Note:JFK andLGA airports, marked in brown, are located in Queens.
Theboroughs of New York City are the five major governmentaldistricts that composeNew York City. They arethe Bronx,Brooklyn,Manhattan,Queens, andStaten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respectivecounty of theState of New York: The Bronx is Bronx County, Brooklyn is Kings County, Manhattan is New York County, Queens is Queens County, and Staten Island is Richmond County.
All five boroughs of New York came into existence with the creation ofmodern New York City in 1898, when New York County (then including the Bronx), Kings County, Richmond County, and part of Queens County were consolidated within one municipal government under anew city charter. All former municipalities within the newly consolidated city were dissolved.
New York City was originally confined to Manhattan Island and the smaller surrounding islands that formed New York County. As the city grew northward, it began annexing areas on the mainland, absorbing territory fromWestchester County into New York County in 1874 (West Bronx) and 1895 (East Bronx). During the 1898 consolidation, this territory was organized as the Borough of the Bronx, though still part of New York County. In 1914, Bronx County was split off from New York County so that each borough was then coterminous with a county.
When the western part of Queens County was consolidated with New York City in 1898, that area became the Borough of Queens. In 1899, the remaining eastern section of Queens County was split off to formNassau County onLong Island, thereafter making the borough and county of Queens coextensive with each other.
The termborough was adopted in 1898 to describe a form ofgovernmental administration for each of the five fundamental constituent parts of the newlyconsolidated city. Under the 1898 City Charter adopted by the New York State Legislature, a borough is amunicipal corporation that is created when a county is merged with populated areas within it.[1]
Sources:[3][4][5][6] and see individual borough articles.
New York City is often referred to collectively as thefive boroughs, which can unambiguously refer to the city proper as a whole, avoiding confusion with any particular borough or with theGreater New York metropolitan area. The term is also used by politicians to counter a frequent focus on Manhattan and thereby to place all five boroughs on equal footing. In the same vein, the termouter boroughs refers to all of the boroughs excluding Manhattan, even though the geographic center of the city is along the Brooklyn–Queens border.
The current five boroughs of Greater New York as they appeared in 1814. The Bronx was part of Westchester County. Queens County included modern Nassau County. Kings County had six towns, one of which was Brooklyn. New York City is shown in lower Manhattan.
All five boroughs were created in 1898 during consolidation, when the city's modern boundaries were established.
The Bronx originally included parts of New York County outside of Manhattan that had previously been ceded by neighboringWestchester County in two stages; in 1874 (southern Yonkers, and the towns ofKingsbridge,West Farms, andMorrisania) and then following areferendum in 1894 (towns ofWestchester,Williamsbridge, and the southern portion ofEastchester).[7] In 1914, the present-day separate Bronx County became the most recent county to be created in the State of New York.[8]
The borough of Queens consists of what formerly was only the western part of a then-larger Queens County. In 1899, the three eastern towns of Queens County that had not joined the city the year before—the towns ofHempstead,North Hempstead, andOyster Bay—formally seceded from Queens County to form the newNassau County.[9]
The borough of Staten Island, coextensive with Richmond County, was officially the borough of Richmond until the name was changed in 1975 to reflect its common appellation, while leaving the name of the county unchanged.[10]
There are hundreds of distinct neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs of New York City, many with a definable history and character to call their own.
