The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous

urban agglomeration An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

s in the world. The vast metropolitan area includes

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, the Mid and Lower

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

in the

State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...

; the six largest cities in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

, Jersey City, Paterson,

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

, Lakewood, and Edison, and their vicinities; and six of the seven largest cities in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnoc ...

, Stamford,

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Waterbury Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 202 ...

, Norwalk, and

Danbury Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

, and the vicinities of these cities. The New York metropolitan area comprises the geographic and demographic hub of the larger

Northeast megalopolis The Northeast megalopolis, also known as the Northeast Corridor, Acela Corridor, Boston–Washington corridor, or BosWash, is the world's largest megalopolis in terms of economic output and the second most populous megalopolis in the United St ...

. The New York metropolitan area is the most populous in the United States, as defined by both the

Metropolitan Statistical Area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...

(20.1 million residents in 2020) and the

Combined Statistical Area Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...

(23.6 million residents in 2020). The metropolitan area is home to approximately 6% of the United States' population. It is the tenth largest

in the world. The New York metropolitan area continues to be the premier gateway for legal

immigration to the United States Immigration has been a major source of population growth and Culture of the United States, cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. In absolute numbers, the United States has a larger immigrant population than a ...

, having the largest foreign-born population of any metropolitan region in the world. The MSA covers , while the CSA area is , encompassing an ethnically and geographically diverse region. The New York metropolitan area's population is larger than that of the state of New York, and the metropolitan airspace accommodated over 130 million passengers in 2016. As the hub of multiple industries, including finance, health care, pharmaceuticals, and life sciences,

international trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...

, publishing, real estate, education, fashion,

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

, tourism, law, and manufacturing, the New York metropolitan area estimated to produce a

gross metropolitan product Gross metropolitan product (GMP) is a monetary measure of the value of all final goods and services produced within a metropolitan statistical area during a specified period (''e.g.'', a quarter, a year). GMP estimates are commonly used to compare ...

(GMP) of $2.1 trillion as of 2022, representing the largest metropolitan economy worldwide; and if the New York metropolitan area were an independent

sovereign state A sovereign state or sovereign country, is a polity, political entity represented by one central government that has supreme legitimate authority over territory. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defin ...

, it would constitute the eighth-largest economy in the world. It is the most prominent financial,
diplomatic, and

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

hub in the world. According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', 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 Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

alone. The New York metropolitan area also contains five of the top ten richest places in America, according to

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...

. These are

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...

;

Short Hills, New Jersey Short Hills is an unincorporated community located within Millburn Township, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a popular commuter town for residents who work in New York City. As of the 2020 United States Census, the CDP's pop ...

;

Old Greenwich, Connecticut Old Greenwich is an affluent coastal village in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 6,611. The town of Greenwich is one political and taxing body, but consists of several distinct section ...

; Bronxville, New York; and

Darien, Connecticut Darien ( ) is a coastal town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. With a population of 21,499 and a land area of just under 13 square miles, it is the smallest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It has the youngest population of any ...

. The New York metropolitan region's higher education network comprises hundreds of colleges and universities, including

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

and three

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

: Columbia,

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

, and

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

Definitions

Metropolitan statistical area

The

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

and county groupings constituting the New York metropolitan area are listed below, with 2010 census figures: New York City, Southern RI and CT, illuminated at night

New York City, Southern RI and CT, illuminated at night

The U.S.

Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...

utilizes two definitions of the area: the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and the combined statistical area (CSA). The MSA definition is titled the ''New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area'', and includes a population of 20.3 million people by 2017 Census estimates, roughly 1 in 16 Americans and nearly 7 million more than the second-place

Los Angeles metropolitan area Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino C ...

in the United States. The MSA is further subdivided into four metropolitan divisions. The 23-county MSA includes 10 counties in

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

(coextensive with the five boroughs of New York, the two remaining counties of

, and three counties in the

Lower Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...

); 12 counties in Northern and

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

; and one county in northeastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The largest

urbanized area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

in the United States is at the heart of the metropolitan area, the ''New York–Newark, NY–NJ–CT Urbanized Area'' (which had a land area of 3,450 square miles in 2010 according to the 2010 census). The New York state portion of the metropolitan area (the Five Boroughs, the lower Hudson Valley, and Long Island) accounts for over 65 percent of the state's population. New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ–PA Metropolitan Statistical Area (19,043,386) * New York–Jersey City–White Plains, NY–NJ Metropolitan Division (11,732,233) **

Kings County, NY Brooklyn () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county i ...

''(the borough of Brooklyn in NYC)'' ** Queens County, NY ''(the borough of Queens in NYC)'' ** New York County, NY ''(the borough of Manhattan in NYC)'' ** Bronx County, NY ''(the borough of The Bronx in NYC)'' ** Richmond County, NY ''(the borough of Staten Island in NYC)'' ** Westchester County, NY **

Bergen County, NJ Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Hudson County, NJ ** Passaic County, NJ ** Putnam County, NY **

Rockland County, NY Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of th ...

* Nassau County–Suffolk County, NY Metropolitan Division (2,832,882) ** Suffolk County, NY **

Nassau County, NY Nassau County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 U.S. census, Nassau County's population is 1,395,774. The county seat is Mineola and the largest town is Hempstead. Nassau County is situated on western Long Isla ...

* New Brunswick-Lakewood, NJ Metropolitan Division (2,383,854) **

Middlesex County, NJ Middlesex County is located in central New Jersey, United States, extending inland from the Raritan Valley region to the northern portion of the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 United States Census, the county's population was enumerated at 863,1 ...

** Monmouth County, NJ ** Ocean County, NJ ** Somerset County, NJ *

, NJ–PA Metropolitan Division (2,174,944) ** Essex County, NJ ** Union County, NJ ** Morris County, NJ ** Sussex County, NJ ** Hunterdon County, NJ ** Pike County, PA

Combined statistical area

Combined statistical area Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...

s (CSAs) group together adjacent core-based statistical areas with a high degree of economic interconnection. The New York–Newark, NY–NJ–CT–PA Combined Statistical Area had an estimated population of 23.7 million as of 2014. About one out of every fifteen Americans resides in this region, which includes eight additional counties in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. This area, less the Pennsylvania portion, is often referred to as the ''tri-state area'' and less commonly the ''tri-state region''. The New York City television

designated market area A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

(DMA) includes

Pike County, Pennsylvania Pike County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,535. Its county seat is Milford. Pike County is included in the New York- Newark-Jersey City, ...

, which is also included in the CSA. In addition to the New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY–NJ–PA metropolitan statistical areas (MSA), the following core-based statistical areas are also included in the New York–Newark, NY–NJ–CT–PA CSA: * Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk–Danbury, CT MSA (916,829) **

Fairfield County Fairfield County is the name of three counties in the United States: * Fairfield County, Connecticut * Fairfield County, Ohio Fairfield County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,921. ...

–

Milford, CT Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between New Haven and Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the village of Devon and the borough of Woodmont. ...

MSA (862,477) **

New Haven County, Connecticut New Haven County is a county in the south central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 864,835, making it the third-most populous county in Connecticut. Two of the state's top 5 largest cities, New ...

* Trenton- Princeton, NJ MSA (396,811) ** Mercer County *

Torrington, CT Torrington is the most populated municipality and only city in Litchfield County, Connecticut and the Northwest Hills region. It is also the core city of Greater Torrington, one of the largest micropolitan areas in the United States. The city p ...

micropolitan statistical area (189,927) **

Litchfield County Litchfield County is in northwestern Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 185,186. The county was named after Lichfield, in England. Litchfield County has the lowest population density of any county in Connecticut and is the ...

Kingston, NY Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area around Manhattan by the United ...

MSA (182,693) **

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

East Stroudsburg, PA East Stroudsburg is a borough in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the Poconos region of the state. Originally known as "Dansbury", East Stroudsburg was renamed for geographic reasons when the Delaware, Lackawanna, and ...

MSA (169,842) **

Monroe County, Pennsylvania Monroe County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 168,327. Its county seat is Stroudsburg. The county was formed from sections of Northampton ...

* Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY MSA (670,301) ** Dutchess County ** Orange County, NY

Geography

High Point Monument and Lake Marcia framed

The area is frequently divided into the following subregions: *

(the primary urban center of the metropolitan region, comprising five

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

, one of which is

, the geographical, cultural, and economic core of the entire metropolitan area) * Central and eastern

(

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

and Suffolk Counties – separated by water from the rest of the region except New York City; not including

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

County or Kings County (

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

), which are concurrent with two of New York's five boroughs) *

North Jersey North Jersey comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. The designation of northern New Jersey with a distinct toponym is a colloquial one rather than an administrati ...

(northern portion of New Jersey) *

Central Jersey Central Jersey is the central region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The designation of Central New Jersey is a distinct administrative toponym. Geographic area and descriptions While the State of New Jersey is often divided into North and ...

(middle portion of New Jersey) *

(Lower Hudson Valley suburbs of Westchester, Putnam, and Rockland Counties; and Mid-Hudson

exurb An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing density, and growth. It s ...

s of Dutchess, Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster Counties) * Western Connecticut (Only Fairfield,

, and Litchfield Counties are part of the region and separated by the state line) * Southern and Eastern Poconos ( Monroe and

Pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

Counties in Pennsylvania) All eight subregions are often further subdivided. For instance, Long Island can be divided into its

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and North Shores (usually when speaking about Nassau County and western Suffolk County) and the East End. 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.

Subregions

New York City

The geographical, cultural, and economic center of the metropolitan area is New York City, the most populous city in the United States and has been described as the capital of the world. The city consists of five

, each of which is coterminous with a county of New York State. The five boroughs –

, the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, and

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

– were consolidated into a single city in 1898. With a Census-estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 8,550,405 in 2015 (8,491,079 in 2014), distributed over a land area of just , New York is the most densely populated major city in the United States.US-25S&-_lang=en ''County and City Data Book:2007'' (U.S. Census Bureau), Table B-1, Area and Population
, Retrieved July 12, 2008. A global power city, New York City exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, health care and life sciences, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment, its fast pace defining the term '' New York minute''. Home to the

headquarters of the United Nations zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...

, New York is an important center for

international diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

. New York is a global city and has been described as the

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...

, financial,

, and

capital of the world, as well as the world's most economically powerful city.

Long Island

Long Island, the most populous island in the United States, is located just off the northeast coast of the United States and is a region wholly included within both the U.S. state of New York and the New York metropolitan area. Extending 118 miles east-northeast of

Roosevelt Island, Manhattan Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. Running from the equivalent of East 46th to 8 ...

from New York Harbor into the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, the island comprises four counties: Kings and Queens (these form the New York

and

, respectively) to the west; then

and Suffolk to the east. However, most people in the New York metropolitan area (even those living in Queens and Brooklyn) colloquially use the term "Long Island" (or "The Island") exclusively to refer to the Nassau-Suffolk county area collectively, which is mainly

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

an in character. North of the island is

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

, across which are the U.S. states of

and

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. With a population of 8,063,232 enumerated at the

2020 U.S. Census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...

, constituting nearly 40% of New York State's population, the majority of New York City residents, 58.4% as of 2020, live on Long Island, namely the estimated 4,896,398 residents living in the

New York City boroughs New York City is composed of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York State, making New York City the largest U.S. municipality situated in mul ...

and

.
Accessed July 21, 2017. Long Island is the List of islands by population, most populated island in any U.S. state or territory, and the 17th-most populous island in the world (ahead of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, and

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

). Its

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

is . If Long Island geographically constituted an independent metropolitan statistical area, it would rank fourth most populous in the United States; while if it were a U.S. state, Long Island would rank 13th in population and first in population density. Queens is the most

ethnically diverse The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

urban area in the world. The

Town of Hempstead The Town of Hempstead (also known historically as South Hempstead) is the largest of the three towns in Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead and Oyster Bay) in the U.S. state of New York. It occupies the southwestern part of the county, on t ...

in Nassau County, with an estimated population of 770,367 in 2016, is the most populous municipality in the New York metropolitan area outside of New York City. Long Island is also the 17th most populous island in the world, but is more prominently known for recreation, boating, and miles of public beaches, including numerous town, county, and state parks, as well as

Fire Island National Seashore Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) is a United States National Seashore that protects a section of Fire Island, an approximately long and wide barrier island separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay. The island is part of New York S ...

and wealthy and expensive coastal residential enclaves. Along the north shore, the Gold Coast of Long Island, featured in the film ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby ...

'', is an upscale section of Nassau and western Suffolk counties that once featured many lavish mansions built and inhabited by wealthy business tycoons in the earlier years of the 20th century, of which only a few remain preserved as historic sites. The East End of Long Island (known as the "Twin Forks" because of its physical shape) boasts open spaces for farmland and

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, b ...

. The South Fork, in particular, comprises numerous towns and villages known collectively as "

The Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End of Long Island, consist of the towns of Southampton and East Hampton, which together comprise the South Fork of Long Island, in Suffolk County, New York. The Hamptons are a popular seaside resort and one o ...

" 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 ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German pub ...

'', the 11962 zip code encompassing Sagaponack, within

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, 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. 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. Long Island is served by a network of parkways and

expressways Expressway may refer to: *Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic. *Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road. *Expressway, the fictional slide ...

, with the

Long Island Expressway Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music men ...

Northern State Parkway The Northern State Parkway (also known as the Northern Parkway or Northern State) is a limited-access state parkway on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. The western terminus is at the Queens– Nassau County line, where the parkway conti ...

, and

Southern State Parkway The Southern State Parkway (also known as the Southern State or Southern Parkway; abbreviated as SO on signage) is a limited-access highway on Long Island, New York, in the United States. The parkway begins at an interchange with the Belt and C ...

being major east–west routes across significant portions of the island.

Commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

access is provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Long Island Rail Road, one of the largest commuter railroads in the United States. Air travel needs are served by several airports. Within Queens, the island is home to

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...

and

LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...

, two of the three major airline hubs serving the New York area (with Newark Liberty International Airport being the third; all three major airports are operated by The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey).

Long Island MacArthur Airport Long Island MacArthur Airport (formerly known as Islip Airport) is a public airport in Ronkonkoma, New York, on Long Island. The Town of Islip owns and operates the airport, which serves about two million airline passengers a year, as well as g ...

(serving commercial airlines) and Farmingdale/Republic Airport (private and commuter flights) are both located in Suffolk County.

Lower Hudson Valley

Known for its hilly terrain, picturesque settings, and quaint small towns and

villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

, the Lower Hudson Valley is centered around the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

north of New York City and lies within New York State. Westchester and Putnam counties are located on the eastern side of the river, and Rockland and

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

counties are located on the western side of the river. Westchester and Rockland counties are connected by the heavily trafficked

New Tappan Zee Bridge New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

, as well as by the

Bear Mountain Bridge The Bear Mountain Bridge, ceremonially named the Purple Heart Veterans Memorial Bridge, is a toll suspension bridge in New York State. It carries US 6 and US 202 across the Hudson River between Bear Mountain State Park in Orange Co ...

near their northern ends. Several branches of the MTA Metro-North Railroad serve the region's rail commuters. Southern Westchester County contains more densely populated areas and includes the cities of Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, and White Plains. Although many of the suburban communities of Westchester are known for their affluence and expense (some examples: Bronxville, Scarsdale, Chappaqua, Armonk, Katonah, and Briarcliff Manor), the Lower Hudson Valley as a whole is one of the fastest-growing areas in the metropolitan area because of high housing costs in New York and the inner suburbs. Historically, the valley was home to many factories, including paper mills, but a significant number have closed. 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 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

(EPA).

Mid-Hudson Valley

The Mid-Hudson Valley region of the

is midway between New York City and the state capital of Albany. The area includes the counties of

Dutchess Dutchess County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie, New York, Poughkeeps ...

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

, and Sullivan, as well as the northern portions of

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

, with the region's main cities being

Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie ...

, Newburgh, Kingston, and

Beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

. The Walkway over the Hudson, is the second longest pedestrian

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

in the world. It crosses the

connecting

and

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

. The 13 mile-long

Dutchess Rail Trail The Dutchess Rail Trail is a rail trail that stretches from the former Hopewell Junction train depot, north to the Poughkeepsie entrance of the Walkway over the Hudson. It's a shared use rail trail open for pedestrians and bicyclers. The Dutc ...

stretches from Hopewell Junction to the beginning of the Walkway over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie. The area is home to the Wappingers Central School District, which the second-largest school district in the

state of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...

