han Chinese population constitutes the fastest-growing ethnicity in New York State; multiple satellites of the original Manhattan Chinatown (紐約華埠), in Brooklyn (布鲁克林華埠), and around Flushing, Queens (法拉盛華埠), are thriving as traditionally urban enclaves, while also expanding rapidly eastward into suburban Nassau County.

[31][182] Finance, international trade, new and traditional media, real estate, education, fashion and entertainment, tourism, biotechnology, and manufacturing are the leading industries in the area.

The New York metropolitan area's most important economic sector lies in its role as the headquarters for the U.S. financial industry, metonymously known as Wall Street.

[193] Lower Manhattan is the third-largest central business district in the United States and is home to both the New York Stock Exchange, on Wall Street, and the NASDAQ, at 165 Broadway, 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.

[195] In July 2013, NYSE Euronext, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange, took over the administration of the London interbank offered rate from the British Bankers Association.

High technology startup companies and employment are growing in New York and across the metropolitan region, bolstered by the city's emergence as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance,[199] and environmental sustainability,[200][201] as well as New York's position as the leading Internet hub and telecommunications center in North America, including its vicinity to several transatlantic fiber optic trunk lines,[202] the city's intellectual capital, and its extensive outdoor wireless connectivity.

[203] 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.

[204] The biotechnology sector is also growing in the New York metropolitan region, based upon its strength in academic scientific research and public and commercial financial support.

[205][206] 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.

Local television channels broadcasting to the New York market include WCBS-TV 2 (CBS), WNBC 4 (NBC), WNYW 5 (FOX), WABC-TV 7 (ABC), WWOR-TV 9 (MyNetworkTV), WPIX 11 (CW), WNET 13 (PBS), WNYE-TV 25 (NYC Media) and WPXN-TV 31 (Ion).