Manhattan Island is loosely divided intoLower,Midtown, andUptown regions. Uptown Manhattan is divided by Central Park into theUpper East Side and theUpper West Side, and above the park isHarlem. Marble Hill was part of the northern tip of Manhattan Island, but theHarlem River Ship Canal, dug in 1895, separated it from the remainder of Manhattan.[20]
Before World War I, the old channel was filled in and Marble Hill became part of the mainland.[21] After a May 1984 court ruled that Marble Hill was part of Bronx County (not New York County),[22] the matter was definitively settled later that year when theNew York Legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation declaring the neighborhood part of both New York County and the Borough of Manhattan.[23][24]
New York City's remaining four boroughs are collectively referred to as the outer boroughs.[25]
Brooklyn (co-extensive with Kings County), on the western tip ofLong Island, is the city's most populous borough. Brooklyn is known for its cultural, social, and ethnic diversity, an independent art scene,distinct neighborhoods, and a distinctive architectural heritage.Downtown Brooklyn is the largest central core neighborhood in the outer boroughs. The borough has a long beachfront shoreline includingConey Island, established in the 1870s as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the country.[26]Marine Park[27] andProspect Park are the two largest parks in Brooklyn. Since the early 2010s, Brooklyn has evolved into a thriving hub ofentrepreneurship andhigh technologystartup firms,[28][29] and ofpostmodern art[30] anddesign.[29]
Queens (co-extensive with Queens County), onLong Island north and east of Brooklyn, is geographically the largest borough, the mostethnically diverse county in the United States,[33] as well as the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world.[31][32] Historically a collection of small towns and villages founded by theDutch, the borough has since developed both commercial and residential prominence.Downtown Flushing has become one of the busiest central core neighborhoods in the outer boroughs.
The Bronx, the northernmost borough of New York City and the only borough situated primarily on the United States mainland
The Bronx (co-extensive with Bronx County) is New York City's northernmost borough and is the only New York City borough that is part of the United States mainland (excluding some islands that are part of the borough). It is the location ofYankee Stadium, the baseball stadium of theNew York Yankees, and home toCo-op City, the largestcooperatively owned housing complex in the United States.[34] It is home to theBronx Zoo, the world's largest metropolitan zoo,[35] which covers 265 acres (107 ha) and houses over 6,000 animals.[36] Directly to the zoo's north is theNew York Botanical Garden, a botanical garden and National Historic Landmark.Pelham Bay Park is the largest park in New York City, at 2,772 acres (1,122 ha).[27]
Staten Island (co-extensive with Richmond County) is generally the mostsuburban in character of the five boroughs. Staten Island is connected to Brooklyn by theVerrazzano-Narrows Bridge and to Manhattan by way of theStaten Island Ferry, a freecommuter ferry and popular tourist attraction which provides unobstructed views of the Statue of Liberty,Ellis Island, andLower Manhattan. In central Staten Island, theStaten Island Greenbelt spans approximately 2,500 acres (10 km2), including 28 miles (45 km) of walking trails and one of the last undisturbed forests in the city.[37] Designated in 1984 to protect the island's natural lands, the Greenbelt comprises seven city parks.
The percentage of New York City's population residing in each borough, 2007.
Manhattan
Brooklyn
Queens
The Bronx
Staten Island
Populations before 1898 are for the areas now enclosed in the present boroughs.
Since 1914, each of New York City's five boroughs has been coextensive with a county of New York State—unlike mostU.S. cities, which lie within a singlecounty or extend partially into another county, constitute a county in themselves, or are completely separate andindependent of any county.
Each borough is represented by aborough president. Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island each have a Borough Hall with limited administrative functions. The Manhattan Borough President's office is situated in theManhattan Municipal Building. The Bronx Borough President's office used to be in its ownBronx Borough Hall but has been in theBronx County Courthouse for decades. Since the abolition of theBoard of Estimate in 1990, due to a1989 ruling of theU.S. Supreme Court,[38] the borough presidents have minimal executive powers, and there is no legislative function within a borough.
Executive functions in New York City are the responsibility of theMayor of New York City, while legislative functions reside with theNew York City Council. The borough presidents primarily act as spokesmen, advocates, andceremonial leaders for their boroughs, have budgets from which they can allocate relatively modest sums of money to community organizations and projects, and appoint the members of the 59 largely advisorycommunity boards in the city's various neighborhoods. The Brooklyn and Queens borough presidents also appoint trustees to the localpublic library systems in those boroughs.
