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Facts about NYC

New York City offers incomparable museums, attractions, world-renowned restaurants, hotels, theaters, entertainment, and shopping. Here are some interesting statistics and fun facts about the greatest city in the world.

Tourism
Estimated visitors to New York City in 1999: 34.3 million
Visitors to New York City in 1998: 33.0 million
Visitors to New York City in 1997 (including daytrippers): 33.0 million
Estimated visitor spending in 1999: $14.5 billion
Estimated visitor spending in 1998: $14.3 billion
Estimated international visitors in 1999: 5.95 million
International visitors in 1998: 6.0 million

Top 10 countries (1998 figures):
1. Canada 872,000
2. United Kingdom 811,000
3. Germany 420,000
4. Japan 386,000
5. France 299,000
6. Brazil 283,000
7. Italy 232,000
8. Mexico 137,000
9. Netherlands 130,000
10. Argentina 129,000

1998 visitor breakdown:
Overnight: 16.2 million
Daytripper: 16.7 million

Total economic impact of New York City tourism in 1997: $20.6 billion

NYC jobs supported by visitor spending in 1997: 134,000
Total taxes generated by visitor spending in 1997: $2,590,200,000
New York City taxes generated by visitor spending: $755,600,000
New York State taxes generated by NYC visitor spending: $721,600,000
Federal taxes generated by NYC visitor spending: $1,113,000,000

Size
New York City total area in square miles: 301
Area of Manhattan in square miles: 22.7
13.4 miles (21.5 km) long
2.3 miles (3.7 km) at widest point
.8 miles (1.3 km) at narrowest point

Population
Population Estimates Bureau, Population Division, U.S. Bureau of the Census, 301/457-2422

New York City (Estimates as of 7/1/98; released 3/12/99) 7,420,166
Bronx 1,195,599
Brooklyn 2,267,942
Manhattan 1,550,649
Queens 1,998,853
Staten Island 407,123

Metropolitan area (Estimate as of 7/1/96; released 12/97)
New York City, Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam Counties: 8,643,437

Ethnic breakdown of population by borough (Estimate as of 7/1/97; released 9/4/98)

Bronx
Caucasian 626,641
All Hispanic 567,061
African-American 507,144
American Indian 7,327

Brooklyn
Caucasian 1,160,692
All Hispanic 518,874
African-American 924,862
American Indian 9,718

Manhattan
Caucasian 1,536,220
All Hispanic 459,546
African-American 413,153
American Indian 7,937

Queens
Caucasian 1,190,304
All Hispanic 436,516
African-American 459,474
American Indian 8,005

Staten Island
Caucasian 339,000
All Hispanic 39,424
African-American 36,518
American Indian 909

Climate
The Weather Channel, NYC Almanac, www.weather.com

Average temperatures:
January
Low 26 degrees F, -3.33 degrees C
High 38 degrees F; 3.33 degrees C
July
Low 67 degrees F; 19.44 degrees C
High 84 degrees F; 28.89 degrees C

Average rainfall:
January 3.11 inches
July 3.67 inches

Average snowfall:
January 7 inches
July 0 inches

Hotels (1998 forecast)
Hotel rooms 62,500
Hotel room nights (83.9% hotel occupancy) 18.547,000
Average daily room rate in 1998 (source: PKF Consulting) $214.00
Hotel occupancy forecast for 1999 81.3%

Film & Television Production
The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting (tel. 212/489-6710)

Daily productions: 60-90
Shooting days: 22,851
Direct expenditures: 1998
Commercials: $277,350,000
Feature films: $993,000,000
Television: $1,248,192,000
All other: $49,792,500
NYC’s investment in industry: $2.6 billion (1,027x investment return)

Transportation
Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)/New York City Transit, 718/330-3000, www.mta.nyc.ny.us

Airports
Airports servicing New York City 3
John F. Kennedy Int’l (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA), Newark Int’l. (EWR)
Passengers serviced at the above three airports in 1997: 83,866,140
Flights at all three airports in 1997: 1,525,472
Air cargo (tons) at all three airports in 1997: 2,790,005
Air mail (tons) at all three airports in 1997: 287,044

MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) – New York City Transit
1998 operating budget $3.8 billion
Average weekday paid rides 5,146,677

Buses
Number of buses: 3,867
Number of routes:
Local 203
Express 31
Miles of MTA bus routes: 1,671
Average weekday MTA bus riders (1998): 1.2 million
Yearly MTA bus riders (1998): 600 million

Subway
Number of routes: 25
Subway cars: 5,799
Subway stations: 468
Average daily trips: 7,000
Average weekday riders (1998): 4.0 million
Yearly riders (1998): 1.2 billion
Miles of track: 656
Underground 443
Elevated 156

Taxis
Licensed medallion taxis: 12,187
Flat fare from JFK International to any point in Manhattan: $30 plus tolls & tip

Ferry
Price of Staten Island Ferry: Free

Eating Out
Eating establishments: 18,000
Average cost of a dinner in 1999 (drink, tax, tip included - Zagat Survey): $30.69
New restaurants in 1999 (Zagat Survey): 277

Theaters
Broadway
The League of American Theatres & Producers, 212/764-1222, www.broadway.org
Broadway theaters: 38
New Broadway productions (June 1997 - 1998 Season): 33
Total Broadway ticket sales for June 1997 - June 1998 Season: $557 million
Total Broadway attendance for June 1997 - June 1998 Season: 11.5 million
Average Broadway admission price: $48.58

Off-Broadway
Alliance of Resident Theaters of New York, 212/244-6667. All figures are approximate.

