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New York
State
State of New York
FlagSeal
Nickname: The Empire State
Motto(s): Excelsior (in Latin) Ever upward
Location of New York within the United States
Country	United States
Before statehood	Province of New York
Admitted to the Union	July 26, 1788 (11th)
Capital	Albany
Largest city	New York City
Largest county or equivalent	Kings (Brooklyn)
Largest metro and urban areas	New York metropolitan area
Government
• Governor	Kathy Hochul (D)
• Lieutenant governor	Antonio Delgado (D)
Legislature	State Legislature
• Upper house	State Senate
• Lower house	State Assembly
Judiciary	New York Court of Appeals
U.S. senators	Chuck Schumer (D) Kirsten Gillibrand (D)
U.S. House delegation	19 Democrats 7 Republicans (list)
Area
• Total	54,555 sq mi (141,298 km)
• Land	47,126 sq mi (122,057 km)
• Water	7,429 sq mi (19,240 km)  13.6%
• Rank	27th
Dimensions
• Length	330 mi (530 km)
• Width	285 mi (455 km)
Elevation	1,000 ft (300 m)
Highest elevation	5,344 ft (1,629 m)
Lowest elevation	0 ft (0 m)
Population
• Total	19,867,248
• Rank	4th
• Density	428.66/sq mi (165.51/km)
• Rank	8th
• Median household income	$82,100 (2023)
• Income rank	14th
Demonym	New Yorker
Language
• Spoken language	English 69.6% Spanish 15.2% Chinese 3.1% Tagalog 2.5% French 1.6% Russian 1.2% Italian 0.9% Yiddish 0.7% Hindi/Urdu 0.6% Arabic 0.5% Korean 0.5%
Time zone	UTC– 05:00 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC– 04:00 (EDT)
USPS abbreviation	NY
ISO 3166 code	US-NY
Traditional abbreviation	N.Y.
Latitude	40° 30′ N to 45° 1′ N
Longitude	71° 51′ W to 79° 46′ W
Website	ny.gov

State symbols of New York

List of state symbols
Flag of New York
Seal of New York
Coat of arms of New York
Slogan	I Love New York
Living insignia
Bird	Eastern bluebird
Fish	Brook trout (fresh water), Striped bass (salt water)
Flower	Rose
Fruit	Apple
Insect	Nine-spotted ladybug
Mammal	North American beaver
Reptile	Common snapping turtle
Tree	Sugar maple, Lilac bush
Inanimate insignia
Beverage	Milk
Food	Yogurt
Fossil	Eurypterus remipes
Gemstone	Garnet
Shell	Bay scallop
Sport	Baseball
State route marker
State quarter
Released in 2001
Lists of United States state symbols

New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, it touches both the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes. New York is the fourth-most populous state in the United States, with approximately 20 million residents, and the 27th-largest state by area, with a total area of 54,556 square miles (141,300 km).

New York has a varied geography. The southeastern part of the state, known as Downstate, encompasses New York City, the most populous city in the United States; Long Island, the nation's most populous island; and the cities, suburbs, and wealthy enclaves of the lower Hudson Valley. These areas are the center of the expansive New York metropolitan area and account for approximately two-thirds of the state's population. The larger Upstate area spreads from the Great Lakes to Lake Champlain and includes the Adirondack Mountains and the Catskill Mountains (part of the wider Appalachian Mountains). The east–west Mohawk River Valley bisects the more mountainous regions of Upstate and flows into the north–south Hudson River valley near the state capital of Albany. Western New York, home to the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, is part of the Great Lakes region and borders Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Central New York is anchored by the city of Syracuse; between the central and western parts of the state, New York is prominently featured by the Finger Lakes, a popular tourist destination. To the south, along the state border with Pennsylvania, the Southern Tier sits atop the Allegheny Plateau, representing some of the northernmost reaches of Appalachia.

New York was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that went on to form the United States. The area of present-day New York had been inhabited by tribes of the Algonquians and the Iroquois Confederacy Native Americans for several thousand years by the time the earliest Europeans arrived. Stemming from Henry Hudson's expedition in 1609, the Dutch established the multiethnic colony of New Netherland in 1621. England seized the colony from the Dutch in 1664, renaming it the Province of New York. During the American Revolutionary War, a group of colonists eventually succeeded in establishing independence, and the state ratified the then new United States Constitution in 1788. From the early 19th century, New York's development of its interior, beginning with the construction of the Erie Canal, gave it incomparable advantages over other regions of the United States. The state built its political, cultural, and economic ascendancy over the next century, earning it the nickname of the "Empire State". Although deindustrialization eroded a portion of the state's economy in the second half of the 20th century, New York in the 21st century continues to be considered as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance, and environmental sustainability.