Being coextensive with an individual county, each borough also elects adistrict attorney, as does every other county of New York State. While the district attorneys of Manhattan and Brooklyn are popularly referred to as "Manhattan D.A.Cyrus Vance, Jr.", or "Brooklyn D.A.Kenneth P. Thompson" by the media, they are technically and legally the district attorneys of New York County and Kings County, respectively. The same goes for Staten Island. There is no such distinction made for the district attorneys of the other two counties, Queens and the Bronx, since these boroughs share the respective counties' names.
Because the five district attorneys are, technically speaking, state officials (since the counties are considered to be arms of the state government), rather than officials of the city government, they are not subject to theterm limitations that govern other New York City officials such as the mayor, theNew York City Public Advocate, members of the city council, or the borough presidents. Somecivil court judges also are elected on a borough-wide basis, although they generally are eligible to serve throughout the city.
In some document collections the boroughs used to be designated with a one-letter abbreviation: K for Brooklyn, M for Manhattan, Q for Queens, R for Staten Island (Richmond County), and X for the Bronx.[39]
The term "sixth borough" is used to describe any of a number of places that have beenmetaphorically called a part of New York City because of their geographic location, demographics (they include large numbers of former New Yorkers), special affiliation, orcosmopolitan character. They have included adjacent cities and counties in theNew York metropolitan area as well as in other states,U.S. territories, and foreign countries.[40][41][42] In 2011, New York MayorMichael Bloomberg referred to the city'swaterfront and waterways as a composite sixth borough during presentations of planned rehabilitation projects along the city'sshoreline,[43][44][45][46][47][48] includingGovernor's Island in theUpper New York Bay.[49]
^"American Shores: The Bronx and Westchester"Archived January 19, 2024, at theWayback Machine,New York Public Library. Accessed January 18, 2024. "The area of Westchester County west of the Bronx River, made up of the towns of Morrisania, West Farms, and Kingsbridge, was annexed to the City of New York in 1874. The eastern part, made up of the town of Westchester and part of the town of Eastchester, was annexed in 1895."
^"Birth of a Borough"Archived October 10, 2022, at theWayback Machine,A Walk Through the Bronx. Accessed January 3, 2024. "After consolidation in 1898, the twenty-third and twenty-fourth wards became the borough of the Bronx, which with Manhattan remained part of New York County (the other boroughs were already separate counties).... It was not until 1912, however, that the state legislature established the County of the Bronx as the sixty-second county in the state, effective January 1, 1914."
^Williams, Keith."How Queens Became New York City's Largest Borough"Archived September 8, 2016, at theWayback Machine,Curbed, October 20, 2015. Accessed September 21, 2016. "On April 28, 1898, the state Legislature approved the creation of a new county, which some in the eastern half of the former Queens County had wanted for nearly 60 years."
^Kaufman, Michael T."Council Weighs Making 'Staten Island' Official"Archived October 12, 2017, at theWayback Machine,The New York Times, August 28, 1974. Accessed September 21, 2016. "Yesterday a committee of the City Council sought to right matters with a resolution that, if adopted by the full Council and approved by the Mayor, would have the borough's name officially changed to Staten Island.... The resolution only affects the name of the borough. The county would remain Richmond, in the way that the borough of Manhattan is the county of New York, and Brooklyn is the county of Kings."
^Purdum, Todd S."Political memo; An Embattled City Hall Moves to Brooklyn"Archived May 1, 2019, at theWayback Machine,The New York Times, February 22, 1992. Accessed August 23, 2017. ""Leaders in all of them fear that recent changes in the City Charter that shifted power from the borough presidents to the City Council have diminished government's recognition of the sense of identity that leads people to say they live in the Bronx, and to describe visiting Manhattan as 'going to the city.'"
^Sorrentino, Christopher (September 16, 2007)."When He Was Seventeen".The New York Times.Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. RetrievedDecember 22, 2007. "In 1980 there were still the remains of the various downtown revolutions that had reinvigorated New York's music and art scenes and kept Manhattan in the position it had occupied since the 1940s as the cultural center of the world."
