The Truth About New York: The Long-Term Visitor's Guide to the City That Never Sleeps

By Amir Said

New York City is tough to figure out. For short-term visitors, this usually isn’t a concern. But for long-term visitors — those who plan to or have already relocated — understanding NYC is a must. For many, the task of learning NYC becomes little more than a wishful bargain with time. But time and patience alone doesn't nec

• Language: English
• Publisher: Superchamp Books
• Release date: Feb 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9780989398688

Book preview

Introduction

Among the major cities that perform on the world stage, New York City is the most dynamic. This ranking is neither hyperbole nor a pitch for what I think most people’s favorite international city is. This ranking is a basic conclusion that takes into account the variety and number of people in New York City as well as the magnitude and fundamental collection of things that New York City possesses.

Every major international city has its own collection of things, but what makes New York City unique is just how vast its collection of things really is and how much quality exists within this collection. This is why I often like to say that what mostly sets New York apart from other major international cities is the number and caliber of things that it has.

From the range and diversity of people living here (not to mention the number of languages spoken in this city) to the leading industries that are synonymous with New York; from the Arts and Cultural offerings that are on tap to the odd mix of pockets of high crime and patches of tranquil living; from New York’s sheer population and density to the world-stage franchises that are here — this is the home of the United Nations, the home of the recording industry, the home of the publishing industry, the home of one of the four corners of the fashion world, the home of Wall Street, the center of the financial world.

Then there’s the access to a seemingly endless list of goods. If they make it, chances are you can get it in New York. If they cook it, chances are you can eat it in New York. If they design and tailor it, you can wear it in New York.

Still, a collection of things isn’t the only factor that makes New York such a dynamic city. What also counts in New York’s power ranking is what I call New York’s dreamers’ draw. New York has always been, and always will be, an incredible city that holds opportunity and hope for dreamers who aspire to transform their lives, to reach bigger and better things, or to find that place where they can truly be themselves. This city is not only a grand bazar for dream chasers, it’s a safe harbor for the adventurists, the weird, the exciting, the small-towner born with a big-city mind and heart, the go-getters, the idealists, the realists, and everyone in between.

Given what’s on offer here — from the collection of things to the variety of people — there is no place quite like New York. Of course, with all of its attractions, all of its amenities, all of its opportunities, all of its different and unique souls, all of its rewards, all of its pitfalls — all of its choices — New York can be quite intimidating to newcomers. Thus, while broad in its scope, The Truth About New York really aims to answer one basic question: What should you be aware of before you move to New York? (People with family, friends, or colleagues here always ask them this question, What should I be aware of before I move to New York?)

Having interviewed and spoken with countless people who recalled to me how much their family, friends, or colleagues failed to mention about New York or the things that they failed to describe accurately, I acknowledge the difficulty in answering this question. But I believe that there are plenty of things that you should be aware of before you move to New York; and I have tried to identify those things that are most prudent to know or paramount to the greatest number of people. That said, so that readers can get the most out of a book of this nature, I think it’s important to preface this study with a number of key points about its slant and scope.

A Book for All, But Especially for Two Main Groups

While this book is geared towards long-term visitors, i.e. those who, for whatever reason — work, school, love, dreams — will live in New York for at least three months, it is also a book for everybody. This means tourists and even long-time New Yorkers. But that said, I’m especially addressing those who want or have hard plans to move to New York and those who are here already but are still finding this town difficult to figure out.

Before you relocate to New York City, you should know what you’re really getting into. And if you’re already here, but haven’t quite figured things out, then there is much clarity you need to gain if you plan on extending your stay — or if you simply want to get more out of the time that you still have left here. This book, in large part, aims to brief those who haven’t been to New York just as much as it seeks to enhance the understanding of New York for those already here.

Median Norms Favored Over Outlier Examples

In this study, I do not aim to document the many different possible outlier examples of life in New York; instead, I focus on exploring the median norms of New York, i.e. those median norms typically recognized by the greatest number of New Yorkers, which is to say the very things or factors that most New Yorkers identify as being distinctly New York. This is in no way a dismissal of the experiences of some outliers. This town has more than 8 million people in it, and there are certainly millions of slightly or wholly different versions or takes on the norm; far too many for any researcher to get a firm handle on. Also, my focus on the median norms is not a declaration that an examination of the outliers’ unique — albeit rare — experiences have no value. My focus on the median norms of New York, the most well recognized and understood characteristics of New York, is simply a realistic recognition that it is impossible to examine every anomaly within a city as big and complex as New York and still come away with a fairly accurate composite of what life is like within such a city for most of its inhabitants.