The state attracts visitors from all over the globe, with the highest count of any U.S. state in 2022. Many of its landmarks are well known, including four of the world's ten most-visited tourist attractions in 2013: Times Square, Central Park, Niagara Falls, and Grand Central Terminal. New York is home to approximately 200 colleges and universities, including Ivy League members Columbia University and Cornell University, and the expansive State University of New York, which is among the largest university systems in the nation. New York City is home to the headquarters of the United Nations, and it is sometimes described as the world's most important city, the cultural, financial, and media epicenter, and the capital of the world.

History

Native American history

The Native American tribes in what is now New York were predominantly Iroquois and Algonquian. Long Island was divided roughly in half between the Algonquian Wampanoag and Lenape peoples. The Lenape also controlled most of the region surrounding New York Harbor. North of the Lenape was a third Algonquian nation, the Mohicans. Starting north of them, from east to west, were two Iroquoian nations: the Mohawk—part of the original Iroquois Five Nations, and the Petun. South of them, divided roughly along Appalachia, were the Susquehannock and the Erie.

Many of the Wampanoag and Mohican peoples were caught up in King Philip's War, a joint effort of many New England tribes to push Europeans off their land. After the death of their leader, Chief Philip Metacomet, most of those peoples fled inland, splitting into the Abenaki and the Schaghticoke. Many of the Mohicans remained in the region until the 1800s, however, a small group known as the Ouabano migrated southwest into West Virginia at an earlier time. They may have merged with the Shawnee.

The Mohawk and Susquehannock were the most militaristic. Trying to corner trade with the Europeans, they targeted other tribes. The Mohawk were also known for refusing white settlement on their land and discriminating against any of their people who converted to Christianity. They posed a major threat to the Abenaki and Mohicans, while the Susquehannock briefly conquered the Lenape in the 1600s. The most devastating event of the century, however, was the Beaver Wars.

From approximately 1640–1680, the Iroquois peoples waged campaigns which extended from modern-day Michigan to Virginia against Algonquian and Siouan tribes, as well as each other. The aim was to control more land for animal trapping, a career most natives had turned to in hopes of trading with whites first. This completely changed the ethnography of the region, and most large game was hunted out before whites ever fully explored the land. Still, afterward, the Iroquois Confederacy offered shelter to refugees of the Mascouten, Erie, Chonnonton, Tutelo, Saponi, and Tuscarora nations. The Tuscarora became the sixth nation of the Iroquois.

In the 1700s, Iroquoian peoples would take in the remaining Susquehannock of Pennsylvania after they were decimated in the French and Indian War. Most of these other groups assimilated and eventually ceased to exist as separate tribes. Then, after the American Revolution, a large group of Seneca split off and returned to Ohio, becoming known as the Mingo Seneca. The current Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy include the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Tuscarora and Mohawk. The Iroquois fought for both sides during the Revolutionary War; afterwards many pro-British Iroquois migrated to Canada. Today, the Iroquois still live in several enclaves across New York and Ontario.

Meanwhile, the Lenape formed a close relationship with William Penn. However, upon Penn's death, his sons managed to take over much of their lands and banish them to Ohio. When the U.S. drafted the Indian Removal Act, the Lenape were further moved to Missouri, whereas their cousins, the Mohicans, were sent to Wisconsin.

Also, in 1778, the United States relocated the Nanticoke from the Delmarva Peninsula to the former Iroquois lands south of Lake Ontario, though they did not stay long. Mostly, they chose to migrate into Canada and merge with the Iroquois, although some moved west and merged with the Lenape.

16th century

In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer in the service of the French crown, explored the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay. On April 17, 1524, Verrazzano entered New York Bay, by way of the strait now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita, in honor of the King of France's sister. Verrazzano described it as "a vast coastline with a deep delta in which every kind of ship could pass" and he adds: "that it extends inland for a league and opens up to form a beautiful lake. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats." He landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazzano's stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Martha's Vineyard.

In 1540, French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany; it was abandoned the following year due to flooding. In 1614, the Dutch, under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, which they called Fort Nassau. Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse. Located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange (New Netherland) was built nearby in 1623.

17th century

Henry Hudson's 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement in the area. Sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year. Word of his findings encouraged Dutch merchants to explore the coast in search of profitable fur trading with local Native American tribes.

During the 17th century, Dutch trading posts established for the trade of pelts from the Lenape, Iroquois, and other tribes were founded in the colony of New Netherland. The first of these trading posts were Fort Nassau (1614, near present-day Albany); Fort Orange (1624, on the Hudson River just south of the current city of Albany and created to replace Fort Nassau), developing into settlement Beverwijck (1647), and into what became Albany; Fort Amsterdam (1625, to develop into the town New Amsterdam, which is present-day New York City); and Esopus (1653, now Kingston). The success of the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck (1630), which surrounded Albany and lasted until the mid-19th century, was also a key factor in the early success of the colony. The English captured the colony during the Second Anglo-Dutch War and governed it as the Province of New York. The city of New York was recaptured by the Dutch in 1673 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674) and renamed New Orange. It was returned to the English under the terms of the Treaty of Westminster a year later.