^New York City Administrative Code Section 2-202 Division into boroughs and boundaries thereof – Division Into Boroughs And Boundaries Thereof.Archived January 4, 2018, at theWayback Machine, Justia. Accessed January 18, 2024. "The borough of Manhattan shall consist of the territory known as New York county, which shall contain all that part of the city and state, including that portion of land commonly known as Marble Hill and included within the county of New York and borough of Manhattan for all purposes pursuant to chapter nine hundred thirty-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred eighty-four and further including the islands called Manhattan Island, Governor's Island, Bedloe's Island, Ellis Island, Franklin D. Roosevelt Island, Randall's Island and Oyster Island..."
^Chambers, Marcia."Judge's Ruling Revives Dispute On Marble Hill"Archived January 8, 2024, at theWayback Machine,The New York Times, May 16, 1984. Accessed January 8, 2024. "After a painstaking legal and historical analysis, Justice Peter J. McQuillan said rather, that Marble Hill lies in both. 'The conclusion is irresistible,' he said in a 36-page opinion, that Marble Hill is situated in the Borough of Manhattan, but is not part of New York County. By statute, he said, 'it is in Bronx County.' Contrary to what the Legislature may have thought when it redefined boundary lines for Manhattan in 1938 and again in 1940, it 'dealt only with boroughs and not counties,' the judge wrote. In short, the boundaries of New York County and Manhattan are not the same, he said."
^"Bill Would Clarify Marble Hill's Status"Archived February 4, 2024, at theWayback Machine,The New York Times, June 27, 1984. Accessed January 8, 2024. "The Assembly voted tonight to move the Marble Hill section of the Borough of Manhattan into New York County, thereby correcting a 46-year old mistake.... A dispute over Marble Hill followed, but the matter was mostly put to rest in 1938, when the boundaries of the Borough of Manhattan were shifted to include Marble Hill.... Tonight the Assembly voted 140 to 4 and joined the Senate in moving to change that, and the measure now goes to the Governor. It would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 1938."
^Montesano v New York City Hous. Auth.Archived January 8, 2024, at theWayback Machine, Justia, as corrected through March 19, 2008. Accessed January 8, 2024. "Less than 10 weeks after the Boyd decision, the Legislature eliminated any doubt that the Borough of Manhattan and New York County were conterminous in this respect by specifically including Marble Hill in both the Borough of Manhattan and New York County, 'for all purposes,' retroactive to 1938 (L 1984, ch 939). The official map of the City of New York now shows that Marble Hill is located in New York County."
^Macchiarola, Frank J."The Two New Yorks"Archived January 19, 2024, at theWayback Machine,City Journal, Spring 1993. Accessed January 18, 2024. "I believe, however, that the most critical distinction is one that is seldom discussed and that cuts across lines of both race and class, separating New Yorkers on the basis of their political and social culture. The distinction is between what are in fact two 'boroughs,' Manhattan and outer borough New York. Both include people of all ethnic groups and various economic conditions."
^Immerso, Michael (2002).Coney Island: The People's Playground. Rutgers University Press. p. 3.ISBN0-8135-3138-1.
^"Sixth Borough Stories from New York's Waterfront". Columbia School of Journalism. 2011.Archived from the original on April 23, 2013. RetrievedMay 1, 2013.The sixth borough. That's what Mayor Bloomberg calls the 578 miles of shore land that encircle the five boroughs of New York City.
^Holusha, John."Commercial Property / The Jersey Riverfront; On the Hudson's West Bank, Optimistic Developers"Archived October 22, 2008, at theWayback Machine,The New York Times, October 11, 1998. Accessed May 25, 2007."'That simply is out of the question in midtown,' he said, adding that some formerly fringe areas in Midtown South that had previously been available were filled up as well. Given that the buildings on the New Jersey waterfront are new and equipped with the latest technology and just a few stops on the PATH trains from Manhattan, they become an attractive alternative. 'It's the sixth borough', he said."