. The Newburgh Waterfront in the City of Newburgh is home to many high-end restaurants.

U.S. Route 9 U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a north–south United States highway in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the Northeastern United States. It is one of only two U.S. Highways with a ferry connection (the Cape May–Lewes Ferry, between ...

I-84 Interstate 84 may refer to: * Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N * Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts) Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...

, and the

Taconic State Parkway The Taconic State Parkway (often called the Taconic or the TSP and known administratively as New York State Route 987G or NY 987G) is a parkway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest in the U.S. state of New York. It follows ...

all run through Dutchess County. Metro-North Railroad train station, New Hamburg, is located in the Town of

and runs from

to Grand Central Terminal in

Northern New Jersey

Northern New Jersey, also known colloquially as ''North Jersey'', is typically defined as comprising the following counties: * Bergen County * Essex County * Somerset County (anything north of Bridgewater Township) *

Hudson County Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...

Hunterdon County Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 128,947, making it the state's 18th-most populous county,Readington Township) * Morris County * Passaic County * Sussex County * Union County *

Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: * Warren County, Georgia * Warren County, Illinois * Warren County ...

The New Jersey State Department of Tourism splits North Jersey into the urban

Gateway Region The Gateway Region is the primary urbanized area of the northeastern section of New Jersey. It is anchored by Newark, the state's most populous city. While sometimes known as the Newark metropolitan area, it is part of the New York metropolitan ...

and the more rural Skylands Region. Northern New Jersey is home to four of the largest cities of that state:

, Jersey City, Paterson, and

. The region is geographically diverse with

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s, mountains, and valleys throughout the area. It has a large network of

and public transportation rail services, mostly operated by

New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

. Northern New Jersey also contains the second busiest airport in the New York metropolitan area, Newark Liberty International Airport. Although it is a suburban and rural region of New York, much of the

is highly urbanized. The entirety of Hudson County, eastern Essex County, southern Passaic County as well as

in Union County are all densely populated areas.

Central New Jersey

is the middle portion of the state of New Jersey. Municipalities including Trenton (the

state capital Below is an index of pages containing lists of capital cities. National capitals *List of national capitals * List of national capitals by latitude *List of national capitals by population * List of national capitals by area * List of capital c ...

of New Jersey and the only U.S. state capital within the New York metropolitan area) and

(home to

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

) are located in this subregion, as is a significant portion of the

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...

. * Middlesex County * Mercer County * Monmouth County *

Ocean County Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Its county seat is Toms River.Union County *

Hunterdon County Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 128,947, making it the state's 18th-most populous county,Readington Township) * Somerset County (anything south of Bridgewater Township) Mohonk Mountain House 2011 View of Mohonk Guest Rooms from One Hiking Trail FRD 3205

Mohonk Mountain House 2011 View of Mohonk Guest Rooms from One Hiking Trail FRD 3205

Sugarloaf Hill Hudson Highlands from Bear Mountain Bridge

Western Connecticut

Fairfield, New Haven, and Litchfield counties in western Connecticut (like the state in general) are known for affluence. Large businesses are scattered throughout the area, mostly in Fairfield County. The land is flat along the coast with low hills eventually giving way to larger hills such as

The Berkshires The Berkshires () are a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut. The term "Berkshires" is normally used by locals in reference to the portion of the Vermont-based Green Mountains that ex ...

further inland, to the

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

border. Most of the largest cities in the state are in New Haven County (home to

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

) and Fairfield County. Candlewood Lake is the largest recreational lake in the New York metropolitan area. The lake is located within the

Greater Danbury Greater Danbury, also known as the Housatonic Valley Region, is a region in the state of Connecticut centered on the city of Danbury. It consists of the city of Danbury and adjacent towns in the areas around the Housatonic River and the Still Ri ...

region, and is home to many second homes of New York City residents.

Pike County, Pennsylvania

Pike County is located in

northeastern Pennsylvania Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA) is a geographic region of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains, and the industrial cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton, Nanticoke, and Car ...

. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 57,369. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

. Part of the

Pocono Mountains The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos , are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania. They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the north, ...

region lies within Pike County, which has ranked among the fastest-growing counties of Pennsylvania.

Urban areas of the region

The combined statistical area is a multicore metropolitan region containing several urban areas. Newark aerial looking northwest

Main cities and towns

The following is a list of "principal cities" and their respective population estimates from the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau publication. Principal cities are generally those where there is a greater number of jobs than employed residents. * New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island MSA **

: 8,175,133 **

Hempstead, New York The Town of Hempstead (also known historically as South Hempstead) is the largest of the three Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead, New York, North Hempstead and Oys ...

: 759,757 **

Brookhaven, New York The Town of Brookhaven is the most populous of the ten towns of Suffolk County, New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is located approximately 50 miles from Manhattan. It is the largest of the state of New York's ...

: 486,040 **

Islip, New York Islip ( ) is a town in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the south shore of Long Island. The population was 335,543 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous city or town in the state. The Town of Islip also contains a ...

: 335,543 **

Oyster Bay, New York The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three towns which make up Nassau County, New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County to extend from the North Shore to the South Shore ...

: 293,214 **

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.North Hempstead, New York: 226,322 **

Babylon, New York The Town of Babylon is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Its population was 218,223 as of the 2020 census. Parts of Jones Beach Island, Captree Island and Fire Island are in the southernmost part of the town. It border ...

: 213,603 ** Huntington, New York: 203,264 **

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

: 195,976 **

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...

: 128,640 **

Ramapo, New York Ramapo is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States. It was originally formed as New Hampstead, in 1791, and became Ramapo in 1828."Ramapo", in Peter R. Eisenstadt and Laura-Eve Moss (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of New York State'. Syr ...

: 126,595 **

Smithtown, New York Smithtown is a town in Suffolk County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. The population was 116,296 at the 2020 Census. The census-designated place (CDP) of Smithtown lies within the town ...

: 117,801 **

Edison, New Jersey Edison is a township located in Middlesex County,in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in Central New Jersey within the core of the state's Raritan Valley region, Edison is a commercial hub, home to Menlo Park Mall and Little India. It ...

: 99,967 **

Woodbridge Township, New Jersey Woodbridge Township is a township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is both a regional hub for Central New Jersey and a major bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area located within the ...

: 99,265 ** New Rochelle, New York: 77,062 **

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of t ...

: 67,292 **

White Plains, New York (Always Faithful) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

: 56,853 ** Passaic, New Jersey: 72,500 ** Union, New Jersey: 56,642 **

Wayne, New Jersey Wayne is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. Home to William Paterson University and located less than from Midtown Manhattan, the township is a bedroom suburb of New York City and regional commercial hub of North Jersey. ...

: 54,717 * Trenton–Princeton MSA **

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

: 28,572 * Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk–Danbury MSA ** Bridgeport, Connecticut: 144,229 ** Stamford, Connecticut: 122,643 ** Norwalk, Connecticut: 85,603 ** Danbury, Connecticut: 80,893 ** Stratford, Connecticut: 51,384 * New Haven–Milford MSA ** New Haven, Connecticut: 129,779 ** Waterbury, Connecticut: 109,272 ** Milford, Connecticut: 51,271 * Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown MSA ** Poughkeepsie (city), New York, Poughkeepsie, New York: 32,736 ** Newburgh, New York: 28,866 ** Middletown, Orange County, New York, Middletown, New York: 28,086 * Kingston MSA ** Kingston, New York: 23,893 * Torrington Micropolitan Area ** Torrington, Connecticut: 36,383

