New York – General info

New York – General Information

The state of New York has an area of 141,300 square kilometers and, with almost 20 million inhabitants, is the fourth most populous state in the USA after California, Texas and Florida.

The capital of the state of New York is Albany, the largest and eponymous city is New York City with around 8.3 to 8.6 million inhabitants – almost half of all New Yorkers in the state live in the metropolis of the same name. Kathy Hochul of the Democratic Party has been governor of the state since August 2021.

New York City is located on the east coast of the United States and is located in New York Bay at the confluence of the Hudson River and the East River. The city of New York rises only about six meters above sea level. The geographic coordinates are 40.46 degrees north latitude and 73.54 degrees west longitude.

New York’s city center is located on the island of Manhattan. The development of the city extends from the riverbanks with several suburbs far into the country. The urban area has an area of around 780–800 square kilometers.

New York’s coastal plain extends as far as Jacksonville as the foothills of the southern Appalachian Mountains.

The city is divided into five boroughs. Each borough is under the authority of a borough president.

Manhattan (New York County) has around 1.6 to 1.7 million inhabitants and a land area of 59 square kilometers. Manhattan consists mainly of Manhattan Island, which is surrounded by the Hudson River to the west, the East River to the east, and the Harlem River to the northeast. Other small islands such as Roosevelt Island, Governors Island, and a small piece of mainland, Marble Hill, are also located here.

Brooklyn (Kings County) has around 2.6 to 2.7 million inhabitants and is the most populous borough in New York. Brooklyn is located in the southeast of the city at the western end of Long Island. The area is about 183 square kilometers.

Queens (Queens County) has a population of around 2.3 to 2.4 million and is the largest borough in New York with an area of 283 square kilometers. It is located in the west of Long Island. Queens was founded on November 1, 1683. Two of New York’s largest airports are also located here: John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport.

The Bronx (Bronx County) has about 1.4 to 1.5 million inhabitants and is 109 square kilometers in size. The Bronx used to be an independent city and has been incorporated into New York since January 1, 1874. The Bronx takes its name from the settler Jonas Bronck, who emigrated from Sweden.

Staten Island (Richmond County) has about 495,000 inhabitants and a land area of 151 square kilometers. Staten Island is located southwest of the island of Manhattan and west of the Brooklyn district on Long Island. The island is connected to Brooklyn by the Verrazzano Narrows toll bridge and to Manhattan by the free Staten Island Ferry. New Jersey can be reached via the Goethals Bridge, the Bayonne Bridge and the Outerbridge Crossing. The highest point on the island is Todt Hill.

New York City is considered one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world: around a third of its inhabitants were born outside the USA – a higher proportion than in any other major American city.

New York – Entry and Visa

German, Austrian and Swiss nationals can enter the USA for tourist and business stays of up to 90 days under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) without a classic visa. The prerequisite is prior online registration via the electronic entry system ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization), which should be applied for at least 72 hours before departure – preferably much earlier – via the official website esta.cbp.dhs.gov. The fee is 21 US dollars; an approved ESTA is usually valid for two years or until the expiry of the passport and entitles you to multiple entries.

Requirements for ESTA participation include a biometric, machine-readable passport and no relevant criminal record or previous visa violations; under certain circumstances (including previous travel to Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Syria or Cuba since 2011, or dual citizenship of these countries), ESTA participation may be excluded – in this case, a regular tourist visa (B1/B2) at the US embassy is required.

Important: The use of unofficial third-party websites that charge significantly excessive fees for the ESTA application is not recommended – the application should only be made via the official government website. Since US entry requirements can change at short notice, it is advisable to take a look at the current information from the Federal Foreign Office and the US Embassy before each trip.

New York – Climate

The city of New York is located in the temperate climate zone.

The weather in New York is predominantly influenced by the continental landmasses in the west. Summers are usually very hot, while winters are very cold.

The temperature often rises above 30 degrees Celsius in July and August and can drop below -10 to -20 degrees Celsius in January. Occasionally, sea air from the northeast (“Nor’easters”) brings moisture from the Atlantic Ocean, combined with strong winds and heavy rainfall or snowfall.

The average annual average is around 12.5 degrees Celsius, the average annual precipitation about 1,070 millimetres. The warmest month is July with an average of around 25 degrees Celsius, the coldest is January with values close to freezing point on average.