In other words, of course there are exceptions to every well-recognized and well-observed component in New York, but a focus on the exceptions to the detriment of the median norms misses the point, and it doesn’t really help people who would like to gain a better feel for New York. Many New Yorkers find or make their own exceptions, but they usually do so using some median context or another as their basis point. That said, where exceptions or anomalies are too visible to ignore, I have made every attempt to include them.

Despite Median Norms, There is No One-Size-Fit-All New York, But There is One General Composite

Median norms aside, New York isn’t the sum of just one story, but the culmination of many different stories running in a tapestry of parallels. New York is a fast life, New York is also a slow life; it all depends on where you live, what you do to earn a living, and what your social life looks like. New York is not for everybody, but it’s for anybody. Thus, in this vein, this book is less about praising one New York story over another. Instead, The Truth About New York is concerned with presenting an honest and accurate composite of New York. This composite, based on many recognized and less recognized realities of life in New York, is designed to give long-term visitors, both from within the U.S. and abroad, a straightforward, non-flinching look at one of the world’s biggest, greatest, yet most misunderstood cities.

Hard Truths, Inconvenient Realities, and How My Experiences in New York Shape this Study

Precisely because of New York’s openness and liberal nature, this book includes some hard truths about socio-economics, work, race, ethnicity, gender, friendship, dating, sex, and more. For various reasons, such hard truths are rarely examined or accurately explored in typical travel guides. But The Truth About New York is not your typical travel guide. More than anything else, this book is a cultural study designed to make long-term visitors aware of the real New York, not the vacation-get-away New York.

The biggest reason that the hard truths and inconvenient realities are left out of most guides has to do with who’s writing the guide; i.e. who’s conducting the examination. Who’s doing the observing? Who’s doing the discovery and analysis? And, most importantly, Who’s being examined? The realities of a person — their gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic background, education, etc. — go a long way in determining what information and which formal and social circles they have access to.

For instance: A single black female who works as a paralegal and lives in the South Bronx; a single white male who works as an electrician and lives in west Brooklyn; a white married couple living on Staten Island; a Puerto Rican married couple living in Bushwick, Brooklyn; young white professionals in Astoria, Queens — each will undoubtedly have a slightly different view of New York. Certainly, they’ll share some commonalities and even opinions of the city, but they will also have distinctly different insights into New York as well. And while their lives may share similarities on some base level, their social and formal circles are likely to be broadly different.

In this regard, I feel my background and experiences in New York (over 25 years) have made me well suited to conduct this study. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I’ve experienced every formal and social circle that there is in New York, or that I share the ultimate New Yorker’s feeling about living in New York. But I have flowed in many different circles and social settings — some of which I’m certain the average New Yorker has not — and I believe that this unique level of insight serves this study well.

Since my late teens, I’ve lived in every borough except for the Bronx (which I frequented but never actually lived in per se) and Staten Island (which I conducted early publishing business in). I’ve had multiple jobs in an eclectic smattering of industries, which has granted me access to different friends and sub-cultures throughout New York. I’ve worked menial, low-paying jobs and I’ve held a relatively high-paying position at one of New York’s most prestigious and important cultural institutions. I’ve been a lowly foot messenger and I’ve been a library technician. I’ve worked in the stock rooms of various retailers in New York and I’ve served behind the register at as many places. I’ve mixed it up in every borough (except for Staten Island) and I have associated with people both from high society and the underworld. I have and still count close friends of multiple ethnicities, nationalities, and socio-economic backgrounds. I’ve dated women of multiple races, ethnicities, and backgrounds; women who were teachers, lawyers, writers, doctors, secretaries, professors, dancers (both kinds), paralegals, musicians, bar tenders, ad executives, non-profit mavens, and entrepreneurs. All of these experiences have combined to help give me a solid understanding of New York.