Climate

Under the Köppen climate classification, New York City, western (and parts of eastern) Long Island, and the Jersey Shore experience a humid subtropical climate (''Cfa''), and New York is thus the northernmost major city on the North American continent with this climate type. Much of the remainder of the metropolitan area lies in the transition zone from a humid subtropical (''Cfa'') to a humid continental climate (''Dfa''), and it is only the inland, more exurban areas far to the north and west such as Sussex County, New Jersey, that have a January daily average of or below and are fully humid continental; the ''Dfb'' (warm summer subtype) regime is only found inland at a higher elevation, and receives greater snowfall than the ''Dfa'' region. Much of Monroe and most of Pike County in Pennsylvania also have a fully humid continental climate. Summers in the area are typically hot and humid. Nighttime conditions in and around the five boroughs of New York are often exacerbated by the urban heat island phenomenon, and temperatures exceed on average of 7–8 days (on the immediate

and Atlantic coasts), up to in excess of 27 days (inland suburbs in New Jersey) each summer and may exceed .. Normally, warm to hot temperatures begin in mid May, and last through early October. Summers also feature passing thundershowers which build in the heat of the day, then drop brief, but intense rainfall. Winters are cold with a mix of rain and snow. 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. Warm periods with + temperatures may occasionally occur during winter as well. The hardiness zone in the New York metropolitan area varies over a wide range from 5a in the highest areas of Dutchess, Monroe, and Ulster Counties to 7b in most of NYC as well as Hudson County from Bayonne up the east side of the Palisades to Route 495, the majority of Nassau County, the north coast of Monmouth County, and Copiague Harbor, Lindenhurst, and Montauk in Suffolk County

Almost all of the metropolitan area receives at least of precipitation annually, which is relatively evenly spread throughout the year, and many areas receive upwards of . Average winter snowfall for 1981 to 2010 ranges from just under along the coast of Long Island to more than in some inland areas, but this usually varies considerably from year to year. Hurricanes and tropical storms have impacted the Tri-State area in the past, though a direct hit is rare. Several areas on Long Island, New Jersey, and the Connecticut coast have been impacted by serious storm surges in the past. Inland areas have been impacted by heavy rain and flooding from tropical cyclones. The New York metropolitan area averages 234 days with at least some sunshine and 59% of possible sunlight annually, accumulating 2,400 to 2,800 hours of sunshine per annum.

History

Mulberry Street NYC c1900 LOC 3g04637u edit

During the Wisconsinan glaciation, the region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the geologic foundation (engineering), foundation for much of the New York metropolitan region today. Later on, the ice sheet would help split apart what are now Long Island and Staten Island. Unisfera Flushing

At the time of European contact the region was inhabited by Native American (U.S. Census), Native Americans, predominantly the Lenape, and others. The Native Americans used the abundant waterways in the area for many purposes, such as fishing and trade routes. Sailing for France in 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano was the first European to enter the local waters and encounter the residents, but he did not make landfall. Henry Hudson, sailing for the Dutch in 1609, visited the area and built a settlement on Lower Manhattan Island that was eventually renamed New Amsterdam by Dutch colonization of the Americas, Dutch colonists in 1626. In 1664, the area went under English control, and was later renamed ''New York'' after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, the James II of England, Duke of York. As the fur trade expanded further north, New York became a trade, trading hub, which brought in a diverse set of ethnic groups including Ethnic groups of Africa, Africans, Jews, and Portuguese people, Portuguese. The island of Manhattan had an extraordinary natural harbor formed by New York Bay (actually the drowned lower river valley of the Hudson River, enclosed by moraine, glacial moraines), the East River (actually a tidal strait), and the

, all of which merge at the southern tip, from which all later development spread. During the American Revolution, the strategic waterways made New York vitally important as a wartime base for the British navy. Many battles such as the Battle of Long Island and the New York and New Jersey campaign, Battle of New York were fought in the region to secure it. New York was captured by the British early in the war, becoming a haven for Loyalist (American Revolution), Loyalist refugees from other parts of the country, and remained in the hands of the British until the war ended in 1783. New York served as the List of capitals in the United States#Former national capitals, capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790, after which the capital moved to Philadelphia. New York has been the country's largest city since 1790. In 1792, the Buttonwood Agreement, made by a group of merchants, created what is now the New York Stock Exchange in Lower Manhattan. Today, many people in the metropolitan area work in this important stock exchange. The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor greeted millions of immigration, immigrants as they came to America by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a globally recognized symbol of the United States and its democracy. Large-scale immigration into New York was a result of a large demand for manpower. A cosmopolitanism, cosmopolitan attitude in the city created tolerance for various cultures and ethnic groups. German, Irish, and Italian immigrants were among the largest ethnic groups. Today, many of their descendants continue to live in the region. Cultural buildings such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Opera, and the American Museum of Natural History were built. New York newspapers were read around the country as media moguls James Gordon Bennett, Sr., Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst battled for readership. In 1884, over 70% of exports passed through ports in New York or in one of the surrounding towns. The five borough (New York City), boroughs of New York — The Bronx,

, and

— were consolidated into a single city in 1898. Grand Central Terminal Main Concourse May 2014

The newly unified New York City encouraged both more physical connections between the boroughs and the growth of bedroom community, bedroom communities. The New York City Subway began operating in 1904 as the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, one of three systems (the other two being the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation and the Independent Subway System) that were later taken over by the city. Railroad stations such as Grand Central Terminal and Pennsylvania Station (New York City), Pennsylvania Station helped fuel suburban growth. During the era of the Prohibition, when alcohol was banned nationwide, organized crime grew to supply the high demand for bootleg alcohol. The Broadway Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District developed with the showing of the musical, ''Show Boat''. The Great Depression suspended the region's fortunes as a period of widespread unemployment and poverty began. City planner Robert Moses began his automobile-centered career of building bridges, parkways, and later

. During World War II, the city economy was hurt by blockades of German U-boats, which limited shipping with Europe. After its population peaked in 1950, much of the city's population left for the

s of New York over the following decades. The effects were a result of white flight. Industry and commerce also declined in this era, with businesses leaving for the suburbs and other cities. The city, particularly Brooklyn, was dealt a psychological as well as an economic blow with the loss of the iconic Brooklyn Dodgers major-league baseball team, which moved to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. Crime affected the city severely. Urban renewal projects alleviated the decay in Midtown Manhattan to a certain extent, but later failed. There was little reported social disruption during the Northeast Blackout of 1965, but the New York City Blackout of 1977 caused massive rioting in some parts of the city. A rare highlight was the completion of the former World Trade Center (1973–2001), World Trade Center, which once stood as the tallest buildings in the world. In the 1980s, the city's economy was booming. Wall Street was fueling an economic surge in the real estate market. Despite this, crime was still an issue. Beginning in the 1990s, however, crime dropped substantially. Crime in New York City has continued to decline through the 21st century. Hurricane Sandy Flooding Avenue C 2012

A major event in the region's and the nation's history was the September 11th attacks in 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people as two planes crashed into the former World Trade Center and caused the towers to collapse. Businesses led an exodus from Lower Manhattan because of this but were replaced by an increased number of high-rise residences. In 2003, another blackout occurred, the 2003 North America blackout, but the city suffered no looting 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. 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.

Statistical history

The U.S. Census Bureau first designated metropolitan areas in 1950 as Metropolitan Statistical Area, standard metropolitan areas (SMAs). The "New York–Northeastern NJ SMA" was defined to include 17 counties: 9 in New York (the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, and Rockland) and 8 in New Jersey (Bergen, Hudson, Passaic, Essex, Union, Morris, Somerset, and Middlesex). In 1960, the metropolitan area standards were modified and renamed standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSAs). The new standards resulted in the splitting of the former SMA into several pieces: the nine New York counties became the "New York SMSA"; three of the New Jersey counties (Essex, Union, and Morris) became the "Newark SMSA"; two other New Jersey counties (Bergen and Passaic) became the "Paterson–Passaic–Clifton SMSA"; Hudson County was designated the "Jersey City SMSA"; and Middlesex and Somerset counties lost their metropolitan status. In 1973, a new set of metropolitan area standards resulted in further changes: Nassau and Suffolk counties were split off as their own SMSA ("Nassau–Suffolk SMSA"); Bergen County (originally part of the Paterson–Clifton–Passaic SMSA) was transferred to the New York SMSA; the New York SMSA also received Putnam County (previously non-metropolitan); Somerset County was added to the Newark SMSA; and two new SMSAs, the "New Brunswick–Perth Amboy–Sayreville SMSA" (Middlesex County) and "Long Branch–Asbury Park SMSA" (Monmouth County), were established. In 1983, the concept of a consolidated metropolitan statistical area (CMSA) was first implemented. A CMSA consisted of several primary metropolitan statistical areas (PMSAs), which were individual employment centers within a wider labor market area. The "New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island CMSA" consisted of 12 PMSAs. Seven PMSAs were based on the original 1950 New York SMA that were split up: New York, Bergen–Passaic, Jersey City, Middlesex–Somerset–Hunterdon (Hunterdon added for the first time), Monmouth–Ocean (Ocean added for the first time), Nassau–Suffolk, and Newark (Sussex added for the first time). One additional PMSA was the Orange County PMSA (previously the Newburgh–Middletown SMSA). The other four PMSAs were former SMSAs in Connecticut: Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk, and Danbury. In 1993, four PMSAs were added to the New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island CMSA: Trenton PMSA (Mercer County), Dutchess County PMSA, Waterbury PMSA, and New Haven PMSA. Several new counties were also added to the CMSA: Sussex, Warren, and Pike. The CMSA model was originally utilized for tabulating data from the 2000 census. In 2003, a new set of standards was established using the core based statistical area, Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) model was adopted and remains in use as of 2010. The CBSA model resulted in the splitting up of the old CMSA into several metropolitan statistical areas: New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island, Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, Trenton–Princeton, Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk (includes Danbury), and New Haven–Milford (includes Waterbury). In 2013, the Census Bureau added Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton, and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania, and Warren County, New Jersey (encompassing collectively the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA and the East Stroudsburg, PA MSA), to the Combined Statistical Area, and assimilated Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown into the larger New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island–NY–NJ–PA MSA. In 2018, the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA was removed from the Combined Statistical Area.OMB BULLETIN NO. 18-04: Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the Delineations of These Areas
. Office of Management and Budget. September 14, 2018.

