Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, the headquarters of the United Nations, Grand Central Terminal, and Rockefeller Center, as well as several prominent tourist destinations, including Broadway, Times Square, and Koreatown. Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan is the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere.
Midtown Manhattan is the largest central business district in the world and ranks among the world's most expensive locations for real estate; Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan has commanded the world's highest retail rents and had been ranked as the most expensive shopping street in the world before falling to second in 2024. Midtown Manhattan is the country's largest commercial, entertainment, and media center, and is also a growing financial and fintech center.
Many of New York City's skyscrapers, including its tallest hotels and apartment towers, are located in Midtown Manhattan. The neighborhood hosts commuters and residents working in its offices, hotels, and retail establishments, tourists and students. Times Square, the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District, is a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Sixth Avenue also has the headquarters of three of the four major U.S. television networks.
Midtown is part of Manhattan Community District 5. It is patrolled by the 14th and 18th precincts of the New York City Police Department.
Location
Geographically, the northern boundary of Midtown Manhattan is commonly defined to be 59th Street; its southern boundary is less clear, and variously taken to be 34th Street, 23rd Street, or even 14th Street. Midtown spans the entire island of Manhattan along an east–west axis, bounded by the East River on its east and the Hudson River to its west. The Encyclopedia of New York City defines Midtown as extending from 34th Street to 59th Street and from 3rd Avenue to 8th Avenue.
Neighborhoods
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In addition to its central business district, Midtown Manhattan encompasses many neighborhoods, including Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea on the West Side, and Murray Hill, Kips Bay, Turtle Bay, and Gramercy Park on the East Side. It is sometimes broken into "Midtown East" and "Midtown West", or north and south as in the New York City Police Department's Midtown North and Midtown South precincts.
Neighborhoods in the Midtown area include the following:
Between 59th Street to the north and 42nd Street to the south, from west to east:
Hell's Kitchen from the Hudson River to 8th Avenue, including
Theatre Row on West 42nd Street between 11th Avenue and 9th Avenue,
where Hell's Kitchen meets Central Park and the Upper West Side at West 59th Street and 8th Avenue, Columbus Circle
Times Square and the Theater District from West 42nd Street to around West 53rd Street (according to some until Central Park at Central Park South/59th Street), and from Eighth Avenue to 6th Avenue
The Diamond District on West 47th Street between 6th Avenue and 5th Avenue
Midtown East from around 6th Avenue to the East River, including (going from west to east, and north to south):
Sutton Place near the East River between East 53rd Street and East 59th Street
Turtle Bay from 53rd Street to 42nd Street and from Lexington Avenue to the East River
Tudor City from 1st Avenue to 2nd Avenue and East 40th Street to East 43rd Street
Between 42nd Street north and around 34th Street, from west to east, and north to south:
Hell's Kitchen from the Hudson River to 8th Avenue
The Garment District from West 42nd Street to West 34th Street and from 9th Avenue to 5th Avenue
Herald Square around the intersection of Broadway, Sixth Avenue, and West 34th Street
Murray Hill from East 42nd Street to East 34th Street and Fifth Avenue to Second Avenue
Between 34th Street and 23rd Street, from west to east:
Chelsea, between the Hudson River and Sixth Avenue
Koreatown from 36th Street to 31st Street and 5th and 6th Avenues centered on "Korea Way" on 32nd Street between 5th Avenue and Broadway
Rose Hill or Curry Hill between Madison Avenue and 3rd Avenue
Kips Bay from 3rd Avenue to the East River
Between 23rd Street and 14th Street, going west to east and north to south:
Chelsea, between the Hudson River and 6th Avenue
The Meatpacking District in the southwesternmost corner of Midtown, to the south of West 15th Street
Madison Square and the Flatiron District, the area surrounding the intersection of Broadway, 5th Avenue, and 23rd Street.