Benefits and Drawbacks

A truthful accounting of New York City requires an examination of the benefits and drawbacks of living here; it also means coming to terms with the reality that, for all of New York’s greatness, the number of drawbacks may actually exceed the number of benefits. Of course, in determining which benefits you value the most and which drawbacks you can handle (your own benefits and drawbacks threshold), context matters, as well as your socio-economic status, access to resources, and tolerance for everything from noise to crime. So in highlighting some of the well-recognized and lesser-known details and nuances of New York and identifying some of the benefits and drawbacks commonly known by most New Yorkers, I hope that I can help people identify their own benefits and drawbacks threshold.

The Interviews: How My Interviewees’ Experiences in New York Serve this Study

I have interviewed more than 300 New Yorkers; excerpts from some of these interviews appear throughout this book (in the last chapter of this study there is a collection of interviews). The interviewees that I turned to in doing research for this book are people from all five boroughs. Some are permanent residents, some were part-time; they were both men and women (age range from 19 to 65); they were of different races, ethnicities, socio-economic backgrounds; they represent a broad spectrum of professions and educational levels; and they all held their own view of life in New York City. Taken together, these interviews — along with my own experiences and observations — have combined to help me draw what I believe to be an accurate composite of what life is like in New York City.

When Race and Ethnicity Factors Into the Equation

Overall, the United States is predominantly white, but the number of blacks who live in New York City far outnumber any other city in America. When you add to that fact that, outside of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, the largest concentration of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans live in New York, plus the large concentration of Asians and eastern Europeans, you end up with a unique portrait of New York that often gets the gloss-over treatment (if any treatment at all) in a typical travel guide — a gloss over that ignores the fact that non-whites are actually the majority in New York City.

The U.S. is preoccupied with race, but most people do not like to talk about it frankly or out in the open. With this in mind, I have attempted to show how and when race matters in New York City. Some would argue that race always matters here and everywhere else. That may be, but for the purposes of this study, I have chosen to document only those race spaces that tend to have the most impact on everyday life. In other words, where norms are norms across the board for most New Yorkers — for instance, the subway system is a hassle we all have to deal with — I let things fly as they are. However, I do recognize that the norms of the privileged — i.e. the common experiences of those who have benefited from privilege one way or the other — are often presented as the norm of American society. (For instance, not everyone in the U.S. is a white, middle to upper middle class college graduate.) Therefore, to counter this tendency — particularly how it’s implied in guides about moving to New York City — and to offer a more accurate picture of what life is like (or has been) for most of the people living in contemporary New York City, I have offered further insight and deeper nuance along the lines of race and ethnicity wherever appropriate. In other words, any truthful (and thorough) examination or assessment of life and culture in New York does sometimes require a race and ethnicity lens, if you will. Thus, wherever there are subtle or sharp differences in experience, due to race and ethnicity, I have tried to point them out.

While this book is in no way a treatise about race and ethnicity, it does deal directly with the subject and never shies away from it. This is because New Yorkers don’t shy away from race.

Nomenclature: New York City, New York, NYC, and the City; Slant, and Profanity

In this book, I use New York, New York City, and NYC, interchangeably, as New York is commonly used to refer to New York City or the City of New York, i.e. all five boroughs collectively. Also, I use Manhattan and the city (sometimes) to refer to Manhattan alone, as New Yorkers commonly refer to Manhattan as the city. Further, while I’ve certainly done field research in the process of developing The Truth About New York, this book is the product of a New Yorker with real, lived-in experience, not the creation of a group of social scientists in an academic ivory tower looking at things from a distance. Which means I tell it like is, in my own tone — a New Yorker’s tone. Such a slant means that you will see some profanity and find some passages perhaps abrasive or abrupt. New York City will have it no other way.

Data, Hard Numbers, and Lists

Although I include data and hard numbers throughout this study, this book is not a rigid, cold, by-the-number compilation of pie charts, graphs, or lists. On the contrary, I have included such data (sans the charts and graphs) particularly to provide reference sources and to punctuate specific points and themes.

Where a list appears in this study, be it a list of places, services, or offerings of any kind, I have not meant for that list to be a best of or my favorites type of list, but rather to reinforce the sheer abundance or variety of something particular in New York City or to support a claim. For example, New York City is home to some of the finest, most prestigious museums. This claim can not be properly substantiated without listing the Met, MoMA, or the Whitney.