Proposals for the region

The metropolitan region has never had separate political representation from the rest of their original states. This has to do with disagreements in the desired model and the constitutional complexity of the metropolitan region being cross-state. Within the State of New York over the last 30 years, discussions have emerged of splitting the states into different regions with separate governors and legislators whilst remaining part of the same state — as opposed to seeing New York and its metropolitan area being split into a separate state. The idea has been seen by Republicans in the state as an opportunity to dislocate the Democratic party's hold in the state legislature. The discussion surrounding the re-organisation of New York State has commonly been in two models: The two-region model creates a "downstate" New York region which would consist of all five New York City boroughs, Long Island's Nassau and Suffolk counties, and Westchester and Rockland counties, then Upstate would be the remaining 53; and the three-region model is New York having five counties; Montauk would consist of Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, and Westchester counties and; New Amsterdam would be the remaining portion of New York State. This debate was reported as recent as February 2019, when Republican New York State Senate, state Senator Daphne Jordan supported the state being split into two states, however it was believed that the proposal would require an act of congress for it to be passed.

Demographics

2020 Census

2010 Census

As of the 2010 Census, the metropolitan area had a population of 22,085,649. The population density was 1,865 per square mile. The racial markup was 51.7% White Americans, White (non-Latino), 21.7% Hispanic and Latino Americans, Latino, 15.3% African Americans, African-American, 9.0% Asian Americans, Asian-American, 0.16% Native Americans in the United States, Native American and Alaskan Native, 0.03% Pacific Islands American, 0.5% Other, and 1.6% Multiracial. The median age was 37.9. 25.5% were under 18, 9.5% were 18 to 24 years, 28% were 25 to 44 years of age, 26.6% were 45 to 64 years old, and 13.2% were over the age of 65. Males composed 48.3% of the population while females were 51.7% of the population. 97.7% of the population were in households, 2.3% were in group quarters, and 1% were institutionalized. There were 8,103,731 households, of which 30.2% or 2,449,343 had children. 46.1% or 3,736,165 were composed of opposite sex and married couples. Male households with no wife composed 4.9% or 400,534. 15.0% or 1,212,436 were female households with no husbands. 34% or 2,754,596 were non-family households. The household density was 684 per square mile. 91.9% of housing units were occupied with a 3.8% vacancy rate. The average household size was 2.65 per household. The average income for non-family households was $90,335, and the average income for families was $104,715. 13.3% or 2,888,493 of the population were below the poverty line. 26.7% or 5,911,993 of the population were born outside the United States. Out of this, most (50.6% or 2,992,639) were born in Latin America, 27.0% or 1,595,523 were born in Asia, 17.4% or 1,028,506 were born in Europe, 3.8% or 224,109 were born in Africa, and 0.2% or 11,957 were born in Oceania.

Population estimates

As of July 1, 2015, the United States Census Bureau estimated the population of the New York metropolitan area at 23,723,696, an increase of 647,032 from 2010. Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree 03

The New York metropolitan region is ethnically diverse. 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. New York contains the highest total Asian population of any U.S. city proper. The New York borough of Queens is home to the state's largest Asian American population and the largest Andes, Andean (Colombian American, Colombian, Ecuadorian American, Ecuadorian, Peruvian American, Peruvian, Chilean American, Chilean and Bolivian American, Bolivian) populations in the United States, and is also the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world. The Han Chinese population constitutes the fastest-growing ethnicity in New York State; multiple natural satellite, satellites of the original Chinatown, Manhattan, Manhattan Chinatown (), in Chinatown, Brooklyn, Brooklyn (), and around Chinatown, Flushing, Flushing, Queens (), are thriving as traditionally urban enclaves, while also expanding rapidly eastward into suburban Nassau County, New York, Nassau County. on

, as the New York metropolitan region and New York State have become the top destinations for new Chinese immigrants, respectively, and large-scale Chinese emigration, Chinese immigration continues into New York City and surrounding areas. In 2012, 6.3% of New York was of Chinese American, Chinese ethnicity, with nearly three-fourths living in either Queens or Brooklyn, geographically on Long Island. In particular, the New York area has over 100,000 Fuzhou Americans, Fuzhounese people. A community numbering 20,000 Koreans in China, Korean-Chinese (''Chaoxianzu'' () or ''Joseonjok'' ()) is centered in Flushing, Queens, while New York is also home to the largest Tibetan people, Tibetan population outside China, India, and Nepal, also centered in Queens. Korean Americans in New York City, Koreans made up 1.2% of the city's population, and Japanese in New York City, Japanese 0.3%. Filipinos in the New York City metropolitan region, Filipinos were the largest Southeast Asian ethnic group at 0.8%, followed by Vietnamese American, Vietnamese, who made up 0.2% of New York's population in 2010. Indian American, Indians are the largest South Asian group, comprising 2.4% of the city's population, with Bangladeshis and Pakistani American, Pakistanis at 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively. Queens is the preferred borough of settlement for Asian Indians, Koreans, and Filipinos, as well as Malaysian American, Malaysians and other Southeast Asians; while Brooklyn is receiving large numbers of both West Indian American, West Indian as well as Asian Indian immigrants. New York has the largest European American, European and Non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic white population of any American city. At 2.7 million in 2012, New York's non-Hispanic white population is larger than the non-Hispanic white populations of Los Angeles (1.1 million), Chicago (865,000), and Houston (550,000) combined. The European diaspora residing in the city is very diverse. According to 2012 Census estimates, there were roughly 560,000 Italian Americans, 385,000 Irish Americans, 253,000 German Americans, 223,000 Russian Americans in New York City, Russian Americans, 201,000 Polish Americans, and 137,000 English Americans. Additionally, Greek American, Greek and French Americans numbered 65,000 each, with those of Hungarian American, Hungarian descent estimated at 60,000 people. Ukrainian American, Ukrainian and Scottish Americans numbered 55,000 and 35,000, respectively. People identifying ancestry from Spain numbered 30,838 total in 2010. People of Norwegian American, Norwegian and Swedish American, Swedish descent both stood at about 20,000 each, while people of Czech American, Czech, Lithuanian American, Lithuanian, Portuguese American, Portuguese, Scotch-Irish American, Scotch-Irish, and Welsh American, Welsh descent all numbered between 12,000 and 14,000 people. Arab Americans number over 160,000 in New York City, with the highest concentration in Brooklyn. Demographics of Central Asia, Central Asians, primarily Uzbek Americans, are a rapidly growing segment of the city's non-Hispanic white population, enumerating over 30,000, and including over half of all Central Asian immigrants to the United States, most settling in Queens or Brooklyn. Albanian Americans are most highly concentrated in the Bronx. New York Gay Pride 2011