Union Square, to the northeast of the intersection of Broadway, East 14th Street, and Park Avenue South
Gramercy from East 23rd Street to East 14th Street and Lexington Avenue to 1st Avenue
Peter Cooper Village from East 23rd Street to East 20th Street and 1st Avenue to Avenue C (parallel the East River)
Stuyvesant Town from East 20th Street to East 14th Street and 1st Avenue to Avenue C
Midtown is the original district in the United States to bear the name and included historical but now defunct neighborhoods such as the Ladies' Mile, along Fifth Avenue from 14th to 23rd Street; and the Tenderloin, from 23rd to 42nd Street and from Fifth Avenue to Seventh Avenue.
Landmarks
Avenues
Important streets and thoroughfares
Broadway
34th Street
42nd Street
Differing demarcations
The border of Midtown Manhattan is nebulous and further confused by the fact that the term "Midtown Manhattan" can be used to refer either to a district or a group of neighborhoods and districts in Manhattan:
The area between 14th and 86th Streets includes roughly the center of Manhattan; however, the term Midtown Manhattan can also apply to the area between 31st Street and 59th Streets, although there are still office buildings south of 31st Street.
Manhattan Community District 5 is located from 14th to 59th Streets, generally between Lexington Avenue and Eighth Avenue. Community District 5 is largely coterminous with Midtown but also includes the Flatiron District, NoMad, Union Square, and parts of Gramercy Park and Rose Hill.
Midtown proper (within the boundaries of Manhattan Community District 5, and excluding overlapping neighborhoods) is located from 34th to 59th Streets between Third Avenue and Eighth Avenue.
The "Plaza District", a term used by Manhattan real estate professionals to denote the most expensive area of midtown from a commercial real estate perspective, lies between 42nd Street and 59th Street, from 3rd Avenue to 7th Avenue, about a square kilometer or half a square mile.
"Midtown South" can refer to the part of Midtown between 23rd Street and around 42nd Street (although its northern boundary is defined differently depending on the source).
"Midtown West" can refer to the area between 34th and 59th Streets, and between 5th and 12th Avenues.
"Midtown East" can refer to the area between 42nd and 59th Streets, and between 5th Avenue and the East River.
In 1982, the City of New York identified the "Manhattan Core" as the area that includes some of the city's most populous neighborhoods, major institutions, parks and transit hubs, and the city's primary Central Business District (CBD), defined as Manhattan below 60th Street. The "Manhattan Core" includes some areas slightly further north of 86th Street in Manhattan, as well as the area below 14th Street. However, this definition is problematic because it ignores the fact that Manhattan has not one but two zones that are job centers, which are separated by a wide swath of low-rise (by New York City standards) residential development: Midtown (which is in Midtown Manhattan) and the Financial District (also known simply as "Downtown" because of its location in southern Manhattan). In other sources, these districts are referred to as separate central business districts.
Cityscape
Economy
Midtown Manhattan, along with Lower Manhattan, is one of the world's leading financial centers.
Corporate headquarters
Midtown Manhattan is the world's largest central business district, with 400 million square feet (37.2 million m2) of office space in 2018. Midtown contains the headquarters of major companies, including 4Kids Entertainment (formerly), Barnes & Noble, Bloomberg L.P., Ernst & Young, Calvin Klein, Cantor Fitzgerald, CBS Corporation, Citigroup, Colgate-Palmolive, Cushman & Wakefield, DC Comics, Deloitte, Duane Reade, Estée Lauder Companies, Foot Locker, Frederator Studios, JPMorgan Chase, Hess Corporation, Kroll Inc., L-3 Communications, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Marvel Entertainment, MetLife, MidOcean Partners, Morgan Stanley, Nasdaq, Inc., NBCUniversal, The New York Times Company, NexCen Brands, Paramount Global, Pfizer, Polo Ralph Lauren, Saks Incorporated (Saks Fifth Avenue), The Sharper Image, Simon & Schuster, Six Flags, TBWA Worldwide, Thomson Reuters, Warner Bros. Discovery, Time Warner Cable, The Travelers Companies, and Univision Communications. The New York Institute of Finance is located in Midtown Manhattan.