How to Navigate Through This Book

The Truth About New York is organized into five parts: Part 1: The Lay of the Land; Part 2: New York Society; Part 3: Culture; Part 4: Friendship, Dating, and Sex; and Part 5: Interviews. I’ve organized and broken down the parts, chapters, and sections of this book into an order that is both logical and consistent with the time line of discovery of a typical newcomer to New York City. Thus, if you know nothing at all about New York, you can start with Part 1 and progress confidently through this book at your own pace. Still, if you prefer to skip around, this book is also designed in a way to make it easy for you to do that. NOTE: For those who are looking for a place to live in NYC, in the Appendix of this study I have included a brief guide to some of the main neighborhoods of New York City.

A Guide, a Cultural Study, and a Study in Urbanism

While The Truth About New York is ultimately a cultural study that works as a helpful guide for long-term visitors and seasoned New Yorkers, it’s also a study in urbanism. So I hope that this book is not only helpful to those who want to get better acquainted with New York, but also useful to those interested in enriching the life and character of this great city.

Part 1

THE LAY

OF THE LAND

Chapter 1

The Basics

Demographic Snapshot, Economy, Work,

Health, Safety, and Weather

It’s a glorified garbage dump, I once overheard a tourist say about New York City. Looking at New York, you do see crowded streets, dirty sidewalks, rats galore, and plenty of old buildings — not antique or historically-worth-preserving old — just old old. Nonetheless, lots of people yearn to be here. But the garbage dump notwithstanding, New York City is also home to some of the world’s most iconic architecture, famous streets, and the five most well known boroughs on the planet.

Although most newcomers have heard of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island, they wrongly believe that New York City is only Manhattan. The fact that New Yorkers commonly refer to Manhattan as the city doesn’t help either. But NYC is a combination of all of the five boroughs, each with its own county of New York State. Also, within every borough, there are literally hundreds of unique neighborhoods, all distinguished by their own flavor, i.e. people, culture, housing style, history, social scope, size, cost of living, etc.

Because of New York’s population density, there’s a tendency for people to think that New York, in terms of land area, is small. However, the reality is this: New York City is bigger than you expect and it will remain so no matter how much land you cover. In all of its land-area glory, the city of New York takes up 303 square miles (786km²). This means that while the average New Yorker certainly does some walking in this city, New York is not a walking town in the same vein as Paris, France, a city who’s land area only covers 41 square miles (105km²). But again, the misunderstanding and general confusion that many newcomers have about the size of New York is most often due to their unfamiliarity of the actual city limits of New York, i.e. the combination of the five boroughs as one grand city.

Geographic Snapshot

The Five Boroughs: Location, Proximity, and General Introduction

Manhattan

In the location and proximity scheme of the five boroughs, Manhattan is situated south of the Bronx, west of Queens, southwest of Brooklyn, and north of Staten Island. In terms of size, Manhattan (Manhattan proper is actually an island; and Roosevelt Island, Randall’s Island, Liberty Island, Wards Island, and Governors Island are all part of the borough) isn’t the largest of the boroughs, but it’s the most well-recognized around the world. It’s the municipal and financial center of New York City, the hub of both national and international industries, the place for New York’s tallest skyscrapers, and many of its neighborhoods have commonly been featured in movies and television shows.

Manhattan is laid out in a rectangular grid, divided by East and West Sides, north (Upper) and south (Lower) parts. The grid plan of Manhattan comes from the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, which its designers deemed to be a combination of beauty, order and convenience. Today, the grid plan does indeed serve as a symbol of order and convenience, as every New Yorker knows just how easy the city is to navigate once you understand the fundamentals. Most importantly, you should know that even numbered streets flow from west, and odd numbered streets flow from east; Second, Fifth, Seventh, and Lexington Avenues flow one way south; First, Third (after 23rd Street), Sixth, Eighth, and Madison Avenues flow one way north. Keep in mind however, in Lower Manhattan, i.e. the Village and below, the grid plan doesn’t hold true. So you’ll only be able to figure it about by actually walking around.