A nighttime view of the New York metropolitan area, with Long Island extending 120 miles (190 km) eastward from Manhattan , the area's central core
Part of the Palisades Interstate Park , the cliffs of the New Jersey Palisades in Bergen County, New Jersey , overlooking the Hudson River , The Bronx , and Upper Manhattan in New York City
Enveloped by the Atlantic Ocean and Long Island Sound , New York City and Long Island are home to approximately 11 million residents combined
The New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area
High Point Monument seen from Lake Marcia at High Point in Sussex County, New Jersey , the highest elevation in New Jersey at 1,803 feet (550 m) above sea level. [ 36 ]
A welcome sign in Garden City in Nassau County on Long Island
Westhampton , Suffolk County, New York , on the East End of Long Island in December 2008
Great Neck North High School in Great Neck , Nassau County
The Otto Kahn Estate on Long Island's historic North Shore . The Gilded Age estate served as partial inspiration for the Gatsby estate in F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby . [ 75 ]
Sugarloaf Hill in Putnam County, New York , in the Hudson Valley
Bear Mountain Bridge , which connects Westchester and Orange counties in New York State , across the Hudson River
Mohonk Mountain House in Ulster County, New York , in the Hudson Valley , was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. [ 88 ]
The Great Falls of the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey , which was dedicated as a National Historical Park in November 2011, incorporates one of the largest waterfalls on the U.S. East Coast . [ 89 ]
Downtown Trenton in Mercer County , including the New Jersey State House , topped by its golden dome, alongside the Delaware River
Downtown New Brunswick , an educational and cultural hub of Central Jersey
Mohawk Mountain Ski Area in Cornwall , in the Berkshire Mountains
Dingmans Falls in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pike County, Pennsylvania in Northeastern Pennsylvania
Downtown Stamford in Fairfield County, Connecticut
The New Haven Green Historic District in Connecticut , which was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1970 [ 96 ]
An aerial view of Newark , the most populous city in New Jersey
Yonkers Public Library in Yonkers in Westchester County, New York
Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut , the most populous city in Fairfield County
Paterson , Passaic County, New Jersey, known as the "Silk City", [ 97 ] seen here from Garret Mountain Reservation , is a prime destination for a diverse pool of international immigrants . [ 98 ] [ 99 ]
Urban areas within the New York City combined statistical area as of the 2020 census. At the core of the New York combined statistical area (CSA) lies the New York– Jersey City – Newark , NY–NJ urban area , the largest in the United States by both area and population. Within the boundaries of the CSA the Census Bureau defines 32 other urban areas as well, some forming the core of their own metropolitan areas not within the New York metropolitan statistical area. [ 101 ] Urban areas situated primarily outside the New York metropolitan statistical area but within the CSA are identified with a cross (†).
Urban areas
Counties in the New York MSA
Counties in the New York CSA but not the MSA
A pen drawing of two men in 16th-century Dutch clothing presenting an open box of items to a group of Native Americans in feather headdresses stereotypical of plains tribes.
Peter Minuit , who purchased Manhattan in 1626
A painting of a coastline dotted with red roof houses and a windmill, with several masted ships sailing close to shore under blue sky
New Amsterdam , including present-day Lower Manhattan , in 1664, the year England took control and renamed it New York
Liberty Enlightening the World , known as the Statue of Liberty , on Liberty Island in New York Harbor , a globally recognized symbol of both the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. [ 109 ]
The main concourse of Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan , which opened in 1913
United Nations Headquarters , established in Midtown Manhattan in 1952
A flooded Avenue C in Manhattan just moments before the explosion at an electrical substation
Little Italy on the Lower East Side of Manhattan , c. 1900
Unisphere in Flushing Meadows – Corona Park , iconic of Queens , the most ethnically diverse U.S. county and a borough of New York [ 117 ] [ 118 ]
India Square in Jersey City, New Jersey , known as Little Bombay, [ 127 ] home to the highest concentration of Asian Indians in the Western Hemisphere . [ 128 ]
Bergen County, New Jersey , home to each of the top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population, led by Palisades Park (above), a borough where Koreans constitute the majority (52%) of the population [ 129 ] [ 130 ]
Spanish Harlem Orchestra in Spanish Harlem ; New York City is home to nearly three million Latino Americans , the largest Hispanic population of any city outside Latin America and Spain
Several men in red and yellow outfits carry a colorful paper dragon in the street while onlookers watch behind police barriers.
Chinatown in Manhattan , home to the largest population of Chinese people outside of Asia , with over 750,000 as of 2013. [ 131 ] [ 132 ]
The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree , considered the "worldwide symbol of Christmas ", is an annual staple of the New York metropolitan area during the Holiday season [ 135 ]
The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest gay and bisexual community in the United States and one of the world's largest. [ 136 ] [ 137 ]
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on the North Shore of Long Island , an internationally renowned biomedical research facility and home to eight scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
NYSE on Wall Street , the world's largest stock market by total market capitalization of listed companies. [ 183 ] [ 184 ]
Manhattan's Flatiron District was the cradle of Silicon Alley, now metonymous for the New York metropolitan region's high tech sector, which has since expanded beyond the area. [ 185 ]
Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal on Newark Bay is the busiest container terminal on the East Coast of the United States .
Low Library , the Neoclassical centerpiece of the Columbia University campus
The New York City Subway is the world's largest rapid transit system by length of routes and by number of stations .
The Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rapid transit rail system connects Manhattan and metropolitan North Jersey beneath the Hudson River.
An Acela Express train going to New York. The Acela Express, operated by Amtrak through the Northeast Corridor , is the sole high-speed rail service in the country.
The George Washington Bridge , connecting Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan across the Hudson River to Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey, is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge. [ 243 ] [ 244 ] Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge, while U.S. Route 46 , which lies entirely within New Jersey, ends halfway across the bridge at the state border with New York.
The Walkway over the Hudson , the world's longest pedestrian bridge, [ 245 ] connects Ulster and Dutchess counties in New York.
The Long Island Expressway (I-495) , viewing eastbound in Corona, Queens .
Governor Alfred E. Driscoll Bridge in Middlesex County connects Woodbridge and Sayreville , New Jersey across the Raritan River .
Merritt Parkway southbound in Fairfield County , Connecticut.
View south along the northbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway from the overpass for the Capital to Coast Trail in Wall Township , Monmouth County , New Jersey .
The Brooklyn Bridge connects Manhattan and Brooklyn .
Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge , one of the world's longest suspension bridges , [ 246 ] [ 247 ] connects Brooklyn and Staten Island across The Narrows .
Great South Bay Bridge , in Suffolk County , connects Long Island with the barrier islands across the Great South Bay .
The AirTrain at JFK International Airport in Jamaica, Queens in April 2007
View of Manhattan from the Airtrain at Newark Liberty International Airport in November 2015
Metropolitan Museum of Art , part of Museum Mile in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood of Manhattan's Upper East Side , is one of the largest and most visited museums in the world. [ 253 ]
Citi Field in Flushing, Queens , home of the New York Mets
Yankee Stadium in the South Bronx , home of the New York Yankees and New York City FC
MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey , home to the New York Giants and New York Jets , was the most expensive stadium ever built, [ 254 ] at approximately $1.6 billion. [ 255 ]
Travel + Leisure magazine's October 2011 survey named Times Square in Midtown Manhattan , iconified as the "Crossroads of the World", [ 256 ] [ 257 ] [ 258 ] [ 259 ] [ 260 ] the world's most visited tourist attraction with over 39 million visitors annually. [ 261 ]
Skyline of Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey , the world's largest theme park [ 272 ] To the far left is Kingda Ka , the world's tallest roller coaster until its closure in 2024. [ 273 ]