Off-Broadway performance spaces: 125
Annual Off and Off-Off Broadway productions: 1,000
Estimated audience for Off- and Off-Off Broadway shows in 1998: 8 million

Other Interesting Statistics
Largest:
The world’s largest gothic cathedral is the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine (212/316-7540) –
and it’s still under construction. Its first stone was laid in 1892.

The nation’s largest public Halloween parade is the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade
(914/758-5519, www.halloween-nyc.com).

The New York Mercantile Exchange (212/299-2000) is world’s largest physical commodity futures exchange.

Macy’s, the world’s largest store, covers 2.1 million square feet of space and stocks over 500,000 different items.

The New York Botanical Garden (718/817-8700) is home to the nation’s largest Victorian glasshouse,
the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, a New York City landmark that has showcased NYBG’s distinguished tropical,
Mediterranean, and desert plant collections since 1902.

The Panorama of the City of New York in the Queens Museum of Art is the world’s largest architectural model,
containing 895,000 individual structures at a scale of 1 inch equals 100 feet.

Oldest:
The Sandy Ground Historical Society (718/317-5796) offers a look at the oldest continuously inhabited free
black settlement in the nation.

The oldest schoolhouse still standing, built in 1695, is situated in Historic Richmond Town (718/351-1611).

The country’s oldest municipal golf course, opened in 1939, is in Van Courtlandt Park in the Bronx.

First in the Field:
The first children’s gardening program ever established at a botanic garden was begun at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
(718/622-4433) in 1914.

The Brooklyn Children’s Museum (718/735-4402) is the world’s first museum for kids.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (212/875-5000), America’s first performing arts center, held its first
performance on September 23, 1962.

Babe Ruth hit his first home run in Yankee Stadium in the first game ever played there.

Only in New York City:
The nation’s only night parade is the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade (914/758-5519, www.halloween-nyc.com).

The Cloisters (212/923-3700), a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the only museum in America
dedicated exclusively to medieval art.

The Caribbean Cultural Center (212/307-7420) is the only cultural organization in the U.S. that represents all
of the diverse artistic expressions and traditions of the African diaspora.

New York City History:
In 1898, the five boroughs – The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island – were incorporated
into a single entity, known as Greater New York.

Ellis Island Immigration Station officially opened its doors to the world on Friday, January 1, 1892. Annie Moore,
a 15-year-old Irish girl, was the first to be questioned in the immigration station’s second-floor Registry Room.
(Source: “Ellis Island & Statue of Liberty,” Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, 212/363-7620).

The Titanic was scheduled to arrive at Chelsea Piers on April 16, 1912 at the conclusion of her maiden voyage.
Fate intervened, and the “unsinkable” ship struck an iceberg and sank on April 14, 1912. Of the 2,200
passengers aboard, 675 were rescued by the Cunard liner Carpathia, which arrived at the Chelsea Piers
on April 20th. (Source: Chelsea Piers Sports & Entertainment Complex, 212/212/336-6666, www.chelseapiers.com).

Did you know…?:
There are 6,374.6 miles of streets in New York City.

The Times Square Business Improvement District (212/768-1560, www.timessquarebid.org) plans to drop
ball designed and crafted by Waterford Crystal for New Year’s Eve 1999.

The Statue of Liberty’s index finger is eight feet long.

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is so long – 4,260 feet – that the towers are a few inches out of parallel to
accommodate the curvature of the earth.

New York City has 578 miles of waterfront.

Some of the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island and went on to illustrious careers are: Irving Berlin,
musician, arrived in 1893 from Russia; Marcus Garvey, politician, arrived 1916 from Jamaica; Bob Hope,
comedian, arrived in 1908 from England; Knute Rockne, football coach, arrived in 1893 from Norway; and the
Von Trapp family of "Sound of Music" fame, arrived in 1938 from Austria. (Source: “Ellis Island & Statue of
Liberty,” Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island, 212/363-7620).

The Consolidated Edison electrical substation, built in 1975, has an illusionistic mural of the Brooklyn Bridge
by Richard Haas on one side to help it blend in with its historic neighbor.

The Bronx is the only New York borough connected to the mainland.

Since the 1920’s, Queens has been the ‘home of jazz,’ the residence of choice for hundreds of jazz musicians,
including such notables as Louis Armstrong, Fats Walker, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzie Gillespie
(source: The Queens Jazz Trail Committee, 718/463-7700).

Built circa 1680, the Conference House (also known as the Billop House) was the site of a fateful meeting in 1776.
The British, represented by Admiral Lord Richard Howe, and the Continental Congress, represented by
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge, engaged in an attempt to forestall the American Revolution.

The 2½ mile boardwalk at Brooklyn’s South Beach (718/390-8000) is the fourth longest in the world.

John Hertz, who founded the Yellow Cab Company in 1907, chose yellow because he read a survey by the
University of Chicago that found yellow was the easiest color to spot.

The triangular shape of the Flatiron Building (an early skyscraper on 23rd Street) produced wind currents that made
women’s skirts billow and caused police to create the term ’23 skiddoo’ to shoo gapers from the area.