The Bronx

In the location and proximity scheme of the five boroughs, the Bronx sits north of Manhattan and northwest of Queens. Trying to define the Bronx, the only New York City borough that is actually a part of the mainland of the United States, is a bit like trying to answer a conundrum. The Bronx, notorious for the South Bronx being the worst urban area in America in the 1970s, was once a booming immigrant harbor. Akin in some ways to the Lower East Side, the Bronx was once home to large Jewish, Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican, and Black populations. But when Robert Moses gutted the borough with the Cross Bronx Expressway (built between 1948-1972), the result was, in addition to an urban disaster in the South Bronx, massive white flight to Upstate New York, Long Island, and Queens.

While some will argue that the Bronx has always been dependent on Manhattan for its identity, the Bronx has its own name, character, and mystique. It’s a place filled with solid, working-class people, many who hold so-called traditional values. It’s also a tough place with an edge and two chips on both shoulders. The Bronx is both warm and endearing; but it’s also cold and brutal.

The whole Bronx-in-Manhattan’s-shadow narrative comes from the fact that the Bronx, as boroughs go, is one of the city’s biggest secrets. A lot of New Yorkers have never been to or spent much time in the Bronx, save for taking in a baseball game at Yankee Stadium or visiting the Bronx Zoo (the world’s largest metropolitan zoo). So for outsiders who’ve actually been to the Bronx, it’s always been just that place north of Manhattan that you dip in and dip out. But today, the Bronx is reinventing itself. The north Bronx, placid and dry, has become a hub for families and would-be Brooklynites who want the feel of the city but a bit of the pace of the suburbs. The South Bronx — which is what really comes to mind when most people think of the Bronx — has become safer and this has attracted new interest. Young professionals, artists, writers, other creatives, and bohemians are making their way to the Bronx, much like they did to dodgier parts of Brooklyn and Queens. But gentrification isn’t reshaping things with the same force or speed; the South Bronx is not entirely disconnected from its poverty plagued and crime ridden past.

Queens

In the location and proximity scheme of the five boroughs, Queens sits east of Manhattan, southeast of the Bronx, and north/northeast of Brooklyn. Queens is home to some of New York City’s biggest working-class, middle-class, and bedroom communities as well as the city’s two major airports, JFK and Laguardia. Lots of people point to Queens when they want to give lip service to the New-York-City-as-the-big-melting-pot theme. In terms of sheer diversity, sure, the number of ethnic groups and languages spoken in Queens outnumber those found in other boroughs. But Queens, just like every other borough in this city, is largely segregated in most areas. Different ethnic and immigrant clusters still anchor most of the neighborhoods in Queens, despite the fact that gentrification is also happening there. Still, one thing that makes Queens unique is that it has served as a refuge for black/African-Americans escaping discrimination while also attracting white flighters (i.e. those white New Yorkers wishing to escape the hustle and bustle of the city).

Of New York City’s 8.5 million residents, 2.3 million live in Queens, the 2nd most of all the boroughs in the city. But while Queens is the 2nd most populous borough, it is not nearly as dense as Brooklyn: 8,237 persons per square mile vs. Brooklyn’s 14,182 persons per square mile.

Staten Island

In the location and proximity scheme of the five boroughs, Staten Island sits south of Manhattan and southwest of Brooklyn. Staten Island is the smallest of the five boroughs that make up New York City, but even with a population of just 490,000 people (still bigger than the populations of Miami, Atlanta, and Cleveland), it’s influential and distinguished from the other boroughs. Overlooked and often the butt of jokes by some New Yorkers, particularly by those New Yorkers who have never actually been to Staten Island, SI is rich in character and certainly no joke. This is the home of the Wu-Tang Clan and some of the most notorious Italian American mafia figures.

In fact, Staten Island’s mafia connection and history is infamous. The late Gambino godfather Paul Castellano lived in a mansion there as well as mob boss John Gotti and mob hitman Sammy the Bull Gravano, the man that eventually turned states evidence and helped put Gotti behind bars. Mob ties aside, Staten Island is a broad mix of affluent, middle-class, blue-collar, and low-income neighborhoods. And while it has the largest Italian American congressional district in the United States, it is still culturally diverse in some areas and well represented by Puerto Ricans, blacks, Dominicans, Asians, and more.