18th century

American Revolution

The Sons of Liberty were organized in New York City during the 1760s, largely in response to the oppressive Stamp Act passed by the British Parliament in 1765. The Stamp Act Congress met in the city on October 19 of that year, composed of representatives from across the Thirteen Colonies who set the stage for the Continental Congress to follow. The Stamp Act Congress resulted in the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which was the first written expression by representatives of the Americans of many of the rights and complaints later expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence. This included the right to representative government. At the same time, given strong commercial, personal and sentimental links to Britain, many New York residents were Loyalists. The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga provided the cannon and gunpowder necessary to force a British withdrawal from the siege of Boston in 1775.

New York was the only colony not to vote for independence, as the delegates were not authorized to do so. New York then endorsed the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776. The New York State Constitution was framed by a convention which assembled at White Plains on July 10, 1776, and after repeated adjournments and changes of location, finished its work at Kingston on Sunday evening, April 20, 1777, when the new constitution drafted by John Jay was adopted with but one dissenting vote. It was not submitted to the people for ratification. On July 30, 1777, George Clinton was inaugurated as the first Governor of New York at Kingston.

Approximately a third of the battles of the American Revolutionary War took place in New York; the first major one and largest of the entire war was the Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn, in August 1776. After their victory, the British occupied present-day New York City, making it their military and political base of operations in North America for the duration of the conflict, and consequently the focus of General George Washington's intelligence network. On the notorious British prison ships of Wallabout Bay, more American combatants died than were killed in combat in every battle of the war combined. Both sides of combatants lost more soldiers to disease than to outright wounds. The first of two major British armies were captured by the Continental Army at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, a success that influenced France to ally with the revolutionaries; the state constitution was enacted in 1777. New York became the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788.

In an attempt to retain their sovereignty and remain an independent nation positioned between the new United States and British North America, four of the Iroquois Nations fought on the side of the British; only the Oneida and their dependents, the Tuscarora, allied themselves with the Americans. In retaliation for attacks on the frontier led by Joseph Brant and Loyalist Mohawk forces, the Sullivan Expedition of 1779 destroyed nearly 50 Iroquois villages, adjacent croplands and winter stores, forcing many refugees to British-held Niagara.

As allies of the British, the Iroquois were forced out of New York, although they had not been part of treaty negotiations. They resettled in Canada after the war and were given land grants by the Crown. In the treaty settlement, the British ceded most Indian lands to the new United States. Because New York made a treaty with the Iroquois without getting Congressional approval, some of the land purchases have been subject to land claim suits since the late 20th century by the federally recognized tribes. New York put up more than 5 million acres (20,000 km) of former Iroquois territory for sale in the years after the Revolutionary War, leading to rapid development in Upstate New York. As per the Treaty of Paris, the last vestige of British authority in the former Thirteen Colonies—their troops in New York City—departed in 1783, which was long afterward celebrated as Evacuation Day.

Confederation period and 1790s

New York City was the national capital under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the first national government. That organization was found to be inadequate, and prominent New Yorker Alexander Hamilton advocated for a new government that would include an executive, national courts, and the power to tax. Hamilton led the Annapolis Convention (1786) that called for the Philadelphia Convention, which drafted the United States Constitution, in which he also took part. The new government was to be a strong federal national government to replace the relatively weaker confederation of individual states. Following heated debate, which included the publication of The Federalist Papers as a series of installments in New York City newspapers, New York was the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788.

New York City remained the national capital under the new constitution until 1790 when it was moved to Philadelphia until 1800, when it was relocated to its current location in Washington, D.C. and was the site of the inauguration of President George Washington, In the first session of the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Bill of Rights were drafted.

19th and 20th centuries

Transportation in Western New York was by expensive wagons on muddy roads before canals opened up the rich farmlands to long-distance traffic. Governor DeWitt Clinton promoted the Erie Canal, which connected New York City to the Great Lakes by the Hudson River, the new canal, and the rivers and lakes. Work commenced in 1817, and the Erie Canal opened eight years later, in 1825. Packet boats pulled by horses on tow paths traveled slowly over the canal carrying passengers and freight. Farm products came in from the Midwest, and finished manufactured goods moved west. It was an engineering marvel which opened up vast areas of New York to commerce and settlement. It enabled Great Lakes port cities such as Buffalo and Rochester to grow and prosper. It also connected the burgeoning agricultural production of the Midwest and shipping on the Great Lakes, with the port of New York City. Improving transportation, it enabled additional population migration to territories west of New York. After 1850, railroads largely replaced the canal.

The connectivity offered by the canal, and subsequently the railroads, led to an economic boom across the entire state through the 1950s. Major corporations that got their start in New York during this time include American Express, AT&T, Bristol Myers Squibb, Carrier, Chase, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Kodak, Macy's, NBC, Pfizer, Random House, RCA, Tiffany & Co., Wells Fargo, Western Union, and Xerox.