The wider New York metropolitan area is also

. 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 metropolitan area, Miami, the next most popular gateway regions. It is home to the largest Jews in New York City, Jewish as well as Israeli American, Israeli communities outside Israel, with the Jewish population in the region numbering over 1.5 million in 2012 and including many diverse Jewish sects from around the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The metropolitan area is also home to 20% of the nation's Indians in the New York City metropolitan region, Indian Americans and at least 20 Little India (location), Little India enclaves, as well as 15% of all Korean Americans in New York City, Korean Americans and four Koreatown, Manhattan, Koreatowns; the largest Asian Indian population in the Western Hemisphere; the largest Russian American, Italian American, and African American populations; the largest Dominican American, Puerto Rican migration to New York City, Puerto Rican American, and South American and second-largest overall Hispanic and Latino American, Hispanic population in the United States, numbering 4.8 million; and includes at least 6 established Chinatowns within New York City alone, with the urban agglomeration comprising a population of 819,527 uniracial Chinese Americans in New York City, overseas Chinese as of 2014 Census estimates, the largest outside of Asia. Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana, Peru, and Brazil were the top source countries from South America for legal immigrants to the New York region in 2013; the Dominican Republic,

, Haiti, and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbeans in New York City, Caribbean; Egypt, Ghana, and Nigeria from Africa; and El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala in Central America. Amidst a resurgence of Puerto Rican migration to New York City, this population had increased to approximately 1.3 million in the metropolitan area as of 2013. The New York metropolitan area is home to a self-identifying gay and bisexuality, bisexual community estimated at 568,903 individuals, the largest in the United States and one of the world's largest. Same-sex marriage in New York, Same-sex marriages in New York were legalized on June 24, 2011, and were authorized to take place beginning 30 days thereafter. The annual New York City Pride March (or New York City LGBT Pride March, gay pride march, pride parade) traverses southward down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, ending at Greenwich Village, and rivals the Sao Paulo Gay Pride Parade as the largest pride parade in the world, attracting tens of thousands of participants and millions of sidewalk spectators each June.

Religion

) in Upper Manhattan. With an estimated 1.5 million observers, the New York metropolitan area is home to the largest metropolitan Islam in New York City, Muslim population in the Western Hemisphere. , alt3 = , image4 = Temple at Flushing, NY.jpg , width4 = 195 , caption4 = Hindu Temple Society of North America, Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam (Telugu Americans, Telugu: ) or (Tamil American, Tamil: ), in Flushing, Queens, Flushing,

, the oldest Hinduism, Hindu temple in the United States. , alt4 = , image5 = Chuang Yen Monastery 2004.jpeg , width5 = 200 , caption5 = The Chuang Yen Monastery (), in Kent, New York, Kent, Putnam County, New York, Putnam County, houses the largest indoor statue of Buddha in the Western Hemisphere. , alt5 = , image6 = Times Square after dark atheist.jpg , width6 = , caption6 = Atheism, promoted on an digital billboard, electronic billboard in Times Square, is observed by a significant proportion of New Yorkers. , alt6 = The 2014 Pew Research Center, Pew Religious Landscape Survey showed that the religious makeup of the New York metro area was as follows:

Economy

The New York City regional economy is the largest in the world, with a GDP of US$2.1trillion in 2022, which would rank eighth among sovereign countries. Many Fortune 500 corporations are headquarters, headquartered in New York, as are a large number of foreign corporations. One out of ten private sector jobs in the city is with a foreign company. In 2012 and 2015, New York topped the first and second ''Global Economic Power Index'' lists, respectively, as published by ''The Atlantic'', with cities ranked according to criteria reflecting their presence on five different lists as published by five separate entities. Finance, international trade, new and traditional media, real estate, education, fashion and entertainment, tourism, biotechnology, and manufacturing are the leading industries in the area. Along with its wealth, the area has a cost of living that is the highest in the United States. Photos NewYork1 032

Wall Street

New York's most important economic sector lies in its role as the headquarters for the financial center, U.S. financial industry, metonymously known as ''Wall Street''. Anchored by Wall Street, in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York has been called both the most economically powerful city and the leading financial center of the world, and the city is home to the world's two List of stock exchanges, largest stock exchanges by total market capitalization, the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. The city's Security (finance), securities industry, enumerating 163,400 jobs in August 2013, continues to form the largest segment of the city's financial sector and an important economic engine, accounting in 2012 for 5 percent of the city's private sector jobs, 8.5 percent (US$3.8 billion) of its tax revenue, and 22 percent of the city's total wages, including an average salary of US$360,700. Manhattan had approximately 520 million square feet (48.1 million m²) of office space in 2013, making it the largest office market in the United States, while Midtown Manhattan is the largest central business district in the nation. 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 One Liberty Plaza, 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. Wall Street investment banking fees in 2012 totaled approximately US$40 billion, while in 2013, senior New York bank officers who manage risk management, risk and compliance functions earned as much as US$324,000 annually. 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. Many Wall Street firms have added or moved auxiliary financial or technical operations into Jersey City, to take advantage of New Jersey's relatively lower commercial real estate and rental prices, while offering continued geographic proximity to Manhattan's financial industry ecosystem. Flatiron District

Tech and biotech

Silicon Alley, centered in New York, has evolved into a metonymy, metonym for the sphere encompassing the metropolitan region's high technology industries involving the internet, new media, financial technology (''fintech'') and cryptocurrency, telecommunications, digital media, software development, biotechnology, game design, and other fields within information technology that are supported by its entrepreneurship ecosystem and venture capital investments. 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 innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, and sustainability, environmental sustainability, as well as New York's position as the leading Internet hub and telecommunications center in North America, including its vicinity to several transatlantic telephone cable, transatlantic fiber optic trunk lines, the city's intellectual capital, and its extensive outdoor wireless network, wireless connectivity. Verizon Communications, headquartered at Verizon Building, 140 West Street in Lower Manhattan, was at the final stages in 2014 of completing a US$3 billion fiberoptic communication, fiberoptic telecommunications upgrade throughout New York City. 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. On December 19, 2011, then-New York mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his choice of Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to build Cornell Tech, a US$2 billion graduate school of applied sciences on Roosevelt Island, Manhattan with the goal of transforming New York into the world's premier technology capital. 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 startup company, startups at the Alexandria Center for Life Science, which encompasses more than on 29th Street (Manhattan), East 29th Street and promotes collaboration among scientists and entrepreneurs at the center and with nearby academic, medical, and research institutions. The New York City Economic Development Corporation's Early Stage Life Sciences Funding Initiative and venture capital partners, including Celgene, General Electric Ventures, and Eli Lilly, committed a minimum of US$100 million to help launch 15 to 20 ventures in life sciences and biotechnology. Westchester County, New York, Westchester County has also developed a burgeoning biotechnology sector in the 21st century, with over US$1 billion in planned private investment as of 2016, earning the county the nickname ''Biochester''.

Port of New York and New Jersey

The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. A major economic engine for the New York metropolitan area, the port includes the system of navigable waterways in the estuary along of shoreline in the vicinity of New York and the

of northeastern New Jersey, as well as the Aviation in the New York metropolitan area, region's airports and supporting rail and roadway distribution networks. The Port of New York and New Jersey handled a maritime transport, maritime cargo volume in the ten months through October 2022 of over 8.2 million Twenty-foot equivalent unit, TEUs, benefitting Panamax, post-Panamax from the expansion of the Panama Canal, and accelerating ahead of California seaports in monthly cargo volumes.

Water purity and availability

Water purity and availability are a lifeline for the New York metropolitan region. New York City is supplied with drinking water by the protected Catskill Mountains Drainage basin, watershed. As a result of the watershed's integrity and undisturbed water purification, 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 purification by water treatment plants. The Croton Falls Reservoir, Croton Watershed north of the city is undergoing construction of a US$3.2 billion water purification plant to augment New York's water supply by an estimated 290 million gallons daily, representing a greater than 20% addition to the city's current availability of water. The ongoing expansion of New York City Water Tunnel No. 3, an integral part of the New York City water supply system, is the largest capital construction project in the city's history, with segments serving Manhattan and The Bronx completed, and with segments serving Brooklyn and Queens planned for construction in 2020. Much of the fresh water for northern and central New Jersey is provided by reservoirs, but numerous municipal water wells exist which accomplish the same purpose.

