List of tallest buildings in New York City
is the most populous city in the United States, with a metropolitan area population of over 19 million as of 2025. Its skyline is one of the largest in the world, and the largest in the United States, in North America, and in the Western Hemisphere. Throughout the 20th century, New York City's skyline was by far the largest in the world. New York City is home to more than 7,000 completed high-rise buildings of at least, of which at least 106 are taller than. The tallest building in New York is One World Trade Center, which rises. The 104-story skyscraper also stands as the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the seventh-tallest building in the world.
The city is home to many of the earliest skyscrapers, which began to appear towards the end of the 19th century. A major construction surge in the 1920s saw the completion of some of the tallest skyscrapers in the world at the time, including the Chrysler Building in 1930 and the Empire State Building in 1931 in Midtown Manhattan. At and 102-stories, the Empire State Building stood as the tallest building in the world for almost four decades; it remains among the city's most recognizable skyscrapers today. Following a lull in skyscraper development during the 1930s to 1950s, construction steadily returned. The Empire State Building was dethroned as the world's tallest building in 1970, when the North Tower of the original World Trade Center surpassed it. The North Tower, along with its twin the South Tower, held this title only briefly as they were both surpassed by the Willis Tower in Chicago in 1973. The Twin Towers remained the tallest buildings in New York City until they were destroyed in the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Starting from the mid-2000s, New York City would undergo an unprecedented skyscraper boom. The new One World Trade Center, part of the redevelopment of the World Trade Center, began construction in 2006 and was completed in 2014. It surpassed the Empire State Building as the city's tallest, and overtook the Willis Tower to become the tallest building in the United States. In Midtown Manhattan, a luxury residential boom led to the completion of Central Park Tower, the second-tallest building in the city at, with the highest roof of any building outside Asia; 111 West 57th Street, the city's third-tallest building and the world's most slender skyscraper at, and 432 Park Avenue, the city's fifth-tallest building at. The tallest office skyscraper in Midtown, One Vanderbilt, is the fourth-tallest building in the city at. The second tallest, 270 Park Avenue, opened in 2025 as the headquarters of JPMorgan Chase. The Hudson Yards redevelopment added over fifteen skyscrapers to Manhattan's West Side.
The majority of skyscrapers in New York City are concentrated in its two primary business districts, Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan, with Midtown having more skyscrapers, including 15 of the city's 18 supertall skyscrapers when Hudson Yards is included. New York City has the third-most supertall skyscrapers in the world. Other neighborhoods of Manhattan and the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx are also home to a substantial number of high-rises. A popular misconception holds that the relative lack of skyscrapers between Lower and Midtown Manhattan is due to the depth of the bedrock beneath the two areas. Since the 2010s, an increasing number of skyscrapers have been built in Downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City, as well as along the East River in Brooklyn and Queens.
History
Early skyscrapers
The history of skyscrapers in New York City began with the construction of the Equitable Life, Western Union, and Tribune buildings in the early 1870s. These relatively short early skyscrapers, sometimes referred to as "preskyscrapers" or "protoskyscrapers", featured steel frames and elevators—then-new innovations later adopted in the city's skyscrapers. Modern skyscraper construction began with the completion of the World Building in 1890; the structure rose to a pinnacle of. Though not the city's first high-rise, it was the first building to surpass the spire of Trinity Church. The New York World Building, which stood as the tallest in the city until 1899, was demolished in 1955 to allow for the construction of an expanded entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge. The Park Row Building, at, was the city's tallest building from 1899 to 1908, and the world's tallest office building during the same time span. By 1900, fifteen skyscrapers in New York City exceeded in height.New York has played a prominent role in the development of the skyscraper. Since 1890, ten of those built in the city have held the title of world's tallest. New York City went through a very early high-rise construction boom from the 1890s through the 1910s. Notable skyscrapers completed during the first boom include the Singer Building, which was briefly the tallest building in the world at when completed in 1908; it was the first skyscraper in New York to exceed in height. It was surpassed in 1909 by the Met Life Tower, the earliest skyscraper to reach that still stands in New York City. The next structure to hold the record as the world's tallest building was completed in 1913: the Woolworth Building.
After a lull in skyscraper construction in the mid-1910s, a second boom occurred from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s. Skyscrapers reached greater heights in Lower Manhattan and especially in Midtown Manhattan. This period saw the completion of 40 Wall Street, the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State Building, driven by increased commercial demand and economic development during the Roaring Twenties and by developers' desire to outdo one another in height. The Chrysler Building was completed in 1930, one year after the onset of the Great Depression; at a height of, it became the world's first supertall skyscraper. The Empire State Building was completed one year later. In total, during the early 20th century, 44 skyscrapers over were built. Many of the buildings during the second boom were built in the Art Deco style.