New York City was a major ocean port and had extensive traffic importing cotton from the South and exporting manufacturing goods. Nearly half of the state's exports were related to cotton. Southern cotton factors, planters and bankers visited so often that they had favorite hotels. At the same time, activism for abolitionism was strong upstate, where some communities provided stops on the Underground Railroad. Upstate, and New York City, gave strong support for the American Civil War, in terms of finances, volunteer soldiers, and supplies. The state provided more than 370,000 soldiers to the Union armies. Over 53,000 New Yorkers died in service, roughly one of every seven who served. However, Irish draft riots in 1862 were a significant embarrassment.

Immigration

Since the early 19th century, New York City has been the largest port of entry for legal immigration into the United States. In the United States, the federal government did not assume direct jurisdiction for immigration until 1890. Prior to this time, the matter was delegated to the individual states, then via contract between the states and the federal government. Most immigrants to New York would disembark at the bustling docks along the Hudson and East Rivers, in the eventual Lower Manhattan. On May 4, 1847, the New York State Legislature created the Board of Commissioners of Immigration to regulate immigration.

The first permanent immigration depot in New York was established in 1855 at Castle Garden, a converted War of 1812 era fort located within what is now Battery Park, at the tip of Lower Manhattan. The first immigrants to arrive at the new depot were aboard three ships that had just been released from quarantine. Castle Garden served as New York's immigrant depot until it closed on April 18, 1890, when the federal government assumed control over immigration. During that period, more than eight million immigrants passed through its doors (two of every three U.S. immigrants).

When the federal government assumed control, it established the Bureau of Immigration, which chose the three-acre (1.2 ha) Ellis Island in Upper New York Harbor for an entry depot. Already federally controlled, the island had served as an ammunition depot. It was chosen due its relative isolation with proximity to New York City and the rail lines of Jersey City, New Jersey, via a short ferry ride. While the island was being developed and expanded via land reclamation, the federal government operated a temporary depot at the Barge Office at the Battery.

Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892, and operated as a central immigration center until the National Origins Act was passed in 1924, reducing immigration. After that date, the only immigrants to pass through were displaced persons or war refugees. The island ceased all immigration processing on November 12, 1954, when the last person detained on the island, Norwegian seaman Arne Peterssen, was released. He had overstayed his shore leave and left on the 10:15 a.m. Manhattan-bound ferry to return to his ship.

More than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1954. More than 100 million Americans across the United States can trace their ancestry to these immigrants. Ellis Island was the subject of a contentious and long-running border and jurisdictional dispute between the State of New York and the State of New Jersey, as both claimed it. The issue was officially settled in 1998 by the U.S. Supreme Court which ruled that the original 3.3-acre (1.3 ha) island was New York state territory and that the balance of the 27.5 acres (11 ha) added after 1834 by landfill was in New Jersey. In May 1964, Ellis Island was added to the National Park Service by President Lyndon B. Johnson and is still owned by the federal government as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. In 1990, Ellis Island was opened to the public as a museum of immigration.

21st century

September 11 attacks

On September 11, 2001, two of four hijacked planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, and the towers collapsed. 7 World Trade Center also collapsed due to damage from fires. The other buildings of the World Trade Center complex were damaged beyond repair and demolished soon thereafter. The collapse of the Twin Towers caused extensive damage and resulted in the deaths of 2,753 victims, including 147 aboard the two planes. Since September 11, most of Lower Manhattan has been restored. In the years since, over 7,000 rescue workers and residents of the area have developed several life-threatening illnesses, and some have died.

A memorial at the site, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, was opened to the public on September 11, 2011. A permanent museum later opened at the site on March 21, 2014. Upon its completion in 2014, the new One World Trade Center became the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere, at 1,776 feet (541 m), meant to symbolize the year America gained its independence, 1776. From 2006 to 2023, 3 World Trade Center, 4 World Trade Center, 7 World Trade Center, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, Liberty Park, Fiterman Hall, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, and the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center were also constructed on the World Trade Center site.

Hurricane Sandy (2012)

On October 29 and 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive destruction of the state's shorelines, ravaging portions of New York City, Long Island, and southern Westchester with record-high storm surge, with severe flooding and high winds causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, and leading to gasoline shortages and disruption of mass transit systems. The storm and its profound effects have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of New York City and Long Island to minimize the risk from another such future event. Such risk is considered highly probable due to global warming and rising sea levels.

COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2023)

On March 1, 2020, New York had its first confirmed case of COVID-19 after Washington (state), two months prior.

From May 19–20, Western New York and the Capital Region entered Phase 1 of reopening. On May 26, the Hudson Valley began Phase 1, and New York City partially reopened on June 8.

During July 2020, a federal judge ruled Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio exceeded authority by limiting religious gatherings to 25% when others operated at 50% capacity. On Thanksgiving Eve, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked additional religious restrictions imposed by Cuomo for areas with high infection rates.