Education

The New York metropolitan area is home to many prestigious institutions of higher education. Three

universities: Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City;

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

;

in New Haven, Connecticut – all ranked amongst the top 3 U.S. national universities as per ''U.S. News & World Report'' as of 2018 – reside in the region, as well as

and The Rockefeller University, both located in Manhattan; all of the above have been ranked amongst the top 35 universities in the world. Rutgers University, a global university located southwest of Manhattan in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is by far the largest university in the region. New York Institute of Technology is located on two campuses, one in Old Westbury,

and one near Columbus Circle in

. Hofstra University is Long Island's largest private university. Fordham University, also a Tier-1 university, is the oldest Catholic Church, Catholic institution of higher education in the northeastern United States, and the third-oldest university in New York (state), New York. The New York City Department of Education is the largest school district in the United States serving over 1.2 million students. The overall region also hosts many public high schools, some of which have been described as among the most prestigious in the country.

Attainment

According to the 2010 American Community Survey, of the 14,973,063 persons in this area over 25 years of age, 14.8% (2,216,578) had a graduate or professional degree, 21.1% (3,166,037) had a bachelor's degree, 6.4% (962,007) had an associate degree, 16.0% (2,393,990) had some college education but no degree, 26.8% (4,009,901) had a high school diploma or equivalent, 14.8% (2,224,557) had less than a high school education. In 2010, CNN Money ranked the area as one of the top 10 smartest regions in the United States.

Transportation

The depth and intricacy of the transportation network in the New York region parallel the size and complexity of the metropolis itself. In 2013, the New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan statistical area (New York MSA) had the lowest percentage of workers who commuted by private automobile (56.9 percent), with 18.9 percent of area workers traveling via rail transit. During the period starting in 2006 and ending in 2013, the New York MSA had a 2.2 percent decline of workers commuting by automobile.

Rail

About one in every three users of mass transit in the United States and two-thirds of the nation's rail riders live in the New York metropolitan area.

New York City Subway

The New York City Subway is the largest rapid transit system in the world when measured by stations in operation, with , and by length of routes. In 2006 it was the third largest when measured by annual ridership (1.5 billion passenger trips in 2006), However, in 2013, the subway delivered over 1.71 billion rides, but slipped to being the Metro systems by annual passenger rides, seventh busiest rapid transit rail system in the world. New York's subway is also notable because nearly the entire system remains open 24 hours a day, in contrast to the overnight shutdown common to systems in most cities, including MTR, Hong Kong, London Underground, London, Seoul Metropolitan Subway, Seoul, Tokyo Subway, Tokyo, and Toronto Subway and RT, Toronto.

PATH

PATH (rail system), PATH is a rapid transit system connecting the cities of

, Harrison, New Jersey, Harrison, Hoboken, New Jersey, Hoboken, and Jersey City, in metropolitan northern

, with the Lower Manhattan, lower and Midtown Manhattan, midtown sections of

in New York City. The PATH is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. PATH trains run 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The system has a total route length of , not double-counting route overlaps.

Commuter rail

The metropolitan area is also fundamentally defined by the areas from which people commute into New York. The city is served by three primary commuter rail systems, and is provided intercity rail transit with Amtrak. The Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), the busiest commuter rail in North America, commuter railroad in the United States as of 2015, is operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), an agency of the Government of New York (state), State Government of New York that focuses on New York City-area transit). It has two major terminals at Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan and Atlantic Terminal in Downtown Brooklyn, with a minor terminal at the Long Island City (LIRR station), Long Island City station and a major transfer point at the Jamaica (LIRR station), Jamaica station in

. New Jersey Transit Rail Operations, New Jersey Transit (NJT), the second busiest commuter railroad in the United States as of 2015, is operated by the New Jersey Transit Corporation, an agency of the state of New Jersey, in conjunction with Metro-North Railroad and Amtrak. It has major terminals at Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, Hoboken Terminal, and Pennsylvania Station (Newark), Newark Pennsylvania Station, with a major transfer point at Secaucus Junction in Hudson County, New Jersey. New Jersey Transit also operates the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail through Hudson County, the Newark City Subway, and the River Line (New Jersey Transit), River Line that runs along tracks shared with Conrail Shared Assets Operations from Trenton to Camden, New Jersey, Camden in South Jersey. NJ Transit also has commuter buses operating in and out of Manhattan. Metro-North Railroad (MNRR), the third busiest commuter railroad in the United States as of 2015, is also operated by the MTA, in conjunction with the Connecticut Department of Transportation and New Jersey Transit Rail Operations, New Jersey Transit. Its major terminal is Grand Central Terminal. Trains on the Port Jervis Line and Pascack Valley Line terminate at Hoboken Terminal in Hoboken, New Jersey; commuters may transfer at either Secaucus Junction for New Jersey Transit trains to Pennsylvania Station (New York City), New York Pennsylvania Station or at Hoboken Terminal for Port Authority Trans-Hudson, PATH trains into Manhattan. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor offers service to Philadelphia, New Haven, and other points between and including Boston and Washington, D.C. Major stations in the metropolitan area include: The following table shows all train lines operated by these commuter railroads in the New York metropolitan area. New Jersey Transit operates an additional train line in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area. (Shown counterclockwise from the Atlantic Ocean):

Major highways

The following highways serve the region: George Washington Bridge, on a late winter afternoon

Interstates

* * * * * * * * – serves as southern beltway around New York City * * – serves as northern beltway around New York City * * * − also known as Long Island Expressway or LIE * * * * – unsigned

U.S. Routes

* * * * * * * * * * * *

State Routes

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Other limited-access roads

Some of these roads have a numerical designation assigned to it: * * * (part of I-95) * * * * * * * * (formerly: ''Interboro Parkway'') * (part of Route 15) * (part of I-95) * (part of I-87) * * * * * *

Named bridges and tunnels

* Alexander Hamilton Bridge connecting the Trans-Manhattan Expressway in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan and the Cross-Bronx Expressway, as part of Interstate 95 * Basilone Bridge (part of I-95 and the New Jersey Turnpike) * Bayonne Bridge (part of NY 440 and NJ 440), underwent a $1 billion project to raise the roadway by 64 feet to 215 feet to allow taller container ships to pass underneath to access seaports in New York City and northern New Jersey. *

(part of US 6 and US 202) * Bronx–Whitestone Bridge (part of I-678) – connects the boroughs of Bronx and Queens. * Brooklyn Bridge, iconic of New York and designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. National Park Service on January 29, 1964. Connects Brooklyn and lower Manhattan (at Park Row and City Hall). * Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel (part of I-478), officially renamed the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, in honor of the former New York State governor – connects Brooklyn and lower Manhattan (financial district). * Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge (part of I-80 crossing the Delaware River) * Driscoll Bridge (part of the Garden State Parkway), with a total of 15 travel lanes and 6 shoulder lanes, the widest motor vehicle bridge in the world by number of lanes and one of the world's busiest. * Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge (part of NY 25) – renamed in honor of former New York Mayor Edward I. Koch, also known informally as the "59th Street Bridge". Connects Queens and east side of Manhattan. * George Washington Bridge (part of I-95 and US 1-9/46), the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge and one of the world's widest, with 14 lanes. * Goethals Bridge (part of I-278) * Great South Bay Bridge, Long Island * Heroes Tunnel (formerly the West Rock Tunnel) (part of CT 15) * Holland Tunnel (part of I-78 and New Jersey Route 139, NJ 139) * Lincoln Tunnel (part of Route 495) * Manhattan Bridge, connecting Brooklyn to Chinatown, Manhattan, carries 4 tracks of the of the New York City Subway, in addition to 7 lanes of traffic. * Mid-Hudson Bridge (part of US 44 and NY 55) * Newark Bay Bridge (part of I-78) * New Hope – Lambertville Toll Bridge (part of US 202 crossing the Delaware River) * Newburgh–Beacon Bridge (part of I-84 and NY 52) * Otisville Tunnel (takes the Metro-North Railroad Port Jervis Line through the Shawangunk Ridge in Orange County, New York) * Outerbridge Crossing (part of NY 440 and NJ 440) * Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge (Connecticut), Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge (part of I-95 and the Connecticut Turnpike) * Poughkeepsie Bridge, also known as Walkway over the Hudson, the world's longest pedestrian bridge, connecting

and

counties in New York * Pulaski Skyway (part of US 1–9) * Queens–Midtown Tunnel (part of I-495) – connects Queens and Midtown Manhattan. * Scudder Falls Bridge (part of I-295 crossing the Delaware River) * Sikorsky Memorial Bridge (part of CT 15 Merritt & Wilbur Cross Parkways) * Tappan Zee Bridge (2017–present), Tappan Zee Bridge (part of I-87, I-287, and the New York State Thruway), the longest bridge in New York State; underwent a $4 billion replacement. * Edison Bridge (New Jersey), Thomas Alva Edison Memorial Bridge (part of US 9) * Throgs Neck Bridge (part of I-295) – connects the boroughs of Bronx and Queens (at western end of Long Island Sound). * Trenton–Morrisville Toll Bridge (part of US 1) * Triborough Bridge (part of I-278), officially renamed the Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) Bridge – connects the three boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx and Queens (hence its name). * Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (part of I-278), the longest suspension bridge in the Americas and one of the longest in the world (formerly the world's longest) – connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. * William A. Stickel Memorial Bridge (part of I-280) * Williamsburg Bridge, carries 2 tracks of the of the New York City Subway, in addition to 8 lanes of traffic – connects Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the Lower East Side or Manhattan.