New York – History

As early as 1524, the first voyages of discovery to the area of present-day New York took place by Giovanni da Verrazzano and in 1609 by Henry Hudson. Around 1610, merchants from the Netherlands began an extensive fur trade with the indigenous inhabitants living here.

The colonization of the area around New York began in 1624. The first settlers were about 30 Dutch families who gained a foothold on the island of Manhattan and in the Delaware area.

In 1626, Peter Minuit bought the island from the natives, probably a branch of the Lenni-Lenape, who called the island “Manna-hatta”. The settlement was given the name Nieuw Amsterdam and became the capital of the colony of Nieuw Nederland.

In the war between England and the Netherlands, Nieuw Nederland was taken by the English; Governor Petrus Stuyvesant surrendered the city on September 24, 1664. The colony was awarded to the Duke of York, the future King James II, in whose honor the city was renamed New York. In 1667, the Dutch gave up all claims to the colony in the Treaty of Breda.

In the 18th century, New York actively participated in the American independence movement and was briefly occupied by British troops in 1776, who did not leave the city until 1783, after American independence had also been recognized by Great Britain. In the same year, a devastating fire destroyed large parts of New York, and in 1785 another fire disaster again devastated neighborhoods.

From 1788 to 1790, New York was the capital of the United States; George Washington was sworn in here in 1789 as the first president. In the economically difficult post-war years, securities traders founded the New York Stock Exchange on May 17, 1792. In 1797, Albany was named the capital of the state of New York instead of New York City and remains so today.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the city was growing faster than ever before. In 1811, city planners decided to plan the whole of Manhattan with a grid-shaped street network. With the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, a connection was created between New York, the Great Lakes and the Midwest; overnight, the city became the largest transshipment point on the American East Coast.

In the mid-19th century, Central Park was planned, with construction beginning in 1858 and completed in 1866. In the second half of the 19th century, more and more immigrants came to New York – Irish, Italians, Germans, and many other groups in hopes of a better life, with many living in slums such as Five Points and the Bowery, causing significant social tensions.

In 1898, the five boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens and the Bronx merged to form “Greater New York”.

In the first half of the 20th century, the city rose to become the center of industry and trade. In the “Roaring Twenties”, New York fell into a stock market frenzy, which came to an abrupt end on October 24, 1929 (“Black Thursday”). The ensuing global economic crisis hit the city hard, and the unemployment rate rose to over 25 percent. Construction programs under Mayor Fiorello La Guardia gradually brought about the turnaround. During this time, the first large skyscrapers were built – above all the Woolworth Building, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building – which are still among the city’s landmarks today.

After the Second World War, the economy went downhill again at times, the middle class increasingly moved to the suburbs, and many industrial companies migrated. In 1975, the city was on the verge of bankruptcy. Mayor Edward Koch (1978–1989) restructured the city’s budget during his term of office. In the economic upswing of the 1980s, Wall Street finally established itself as a global financial center. In the 1990s, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani achieved significant success in the fight against crime with his “zero tolerance strategy”, which resulted in a noticeable influx of higher-income residents.

In the late summer of 2001, the World Trade Center was completely destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 – the blackest day in New York’s recent history. The clean-up work at Ground Zero was completed in May 2002; In 2004, the decision was made to build the “Reflecting Absence” memorial by Michael Arad and Peter Walker, which was opened in 2011 on the tenth anniversary of the attacks. The neighboring One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at around 541 meters, was completed in 2014.

From 2002 to 2013, Michael Bloomberg was mayor of New York City, followed by Bill de Blasio (2014–2021) and Eric Adams (2022–2025). In the November 2025 mayoral election, the democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani , who was sworn in as the city’s 112th mayor and first Muslim mayor on January 1, 2026, prevailed. The 34-year-old Kampala-born politician ran on a distinctly left-wing agenda – including the promise of affordable housing, free childcare and free bus transport – and thus attracted nationwide political attention beyond New York. In his first months in office, he had to deal with a significant budget deficit as well as the limits of his powers vis-à-vis the state and public transport companies (MTA); how his term in office will develop in the long term remains to be seen.

Note: All information on population figures, political offices and entry requirements is subject to change and has been researched to the best of our knowledge as of August 2026. For up-to-date, binding information on ESTA/entry, it is advisable to take a look at esta.cbp.dhs.gov as well as the travel and security advice of the Federal Foreign Office before travelling.