Geography

The state of New York covers a total area of 54,555 square miles (141,297 km) and ranks as the 27th-largest state by size. The highest elevation in New York is Mount Marcy in the Adirondack High Peaks in Northern New York, at 5,344 feet (1,629 meters) above sea level; while the state's lowest point is at sea level, on the Atlantic Ocean in Downstate New York.

In contrast with New York City's urban landscape, the vast majority of the state's geographic area is dominated by meadows, forests, rivers, farms, mountains, and lakes. Most of the southern part of the state rests on the Allegheny Plateau, which extends from the southeastern United States to the Catskill Mountains; the section in the State of New York is known as the Southern Tier. The rugged Adirondack Mountains, with vast tracts of wilderness, lie west of the Lake Champlain Valley. The Great Appalachian Valley dominates eastern New York and contains Lake Champlain Valley as its northern half and the Hudson Valley as its southern half within the state. The Tug Hill region arises as a cuesta east of Lake Ontario. The state of New York contains a part of the Marcellus shale, which extends into Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Upstate and Downstate are often used informally to distinguish New York City or its greater metropolitan area from the rest of the State of New York. The placement of a boundary between the two is a matter of great contention. Unofficial and loosely defined regions of Upstate New York include from the Southern Tier, which includes many of the counties along the border with Pennsylvania, to the North Country region, above or sometimes including parts of the Adirondack region.

Water

Borders

Among the total area of New York state, 13.6% consists of water. Much of New York's boundaries are in water, as is true for New York City: four of its five boroughs are situated on three islands at the mouth of the Hudson River: Manhattan Island; Staten Island; and Long Island, which contains Brooklyn and Queens at its western end. The state's borders include a water boundary in (clockwise from the west) two Great Lakes (Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, which are connected by the Niagara River); the provinces of Ontario and Quebec in Canada, with New York and Ontario sharing the Thousand Islands archipelago within the Saint Lawrence River, while most of its border with Quebec is on land; it shares Lake Champlain with the New England state of Vermont; the New England state of Massachusetts has mostly a land border; New York extends into Long Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean, sharing a water border with Rhode Island, while Connecticut has land and sea borders. Except for areas near the New York Harbor and the Upper Delaware River, New York has a mostly land border with two Mid-Atlantic states, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. New York is the only state that borders both the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.

Drainage

The Hudson River begins near Lake Tear of the Clouds and flows south through the eastern part of the state, without draining Lakes George or Champlain. Lake George empties at its north end into Lake Champlain, whose northern end extends into Canada, where it drains into the Richelieu River and then ultimately the Saint Lawrence River. The western section of the state is drained by the Allegheny River and rivers of the Susquehanna and Delaware River systems. Niagara Falls is shared between New York and Ontario as it flows on the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The Delaware River Basin Compact, signed in 1961 by New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the federal government, regulates the utilization of water of the Delaware system.

Climate

Under the Köppen climate classification, most of New York has a humid continental climate, though New York City and Long Island have a humid subtropical climate. Weather in New York is heavily influenced by two continental air masses: a warm, humid one from the southwest and a cold, dry one from the northwest. Downstate New York (comprising New York City, Long Island, and lower portions of the Hudson Valley) have rather hot summers with some periods of high humidity and cold, damp winters which are relatively mild compared to temperatures in Upstate New York, due to the downstate region's lower elevation, proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, and relatively lower latitude.

Upstate New York experiences warm summers, marred by only occasional, brief intervals of sultry conditions, with long and cold winters. Western New York, particularly the Tug Hill region, receives heavy lake-effect snows, especially during the earlier portions of winter, before the surface of Lake Ontario itself is covered by ice. The summer climate is cool in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and at higher elevations of the Southern Tier. Buffalo and its metropolitan area are described as climate change havens for their weather pattern in Western New York.

Summer daytime temperatures range from the high 70s to low 80s °F (25 to 28 °C), over most of the state. In the majority of winter seasons, a temperature of −13 °F (−25 °C) or lower can be expected in the northern highlands (Northern Plateau) and 5 °F (−15 °C) or colder in the southwestern and east-central highlands of the Southern Tier. New York had a record-high temperature of 108 °F (42.2 °C) on July 22, 1926, in the Albany area. Its record-lowest temperature during the winter was −52 °F (−46.7 °C) in 1979. Governors Island, Manhattan, in New York Harbor, is planned to host a US$1 billion research and education center poised to make New York the global leader in addressing the climate crisis.