1930s–1950s
After the early 1930s, skyscraper construction came to a halt for over 20 years owing to economic pressures during the Depression and World War II. Many office skyscrapers in Midtown Manhattan had large amounts of vacant space years after completion. A notable exception to the hiatus was the early modernist 75 Rockefeller Plaza, built as a northern extension to the Rockefeller Center in 1947. Gradually, skyscraper development resumed in the 1950s.Many new skyscrapers eschewed the Art Deco of the early 20th century and were built adhering to the modernist International Style. This style emphasized function over form, often involving fewer or no setbacks, and glass curtain walls. The most prominent of these were the Seagram Building and the United Nations Secretariat Building, the latter of which hosts the offices of the United Nations Secretariat, as New York City was chosen as the headquarters for the newly formed United Nations after the war. Other noteworthy skyscrapers built during the era include the Socony–Mobil Building, 660 Fifth Avenue, 1065 Avenue of the Americas, and 2 Broadway.
1960s–1980s
The 1961 Zoning Resolution incentivized the building of more office skyscrapers in Manhattan. Notable buildings to go up in the 1960s include the octagonal MetLife Building and the General Motors Building. Some early skyscrapers, such as the Singer Building and the City Investing Building, were demolished to make way for new developments.In 1966, construction began on the World Trade Center complex, including twin supertall skyscrapers measuring and in height. Known as the Twin Towers, they reshaped the Lower Manhattan skyline when they topped out in 1970, and over time, became an iconic symbol of New York City. Midtown Manhattan saw increasingly tall skyscrapers like the Citigroup Center and One Penn Plaza in the 1970s; during this decade, the city surpassed 100 skyscrapers above in height. Another construction surge in the late 1980s increasingly embraced more postmodernist designs, such as CitySpire and 1 Worldwide Plaza.
1990s–present
After the early 1990s, skyscraper development slowed down once more, with the most significant new skyscraper during this lull being 4 Times Square. The 2000s saw the resumption of office skyscraper development, alongside a growing number of residential skyscrapers. The Bank of America Tower and the New York Times Building became the first supertall skyscrapers to be built in the city since the original Twin Towers. The mid-2010s saw a massive surge in construction, with office and residential buildings reaching new heights. While New York City had only two supertall buildings in 2010, that figure has grown to 18 by 2025.WTC redevelopment
In 2001, the September 11 attacks led to the collapse of the Twin Towers, the tallest buildings ever to have been destroyed. Plans to rebuild the site were soon proposed, and a design for a new World Trade Center complex was approved in 2004. The centerpiece of the redevelopment, One World Trade Center, was completed in 2014 at a height of 1,776 ft, a symbolic reference to the year of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence. Upon topping out, the building became the tallest building in the city and the United States. Also part of the complex is 3 World Trade Center, a skyscraper completed in 2018, and 4 World Trade Center, a skyscraper completed in 2013. The site for a proposed supertall at 2 World Trade Center has been repeatedly delayed, with three designs having been commissioned as of 2025: two from Norman Foster and one from Bjarke Ingels of Bjarke Ingels Group.Supertall boom and Hudson Yards
A boom in the development of supertall residential skyscrapers began with One57, developed during the early 2010s, and 432 Park Avenue, which surpassed the height of the Empire State Building to become the tallest building in Midtown Manhattan in 2015. This trend culminated with the completion of 111 West 57th Street and Central Park Tower in the early 2020s, both surpassing in height. These buildings are primarily catered towards the luxury market; their prevalence near the southern side of Central Park has led the area around them to be named "Billionaire's Row".Two significant commercial supertall skyscrapers, both exceeding, have topped out in the 2020s: One Vanderbilt, forming a new peak in the skyline around Grand Central Terminal; and 270 Park Avenue, which serves as the new headquarters of JPMorgan Chase. The western skyline of Midtown Manhattan was also massively transformed by the Hudson Yards development. Built on the eastern side of West Side Yard, Phase I of the development began construction in 2012 and was completed in 2019. Within the development are three supertall skyscrapers: 35 Hudson Yards, 30 Hudson Yards, and The Spiral, alongside several other skyscrapers. Additionally, One Manhattan West, another supertall skyscraper located near Hudson Yards, was completed in 2019. Phase II of Hudson Yards is in planning and could include more supertall buildings and a casino.
Taller residential skyscrapers also arrived at the Upper East Side and Upper West Side areas of Manhattan. 520 Park Avenue became the tallest building on the Upper East Side in 2018, while 200 Amsterdam became the tallest on the Upper West Side in 2021; it was then supplanted by 50 West 66th Street, which was completed in 2025.