Manhattan

Manhattan (New York County) had 1,694,251 residents at the 2020 census; the NYU Furman Center estimates 1,660,664 for 2024. The borough had about 927,000 homes in 2023, a quarter of the city's housing stock, and at 2.33% the highest net rental vacancy rate of the five boroughs, although that is still very low.

Key figures for 2024 (NYU Furman Center, incomes and rents in 2025 dollars):

• Foreign-born residents: 27.9%
• Median household income: $110,000, the highest of the five boroughs
• Homeownership rate: 25.5%
• Households with children under 18: 15.2%, the lowest of the five boroughs
• Mean commute to work: 31.4 minutes, the shortest of the five boroughs

Manhattan combines the city's main business districts with dense residential neighborhoods, from Lower Manhattan to Inwood at its northern tip. Housing is overwhelmingly in apartment buildings, and daily life is organized around walking and the subway. Neighborhoods differ widely in price and pace: the Furman Center's figures for the northern area of Washington Heights and Inwood, for example, show a much higher share of foreign-born residents (42.5%) and lower rents than the borough as a whole.

Manhattan has the densest transit in the city. The MTA's station list shows 22 subway routes with stations in Manhattan (the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and the A, B, C, D, E, F, J, L, M, N, Q, R, W and Z, plus shuttles). The free Staten Island Ferry leaves from Whitehall Terminal in Lower Manhattan 24 hours a day.

Most Manhattan households rent. In 2024 the median rent paid by all renters was $2,290, but households that had recently moved paid a median of $3,290, the highest of the five boroughs; median rents were about $2,370 for studios and one-bedrooms. 25.4% of renter households were severely rent-burdened (paying more than half their income on rent). Rent stabilization mostly applies in buildings with six or more units built before 1974; request a rent history to check a specific apartment.

Only about 15% of Manhattan households have children under 18, and family-sized apartments are expensive. Children attend their zoned public school from kindergarten to grade 8; high school, 3-K and Pre-K have application processes. The largest green spaces are Central Park (about 840 acres), Riverside Park, Randall's Island Park and Inwood Hill Park.