Flora and fauna

Due to New York's relatively large land area and unique geography compared to other eastern states, there are several distinct ecoregions present in the state, many of them reduced heavily due to urbanization and other human activities: Southern Great Lakes forests in Western New York, New England–Acadian forests on the New England border, Northeastern coastal forests in the lower Hudson Valley and western Long Island, Atlantic coastal pine barrens in southern Long Island, Northeastern interior dry–mesic oak forest in the eastern Southern Tier and upper Hudson Valley, Appalachian–Blue Ridge forests in the Hudson Valley), Central Appalachian dry oak–pine forest around the Hudson Valley, Eastern Great Lakes and Hudson Lowlands, Eastern forest–boreal transition in the Adirondacks, Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests around the Adirondacks, and Allegheny Highlands forests, most of which are in the western Southern Tier.

Some species that can be found in this state are American ginseng, starry stonewort, waterthyme, water chestnut, eastern poison ivy, poison sumac, giant hogweed, cow parsnip and common nettle. There are more than 70 mammal species, more than 20 bird species, some species of amphibians, and several reptile species.

Species of mammals that are found in New York are the white-footed mouse, North American least shrew, little brown bat, muskrat, eastern gray squirrel, eastern cottontail, American ermine, groundhog, striped skunk, fisher, North American river otter, raccoon, bobcat, eastern coyote, red fox, gray fox white-tailed deer, moose, and American black bear; extirpated mammals include Canada lynx, American bison, wolverine, Allegheny woodrat, caribou, eastern elk, eastern cougar, and eastern wolf. Some species of birds in New York are the ring-necked pheasant, northern bobwhite, ruffed grouse, spruce grouse, Canada jay, wild turkey, blue jay, eastern bluebird (the state bird), American robin, and black-capped chickadee.

Birds of prey that are present in the state are great horned owls, bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, American kestrels, and northern harriers. Waterfowl like mallards, wood ducks, canvasbacks, American black ducks, trumpeter swans, Canada geese, and blue-winged teals can be found in the region. Maritime or shore birds of New York are great blue heron, killdeers, northern cardinals, American herring gulls, and common terns. Reptile and amphibian species in land areas of New York include queen snakes, hellbenders, diamondback terrapins, timber rattlesnakes, eastern fence lizards, spotted turtles, and Blanding's turtles. Sea turtles that can be found in the state are the green sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, leatherback sea turtle and Kemp's ridley sea turtle. New York Harbor and the Hudson River constitute an estuary, making the state of New York home to a rich array of marine life including shellfish—such as oysters and clams—as well as fish, microorganisms, and sea-birds.

Regions

Due to its long history, New York has several overlapping and often conflicting definitions of regions within the state. The regions are also not fully definable due to the colloquial use of regional labels. The New York State Department of Economic Development provides two distinct definitions of these regions. It divides the state into ten economic regions, which approximately correspond to terminology used by residents:

1. Western New York
2. Finger Lakes
3. Southern Tier
4. Central New York
5. North Country
6. Mohawk Valley
7. Capital District
8. Hudson Valley
9. New York City
10. Long Island

The department also groups the counties into eleven regions for tourism purposes.

1. Chautauqua–Allegheny
2. Niagara Frontier
3. Finger Lakes
4. Thousand Islands
5. Central-Leatherstocking Region
6. Adirondack Mountains
7. Capital District
8. Catskill Mountains
9. Hudson Valley
10. New York City
11. Long Island

State parks

New York has many state parks and two major forest preserves. Niagara Falls State Park, established in 1885, is the oldest state park in the United States and the first to be created via eminent domain. In 1892, Adirondack Park, roughly the size of the state of Vermont and the largest state park in the United States, was established and given state constitutional protection to remain "forever wild" in 1894. The park is larger than Yellowstone, Everglades, Glacier, and Grand Canyon national parks combined. The Catskill Park was protected in legislation passed in 1885, which declared that its land was to be conserved and never put up for sale or lease. Consisting of 700,000 acres (2,800 km) of land, the park is a habitat for deer, minks, and fishers. There are some 400 black bears living in the region. The state operates numerous campgrounds, and there are over 300 miles (480 km) of multi-use trails in the Park.

The 1797 Montauk Lighthouse, commissioned under President George Washington, is a major tourist attraction in Montauk Point State Park at the easternmost tip of Long Island. Hither Hills State Park, also on Long Island's South Fork, offers camping and is a popular destination with surfcasting sport fishermen.

National parks, monuments, and historic landmarks

The State of New York is well represented in the National Park System with 22 national parks, which received 16,349,381 visitors in 2011. In addition, there are a national marine sanctuary, four national heritage areas, 27 national natural landmarks, 262 national historic landmarks, and 5,379 listings on the National Register of Historic Places. Some major areas, landmarks, and monuments are listed below.