Staten Island is the most suburb-like of the five boroughs, but in certain parts, it’s also tough and gritty. Staten Island has everything from large mansions to modest single-family homes to condos to co-ops to high- and low-priced apartment buildings to some of NYC’s most notorious housing projects. And though there is a number of working-class people living in Staten Island, the borough has the highest median income of the five boroughs.

The food in Staten Island is great. Italian food reigns supreme in SI (the pizza is among NYC’s best), but as with other boroughs, there’s no shortage of great ethnic foods. The what-to-do factor in Staten Island is not as strong as the other boroughs, but there are still some great attractions. Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden is superb. Directed by Lynn B. Kelly (whom I had the good fortune to meet several years ago at an English Beat concert in Brooklyn), this regional arts center, which combines 26 historic buildings, nine distinctive botanical gardens, a two-acre urban farm, and 10 acres of wetlands on a unique 83-acre, park-like campus, features architecture, visual arts, theater, dance, music and environmental science. There’s also the FDR Boardwalk, a beautiful 2.5-mile-long version of Coney Island. And while the nightlife does not rival Manhattan or Brooklyn, there are several different nightlife scenes: The Jersey Shore club-style, the more laidback sports bars style, and the burgeoning hipster scene. In fact, as Brooklyn and Queens have moved closer to gentrification capacity in recent years, Staten Island has become attractive to some New Yorkers who have either been priced out of those hip neighborhoods or are interested in living in a more relaxed version of hipster/artisan chic.

When it comes to Staten Island, the biggest deal breaker for most people is transportation. Staten Island is connected to Brooklyn by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and to Manhattan by way of the free Staten Island Ferry, a daily commuter ferry. Which means you’ll have to drive or be reliant on the Ferry if you work or play in any other borough outside of Staten Island.

Brooklyn AKA BK

In the location and proximity scheme of the five boroughs, Brooklyn sits east and southeast of Manhattan, south and southwest of Queens, and northeast of Staten Island. Manhattan might get all the love, but it’s Brooklyn that gets the most respect. (Actually, Brooklyn is getting much love these days, thank you.) This is New York City’s most populous borough — of New York City’s 8.5 million residents, 2.6 million live in Brooklyn, more than any other borough in the city. With the most clearly defined and distinctive neighborhoods, Brookyn is well known for its immigrant, working-class roots, its art scenes, its hustle-flow, its accent, its food, and its do or die attitude.

Each borough in New York City stands on its own, but while Manhattan has always, rightly or wrongly, been the borough that personifies New York City to most people, Brooklyn has always been the big city within the big city. Today, in many ways, BK overshadows Manhattan — don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. This is a sore spot particularly for long-time Manhattanites and recent transplants who believed that Manhattan is where all the real action is.

Another fact that often gets overlooked about Brooklyn is the size of its black/African-American population: 40% (2 out of every 5) of black New York City residents live in Brooklyn.

For more information about some of the main neighborhoods within each of the five boroughs of New York City, see the Neighborhood Helper section located in the Appendix.

Demographic Snapshot

The Main Numbers: Total Population and Population Density, Boroughs by the Numbers, the Largest Non-White Groups in New York

The total population of New York City — the most populous city in the United States — is roughly 8.5 million (2015 United States Census Bureau). New York City’s population is 57% female and 43% male. The largest U.S. city by more than a factor of two, in terms of population of individual municipalities within their defined city limits, New York City is by far the largest city in the United States. Los Angeles (pop. 3.9 million), Chicago (2.7 million), Houston (2.2 million), and Philadelphia (1.5 million) round out the top five largest American cities. But while New York City has twice the population of Los Angeles, three times the population of Chicago, nearly four times the population of Houston, and five times the population of Philadelphia, it also has the greatest population density of any of the top 100 largest cities in the United States. New York City, which covers just 303 square miles, has a population density of 27,000 per sq mi (783.8 km2). Compare that number with Los Angeles, which covers 468.7 square miles (1,213.9 km2) and whose population density is 8,092 per sq mi (3,124 km2), and it’s glaring just how densely populated New York really is. In other words, this town doesn’t just feel crowded, it is crowded.