Commuter bus

, Academy Bus, Coach USA, Spanish Transportation, Trailways of New York, and several other companies operate commuter coaches into the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, and many other bus services in New Jersey. Bus services also operate in other nearby counties in the states of New York and Connecticut, but most terminate at a subway terminal or other rail station.

Major airports

The three busiest airports in the New York metropolitan area include

, Newark Liberty International Airport, and

; 130.5 million travelers used these three airports in 2016, and the metropolitan area's airspace is the busiest in the nation. The following smaller airports are also in the metro area and provide daily commercial service:

Commuter usage

According to the 2010 American Community Survey, 54.3% (5,476,169) of commuters used a car or other private vehicle alone, 7.0% (708,788) used a carpool, 27.0% (2,721,372) used public transportation, 5.5% (558,434) walked to work, 2.0% (200,448) used some other means of transportation such as a bicycle to get to work.

Culture and contemporary life

New York has been described as the cultural capital of the world by the consul (representative), diplomatic consulates of Iceland and Latvia and by New York's own Baruch College. A book containing a series of essays titled ''New York, culture capital of the world, 1940–1965'' has also been published as showcased by the National Library of Australia. Tom Wolfe has quoted regarding New York's culture that "Culture just seems to be in the air, like part of the weather." Although Manhattan remains the epicenter of cultural life in the metropolitan area, the entire region is replete with prominent cultural institutions, with artistic performances and ethnically oriented events receiving international attention throughout the year.

Sports teams

New York is home to the headquarters of the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League, and Major League Soccer. Four of the ten most expensive stadiums ever built worldwide (MetLife Stadium, the new Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden, and Citi Field) are located in the New York metropolitan area. The New York metropolitan area has the List of American and Canadian cities by number of major professional sports franchises, highest total number of professional sports teams in these five leagues. Listing of the professional sports teams in the New York metropolitan area: * National Basketball Association (NBA) ** Brooklyn Nets (

) ** New York Knicks (

, New York City) *National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) **NJ/NY Gotham FC (Harrison, New Jersey) * Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) ** New York Liberty (

, New York City) * Major League Baseball (MLB) ** New York Mets (

, New York City) ** New York Yankees (The Bronx, New York City) * Major League Soccer (MLS) ** New York City FC (The Bronx, New York City) ** New York Red Bulls (Harrison, New Jersey) * Minor League Baseball (MiLB) ** Eastern League (1938–2020), Eastern League (Class AA#Double-A, AA) *** Trenton Thunder (New York Yankees, Yankees) (

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, New York City) * Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) ** Bridgeport Bluefish (Bridgeport, Connecticut) ** Long Island Ducks (Central Islip, New York) ** Somerset Patriots (Bridgewater Township, New Jersey) * Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball (CanAm League) ** New Jersey Jackals (Little Falls, New Jersey) ** Newark Bears (

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Hempstead, New York The Town of Hempstead (also known historically as South Hempstead) is the largest of the three Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead, New York, North Hempstead and Oys ...

) * North American Rugby League (NARL) ** New York City Rugby League (Harrison, New Jersey) * College athletics, College Sports (Division I (NCAA), NCAA Division I) ** Army Black Knights (West Point, New York) ** Columbia Lions, Columbia University Lions (Manhattan, New York City) ** Fairfield Stags, Fairfield University Stags (Fairfield, Connecticut) ** Fairleigh Dickinson Knights, Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights (Teaneck, New Jersey) ** Fordham Rams, Fordham University Rams (The Bronx, New York City) ** Hofstra Pride, Hofstra University Pride (Hempstead, New York) ** Iona Gaels, Iona College Gaels ( New Rochelle, New York) ** Long Island Blackbirds, Long Island University Blackbirds (Brooklyn, New York City) ** Manhattan Jaspers and Lady Jaspers, Manhattan College Jaspers and Lady Jaspers (The Bronx, New York City) ** Marist Red Foxes, Marist College Red Foxes (Poughkeepsie (town), New York, Poughkeepsie, New York) ** Monmouth Hawks, Monmouth University Hawks (West Long Branch, New Jersey) ** NJIT Highlanders, New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders (Newark, New Jersey) ** Princeton Tigers, Princeton University Tigers (

) ** Quinnipiac Bobcats, Quinnipiac University Bobcats (Hamden, Connecticut) ** Rider Broncs, Rider University Broncs (Lawrenceville, New Jersey) ** Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Rutgers University Scarlet Knights (New Brunswick, New Jersey) ** Sacred Heart Pioneers, Sacred Heart University Pioneers (Fairfield, Connecticut) ** St. Peter's Peacocks and Peahens, St. Peter's University Peacocks and Peahens (

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.

In New York State

Coney Island, in Brooklyn, is considered one of America's first amusement parks. Playland (New York), Playland, Rye, New York, Rye, Westchester County Legoland New York, in Goshen, New York, Goshen,

opened in 2021. Plans were unveiled by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on September 27, 2012, for the New York Wheel, a giant Ferris wheel, to be built at the northern shore of Staten Island, overlooking the Statue of Liberty, New York Harbor, and the Lower Manhattan skyline.

Area codes

The area is served by at least 26 area codes: * Area code 212, 212: Serves

and is Overlay plan, overlaid with Area code 646, 646 and Area code 917, 917 Area code 332, 332. * Area code 718, 718: Serves all other boroughs of New York City and is overlaid with Area code 347, 347, Area code 917, 917, and Area code 929, 929. * Area code 917, 917: Serves all of New York City. * Area code 516, 516: Serves Nassau County, New York, Nassau County. * Area code 631, 631: Serves Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County. * Area code 914, 914: Serves Westchester County. * Area code 845, 845: Serves the Hudson Valley counties of Southern New York State. * Area code 570, 570 & 272: Serves Pike County

. * Area code 203 and 475, 203 & 475: Serves Southwestern

, * Area code 860 and 959, 860 & 959: Serves the rest of Connecticut not served by 203 or 475. * Area codes 201 and 551, 201: Serves most of Bergen County, as well as parts of Essex, Hudson, and Passaic in Northern New Jersey, and is overlaid with Area code 551, 551. * Area code 973, 973: Serves portions of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Sussex, and portions of Union County in New Jersey, and is overlaid with Area code 862, 862. * Area code 908, 908: Serves communities in Union County, Somerset County, northern parts of Middlesex County, Hunterdon County, Warren County, and Morris County as well as some cell phones in Monmouth County in New Jersey. * Area code 732, 732: Serves Middlesex County, Somerset County, portions of Union County, and Monmouth and northern Ocean counties in New Jersey; overlaid with Area code 848, 848. * Area codes 609 and 640, 609 & 640: Serves Mercer County and parts of Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean Counties.

Notes

References

External links

Government Census
Table 1. {{DEFAULTSORT:New York Metropolitan Area New York metropolitan area, Northeast megalopolis Metropolitan areas of New Jersey Metropolitan areas of New York (state) Metropolitan areas of Pennsylvania Metropolitan areas of Connecticut Regions of New York (state) Regions of New Jersey Regions of Connecticut Regions of Pennsylvania