• The Statue of Liberty National Monument includes Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The statue, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and formally named Liberty Enlightening the World, was a gift from France to the United States to mark the Centennial of the American Declaration of Independence; it was dedicated in New York Harbor on October 28, 1886. It has since become an icon of the United States and the concepts of democracy and freedom.
• The African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan is the only national monument dedicated to Americans of African ancestry. It preserves a site containing the remains of more than 400 Africans buried during the late 17th and 18th centuries in a portion of what was the largest colonial-era cemetery for people of African descent, both free and enslaved, with an estimated tens of thousands of remains interred. The site's excavation and study were called "the most important historic urban archeological project in the United States."
• Fire Island National Seashore is a United States national seashore that protects a 26-mile (42 km) section of Fire Island, an approximately 30-mile (48 km) long barrier island separated from the mainland of Long Island by the Great South Bay. The island is part of Suffolk County.
• Gateway National Recreation Area is more than 26,000 acres (10,522 ha) of water, salt marsh, wetlands, islands, and shoreline at the entrance to New York Harbor, the majority of which lies within New York. Including areas on Long Island and in New Jersey, it covers more area than that of two Manhattan islands.
• General Grant National Memorial is the final resting place of President Ulysses S. Grant and is the largest mausoleum in North America.
• Hamilton Grange National Memorial preserves the home of Alexander Hamilton, Caribbean immigrant and orphan who rose to be a United States founding father and associate of George Washington.
• The Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, established in 1945, preserves the Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York. Springwood was the birthplace, lifelong home, and burial place of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• The Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary was designated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2024; it covers 1,722 square miles (1,300 sq nmi; 4,460 km) of southeastern Lake Ontario off the coasts of Jefferson, Oswego, Cayuga, and Wayne counties and protects historic shipwrecks and an area of cultural, historical, and spiritual importance to Native Americans. It is managed jointly by NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and the State of New York.
• Niagara Falls National Heritage Area was designated by the U.S. Congress in 2008; it stretches from the western boundary of Wheatfield, New York to the mouth of the Niagara River on Lake Ontario, including the communities of Niagara Falls, Youngstown, and Lewiston. It includes Niagara Falls State Park and Colonial Niagara Historic District. It is managed in collaboration with the state.
• Saratoga National Historical Park preserves the site of the Battles of Saratoga, the first significant American military victory of the American Revolutionary War. In 1777, American forces defeated a major British Army, which led France to recognize the independence of the United States, and enter the war as a decisive military ally of the struggling Americans.
• Stonewall National Monument, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, is the first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights, designated on June 24, 2016. The monument comprises the area around the still privately operated Stonewall Inn, commonly recognized to be the cradle of the gay liberation movement as the site of the 1969 Stonewall Riots; the adjacent Christopher Park; and surrounding streets and sidewalks.
• Manhattan's Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site is also the childhood home of President Theodore Roosevelt, the only president born in New York City until Donald Trump.

Administrative divisions

As of 2022, New York is divided into 62 counties. Aside from the five counties of New York City, each of these counties is subdivided into towns and cities, incorporated under state law. Towns can contain incorporated villages or unincorporated hamlets. New York City is divided into five boroughs, each coterminous with a county. The major cities of the state developed along the key transportation and trade routes of the early 19th century, including the Erie Canal and railroads paralleling it. The New York Thruway acts as a modern counterpart to commercial water routes. Downstate New York (New York City, Long Island, and the southern portion of the Hudson Valley) can be considered to form the central core of the Northeast megalopolis, an urbanized region stretching from New Hampshire to Virginia.

Cities and towns

New York contains 62 administrative divisions termed cities. The largest city in the state and the most populous city in the United States is New York City, which comprises five counties (each coextensive with a borough): Bronx, New York County (Manhattan), Queens, Kings County (Brooklyn), and Richmond County (Staten Island). New York City is home to more than two-fifths of the state's population. Albany, the state capital, is the sixth-largest city in the State of New York. The smallest city is Sherrill, New York, in Oneida County. Hempstead is the most populous town in the state; if it were a city, it would be the second-largest in the State of New York, with more than 700,000 residents. New York contains 13 metropolitan areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Major metro areas include New York City, Buffalo, Rochester, the Capital District (Albany, Schenectady, and Troy), Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, Utica, and Binghamton.

Demographics

Population

New York was the most populous state in the U.S. from the 1810s until 1962. As of 2024, it is the nation's fourth-most populous state behind California, Texas, and Florida. Growth has been distributed unevenly. The New York metropolitan area, Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, Saratoga County and Capital District are growing while Rochester, Syracuse, and other population centers have been losing residents or have been stagnant for decades. New York City gained 223,615 residents between April 2010 and July 2018, representing the greatest population increase of any U.S. city.

According to immigration statistics, the state is a leading recipient of migrants from around the globe. In 2008 New York had the second-largest international immigrant population in the country among U.S. states, at 4.2 million; most reside in and around New York City, due to its size, high profile, vibrant economy, and cosmopolitan culture. New York has a pro-sanctuary city law.

The United States Census Bureau tabulated in the 2020 census that the population of New York was 20,215,751 on April 1, 2020, a 4.3% increase since the 2010 census. Despite the abundance of open land in the state, New York's population is very urban, with 92% of residents living in an urban area, predominantly in the New York City metropolitan area.