Looking at the boroughs of New York City, the population numbers break down like this: Brooklyn: 2.6 million, Queens: 2.3 million, Manhattan: 1.6 million, Bronx: 1.4 million, and Staten Island: 473 thousand. (Note: If the boroughs were each independent cities, four of the boroughs — Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx — would be among the ten most populous cities in the United States.) Between 2010 (the year of the most recent U.S. Census Report) and 2013, New York City’s total population increased by roughly 231,000, with each borough showing an increase: Brooklyn: 87,000, Queens: 65,000, Manhattan: 40,000, Bronx: 34,000, and Staten Island: 4,000.

Contrary to what many newcomers commonly believe, New York City is not predominantly white; only 33% of the residents here are white non-Hispanic; 67% percent of New York’s population is of color. Blacks (African-Americans) make up the largest non-white group. In fact, New York has the highest number of blacks in the United States. Of the 8.5 million residents of New York City, 2.4 million are black. But because of the density of New York and where most blacks live, the real-feel black population is probably closer to 3 million. Further, New York is home to the largest West Indian community in America. The majority of Jamaicans in the United States live in New York, and other Caribbean groups, including Haitians, Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Guyanese, Barbadian, Belizean, Bahamian, and Grenadian, help round out this large and influential community.

Latinos/Hispanics make up the second largest non-white group in the city. There are 2.3 million Latinos/Hispanics living in here, which means New York has the largest Hispanic non-white population of any American city. In fact, there are more Hispanic non-whites living in New York than Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston combined. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Puerto Ricans (723,621), Dominicans (576,701), Mexicans (319,263), and Ecuadorians (167,209) are the four largest Hispanic groups in New York.

Asians make up the third largest non-white group in New York. There are over one million total Asians living in New York, the five biggest Asian groups being: Chinese & Taiwanese (486,463), Indian (192,209), Korean (96,741), Filipino (67,292), and Bangladeshi (53,174). Just as with blacks and Hispanics, New York has the largest total Asian population of any American city.

Economy

The United States is the world’s largest economy, ahead of China, Germany, Japan, the UK, and France; and New York City is the biggest driving force within America’s economic picture. In fact, not only is New York City the largest economy in America, it’s the world’s most economically powerful city. From the human capital on tap here to the openness and diversity to New York’s global appeal, institutional effectiveness, land development prowess, financial maturity, and social and cultural character, New York has a considerable amount of financial influence over the world.

New York has a very diversified economy with strength in various sectors, including: securities & investments (financial services), advertising, publishing, fashion & beauty, law, Film & Television, retail, technology, music, real estate, education, recruiting, manufacturing, food, and hospitality. Because New York is in many ways the world capital or leading city for some of the largest industries, general business activity and innovation takes place here at a phenomenal rate. Also, because of New York’s high concentration of industry, people, and talent, New York’s economy doubles as the greatest creative center in the world in business, culture, and design.

The Main Drivers of New York’s Economy

New York City is distinctive for the various industries that drive the economy here as well as its high concentrations of advanced service sector firms in fields such as law, accountancy, banking and management consultancy. To give you a good idea of the main drivers of New York’s economy (and to avoid giving a run down of every industry in New York), in this section I provide a snapshot of some of the standout industries of New York’s economy.

Financial Industry

New York is the core of national and international financial dealings. Because it contains the deepest capital pools, the largest number of spoken languages, and the finest national and international financial talent, New York is the world’s most sophisticated and diverse financial center. Home of Wall Street, the penultimate symbol of the financial world, New York City boasts the New York Stock Exchange, the world’s largest stock exchange, and the Nasdaq, the world’s second largest stock exchange. Of the top 10 multinational, full-service investment banking firms, five are headquartered in New York, including Goldman Sachs (#1), Morgan Stanley (#2), JP Morgan Chase (#3), Bank of America Merrill Lynch (#4), and Citigroup (#6).

