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Manhattan

Population1,620,867 (2007)
Land Area22.96 sq miles
Density70595.25 ppsm
Median HH Income$ 50,000

Manhattan is the smallest of the five boroughs in terms of land area and only the third most populous borough, well behind Brooklyn and Queens. Nevertheless, Manhattan is the original (pre-1898) New York City and still clearly the most important of the five boroughs in terms of social, financial and political power it wields in the city and beyond.

The borough of Manhattan can be roughly divided into four big areas: Downtown, Midtown, Uptown, and Upper Manhattan.

Manhattan: Downtown

East Village. Astor Cube.

Downtown Manhattan Neighborhoods

Downtown refers to the area south of 14th street.
Downtown is everything below 14th street. It is comprised of a handful or irregular-shaped neighborhoods grouped into three "community districts" - 1, 2, and 3. Downtown tends to be younger (in both its residents' and the typical passerby's age) and more "hip" than the rest of the city. The restaurant and bar scene is active here. The heart of the area (the Central Village) is dominated by the campus of New York University.

Architecturally, Downtown offers almost every type of housing you'll find in New York, although not necessarily in proportions representative of the city as a whole. One can choose to live in converted offices and bank headquarters (especially in the Financial District), former warehouses and industrial lofts (SoHo and TriBeCa), charming row houses (the West Village and the Central Village), modern skyscrapers (the Financial District and Battery Park City), luxury townhouses, 1980's multi-apartment buildings, early 20th century tenement housing and even mid-20th century housing projects (especially on the Eastern fringes of the East Village and the Lower East Side).

Downtown buildings:

Manhattan: Midtown

Times Square in the Evening

Midtown Manhattan Neighborhoods

Midtown is everything from 14th street to 59th street.
For the purposes of our neighborhood classification, Midtown is everything between 14th and 59th streets, (Manhattan community districts 4, 5 and 6). Midtown's lower central part (14th through 34th street) is often referred to as "Midtown South" and exhibits many features that are more characteristic of Downtown.

Overall, compared to Downtown, Midtown is more "reserved", touristy (especially around the Times Square area), somewhat older (although not everywhere) and architecturally homogeneous - thanks in part to Manhattan's geology, which allows to build very tall buildings in the island's Midtown core, and in part to the history of its development. Many of the city's hotels are located in Midtown.

The dominant residential architecture form here is multi-apartment buildings: they can be found pretty much everywhere. Most buildings were constructed after the WWII but some are "pre-war" (an epithet that often entails paying a premium thanks to more generous layouts of their apartments). Other building styles vary from row houses (especially in Gramercy Park and Midtown East), to more exotic options such as lofts (Chelsea, Garment District and Flatiron District).

Many of the new rental developments of the 1990's and 2000's were built in Midtown West - that is to say, in Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen (Clinton). This was due to the availability of plots suitable for redevelopment. This trend (more new buidlings on the western side) is likely to continue.

Midtown buildings:

Manhattan - Uptown

Upper East Side. View West from Madison Avenue.

Uptown Manhattan Neighborhoods

Everything above 59th street below Harlem is Uptown.
Uptown proper is split in two large areas - the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side. In between those two lies Central Park. Both Upper East Side Upper West Side are mostly residential, with equally upscale yet slightly different demographic profiles. The Upper West Side is more "mixed", liberal and artsy. The Upper East Side close to the park is extremely wealthy, while the area East of Lexington Avenue is much more mixed. Both the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side are teeming with well-paid young professionals.

Just north of the Upper West Side, is the "island-neighborhood" (not in strict geographic terms but in ambiance), surrounding Columbia University (all the way up to 125th).

Uptown streets and apartments are/were often larger than those of Downtown, the services more plentiful and don't forget the primary attraction - Central Park! But in an absurd twist of modern Manhattan history, this actually isn't so true anymore. Some of the best apartment deals, are now found on the Eastern fringes of the Upper East Side rather than in hip Downtown neighborhoods.

Uptown buildings:

Upper Manhattan - Harlem and Northern Manhattan

There is a huge chunk of land above both "upper" sides which is shyly ignored on most tourist and restaurant maps. These maps often make it look as if Manhattan ends at 110th street. In fact, it doesn't. Manhattan's highest street is West 220th. As you can imagine, there's almost as much going on (at least geographically) above 110th as there is below.

So, what's located above 110th? Besides aforementioned Columbia University area, pretty much everywhere else above 110th and below 154th is a neighborhood called Harlem. Actually, Harlem is too big to be coherently described as one neighborhood, so it's usually split into the Central Harlem, the East Harlem (or El Barrio, which actually starts at East 96th street) and the West Harlem / City College area, which is sometimes considered part of Morningside Heights (Columbia University's island-neighborhood).

Higher still, above Harlem, lies the neighborhood of Washington Heights and yet above that, at the very tip of northern Manhattan, you will find Inwood.

The reason these areas are still omitted from tourist maps is that they are much less of a tourist attraction than everything else in Manhattan. For all the gentrification that's been going on for the last 10-15 years, the statistically lower average income of their residents translates into fewer restaurants, bars, and a more rundown feel to some of the area (again, save for the effects of recent gentrification which may eventually succeed at changing all that).

In fact, 125th street has often been hailed as a success story and you're considering living in Harlem, you must stroll it all the way at least once.

Casual visitors should probably avoid the far east side of Harlem above 103rd and pretty much any other neighborhood where there are too many tall nondescript buildings (hint: they are housing projects).

Upper Manhattan buildings:

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Borough Photos:

Central Midtown: Fifth Avenue.
Central Midtown: Fifth Avenue.

Central Midtown: The ice skating rink.
Central Midtown: The ice skating rink.

Chelsea: Looking north on Eleventh Avenue
Chelsea: Looking north on Eleventh Avenue

Upper floors and roofs of Flatiron District buildings, seen from Union Square.
Upper floors and roofs of Flatiron District buildings, seen from Union Square.

Central Park: The north-eastern section of Central Park.
Central Park: The north-eastern section of Central Park.

Central Village: Looking north on Fifth Avenue from East 10th street.
Central Village: Looking north on Fifth Avenue from East 10th street.

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