Two-thirds of the state's population resides in the New York metropolitan area. New York City is the most populous city in the United States, with an estimated record high population of 8,622,698 in 2017, incorporating more immigration into the city than emigration since the 2010 United States census. More than twice as many people live in New York City as in the second-most populous U.S. city, Los Angeles, and within a smaller area. Long Island alone accounted for a census-estimated 7,838,722 residents in 2015, representing 39.6% of the State of New York's population. Of the total statewide population, 6.5% of New Yorkers were under five years of age, 24.7% under 18, and 12.9% were 65 or older.

According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 74,178 homeless people in New York.

The leading out-of-state birthplaces in New York were the Dominican Republic, China, India, Puerto Rico, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Russia, Mexico, and Central American countries in 2017.

Race and ethnicity

According to the 2000 census, Italian, Irish, German, African American and English were the most common ancestries.

The state's historically most populous racial group, non-Hispanic White people, declined as a proportion of the state population from 94.6% in 1940 to 58.3% in 2010. As of 2011, 55.6% of New York's population younger than age 1 were minorities. New York's robustly increasing Jewish population, the largest outside of Israel, was the highest among states both by percentage and by absolute number in 2012. It is driven by the high reproductive rate of Orthodox Jewish families, particularly in Brooklyn and communities of the Hudson Valley.

New York is home to the second-largest Asian American population and the fourth-largest Black or African American population in the United States. New York's Black and African population increased by 2.0% between 2000 and 2010, to 3,073,800. In 2019, the Black and African American population increased to an estimated 3,424,002. The Black or African American population is in a state of flux, as New York is the largest recipient of immigrants from Africa, while established Blacks and African Americans are migrating out of New York to the southern United States. The New York City neighborhood of Harlem has historically been a major cultural capital for Blacks and African Americans of sub-Saharan descent, and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn has the largest such population in the United States. Meanwhile, New York's Asian population increased by a notable 36% from 2000 to 2010, to 1,420,244; in 2019, its population grew to an estimated 1,579,494. Queens, in New York City, is home to the state's largest Asian American population and is the most ethnically diverse county in the United States and the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world.

New York's growing Hispanic and Latino American population numbered 3,416,922 in 2010, a 19% increase from the 2,867,583 enumerated in 2000. In 2020, it numbered an estimated 3,811,000. Queens is home to the largest Andean (Colombian, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, and Bolivian) populations in the United States. In addition, New York has the largest Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Jamaican American populations in the continental United States. The Chinese population constitutes the fastest-growing nationality in the State of New York, which is the top destination for new Chinese immigrants, and large-scale Chinese immigration continues into the state. Multiple satellites of the original Manhattan Chinatown, in Brooklyn, and around Flushing, Queens, are thriving as traditionally urban enclaves, while also expanding rapidly eastward into suburban Nassau County, on Long Island. Long Island, including Queens and Nassau County, is also home to several Little Indias and a large Koreatown, with large and growing attendant populations of Indian Americans and Korean Americans, respectively. Brooklyn has been a destination for West Indian immigrants of African descent, as well as Asian Indian immigrants. The annual New York City India Day Parade, held on or approximately every August 15 since 1981, is the world's largest Indian Independence Day parade outside of India.

In the 2000 U.S. census, New York had the largest Italian American population, composing the largest self-identified ancestral group in Staten Island and Long Island, followed by Irish Americans. Albany and the Mohawk Valley also have large communities of ethnic Italians and Irish Americans, reflecting 19th and early 20th-century immigration. According to the 2011–2015 American Community Survey, New York also had the largest Greek American population, enumerating 148,637 individuals (0.7% of the state). In Buffalo and Western New York, German Americans comprise the largest ancestry. In the North Country of New York, French Canadians represent the leading ethnicity, given the area's proximity to Quebec. Americans of English ancestry are present throughout all of upstate New York, reflecting early colonial and later immigrants.

Racial composition 1950 1970 1990 2010 2020 Largest ancestry by county (2017) White 93.5% 86.8% 74.4% 65.7% 55.2%   American   English   French/French Canadian   German   Irish   Italian   Caribbean Black or African American 6.2% 11.9% 15.9% 15.9% 14.8% American Indian and Alaska Native 0.1% 0.2% 0.3% 0.6% 0.7% Asian 0.2% 0.7% 3.9% 7.3% 9.6% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander – – – – 0.1% Other race – 0.4% 5.5% 7.4% 10.9% Two or more races – – – 3.0% 8.7% Hispanic or Latino − − 12.3% 17.6% 19.5%

In 2018, the top countries of origin for New York's immigrants were the Dominican Republic, China, Mexico, Jamaica and India.

Before the American Revolution. Dutch people, English people, Scottish people and German people predominately settled in New York. The influx of European immigrants to New York came initially from the northern and central parts of Europe and then later from southern Europe countries. They were mainly from Italy, Russia and Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Languages