Real Estate Industry

The real estate industry is a major part of New York City’s economy. According to the 2014 Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) report, The Invisible Engine: The Economic Impact of New York City’s Real Estate Industry, real estate industry activities generated approximately $106.2 billion worth of jobs, wages, and output — economic impact that represents approximately 13% of the Gross City Product (GCP). Of the $40.5 billion in total New York City taxes collected in 2012, $15.4 billion — 38% — was from the real estate industry alone. And note, this only includes taxes from revenue-generating properties such as residential rental buildings, office buildings, hotels, retail stores, utility property, real property taxes, mortgage recording tax, real property transfer tax; it does not even include property and transaction taxes from 1-3 family homes and co-op and condo units. Further, the real estate industry generates substantial employment in New York City. In 2012, the real estate industry contributed to 518,900 jobs, roughly 11% of all New York City’s total jobs.

Media/Entertainment Industry: Music, Television, and Film

New York is the largest media market in North America, and it is one of the world’s top centers for entertainment; this is especially true in terms of music, television, and film. What Hollywood is to the film industry, New York is to the music industry. The big three record companies — which include Universal Music Group, the largest music corporation in the world, Sony Music Entertainment, the second largest music corporation in the world, and Warner Music Group, the third largest music corporation in the world and the largest American-owned music conglomerate worldwide, are all headquartered in New York. While music is certainly recorded everywhere around the globe, New York still stands as the city that exacts the most influence over the music industry and its surrounding ecosystem.

In terms of television, New York is also the world’s powerhouse. The big three of America’s largest commercial broadcast television networks — ABC, CBS, and NBC — are headquartered in New York City. New York is also home to some of the largest and most influential cable networks in the world, including: HBO (Time Warner), Showtime (CBS), Cinemax (HBO/Time Warner), The Movie Channel (Showtime/CBS), Comedy Central (Viacom), MTV (Viacom), BET (Viacom), VH1 (Viacom), USA Network, Nickelodeon (Viacom), Food Network, A&E, AMC, BBC America, Fox News Channel, MSNBC (NBC), and CNBC (NBC).

Long a backdrop for major Hollywood productions and independent film projects of every variety, New York is abuzz with television and film shoots practically every day of the year. In terms of television, New York’s influence is undeniable. Home to some of the most culturally influential sitcoms and dramas, as well as America’s most popular nightly, daily, and news talk shows and daytime soap operas, New York’s television productions account for a significant part of New York’s economy, and New York’s television industry overall is a significant employer of the city’s economy.

The film & television industry currently constitutes a major growth industry in New York. In recent years, New York has seen a significant increase in the number of overall shooting days for movies, videos, advertisements, and television programs. According to research by City-Data, as of 2013, almost 150 studios and stages support the industry, and film production costs in the city are now so reasonable that they rival those of Los Angeles.

Media Industry: Publishing, Newspapers, Non-Commercial, Media, and Advertising

New York City is the most important center for mass media and journalism in the United States. New York is also the global center for the book and magazine publishing and newspaper industries. The book publishing industry in the United States is based in New York, the most important center for the American book publishing world since the 1800s. And while Penguin Random House is the only publisher headquartered in New York that made Publishers Weekly’s 2014 list of the world’s 10 largest publishers, because of the number of major and independent publishing houses, the vibrant literary community, and the talent pool on tap here, New York is nonetheless one of the world’s most important book publishing centers.

In terms of circulation, New York is home to 4 of the top 6 newspapers in America: Wall Street Journal, New York Times, New York Daily News, and New York Post. (The Wall Street Journal and New York Times representing two of the four daily national papers.)

New York is also the center of the American advertising industry. While Madison Avenue may not literally be home to the vast number of ad agencies that it once was, the city is still home to some of the biggest and most influential advertising agencies in America, and two of the world’s five largest advertising agencies — Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group (IPG) — are headquartered in New York. And just as with television, film, and publishing, the talent pool in New York’s advertising industry runs deep.

Construction Industry

Even if you know little about the real estate industry in New York, walking about town you will get a sense of how strong New York’s construction industry is. Construction is always going on in New York. If a new apartment/condo building isn’t going up (and they’re always going up), chances are a restaurant or retail store is being created or renovated. The physical development of real estate is a core economic driver of New York’s real estate industry. Direct construction jobs, which roughly amounted to 127,000 jobs in 2012, included jobs in specific areas including: site preparation, large and small commercial and residential development, roofing, electrical work, plumbing, concrete pouring, and mason work. Note: This doesn’t even include public sector construction — roads, bridges, school construction, etc.

Construction is such a mainstay of New York’s economy that it’s often one of