- The island of Manhattan was purchased from American Indian people in 1626 for about US$1,000 in modern currency.
- The city of "New Amsterdam" was given to the Duke of York in 1664 as an 18th birthday present from his father. He renamed the city as "New York."
- In 1789, New York City became the first national capital of the U.S. for a year.
- New Yorkers bite 10 times more people than sharks do worldwide.
- It's not illegal to go topless in NYC.
- NYC keeps train tracks free of ice by setting them on fire.
- Manhattan comes from a word in the Lenape language that means "Island of many hills".
- There are no Wal-Marts in New York City.
- New Yorkers drink almost 7 times more coffee than other cities in the US.
- Albert Einstein's eyes remain in a safe box in NYC.
- With 800 languages, New York is the most linguistically diverse city in the world.
- Next to Warsaw, the world's largest Polish population is in New York.
- More people commit suicide in New York City than are murdered.
- 823 same-sex couples were married in New York City on the first day that same-sex marriage was legal state-wide.
- There's a skyscraper in New York City with no windows.
- The world's first underground park will be inaugurated in 2018 in New York.
- NYC homeowners can request that a tree be planted outside their homes for free.
- Ancient Rome was eight times more densely populated than modern New York.
- New York gets 15 times as much snow as the South Pole.
- All the departure boards at NYC's Grand Central are exactly one minute wrong.
- Starting 2015, all New York residents must recycle their old electronics like PCs and TVs, or face a US$100 fine.
- In Manhattan, the apartment that's the furthest away from a subway station is just 0.8 miles (1.2 km) away.
- There's a luxury bomb shelter buried three feet under Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, NYC.
- 1 out of every 21 New Yorkers is a millionaire.
- Some 15,152 types of life forms, from insects to bacteria, have been identified on the New York subway.
- Honking your car horn, except in an emergency, is illegal in NYC.
- 23% rose the cost of living in NYC in just five years: from 2009 to 2014.
- 37% of all pregnancies in New York City end in abortion.
- If New York City were its own country and the NYPD was its army, it would be the 20-best-funded army in the world.
- New York is the unhappiest city in the U.S., a 2014 research found.
- There are four times as many abandoned houses as there are homeless people in New York City.
- Residents of New York City can get free condoms and lube by calling 311.
- The underwater portion of Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty sits upon, is part of New Jersey , not New York.
- 21% of all New York City elementary students from all income levels are obese.
- The city of New York will pay for a one-way plane ticket for any homeless person if they have a guaranteed place to stay elsewhere.
- The average cost of a night out in New York is US$82.
- The average rent for a one-bedroom in Manhattan, New York is US$3,400.
- The average woman in New York spends 19 minutes primping and 7 minutes deciding what to wear each day.
- If you die homeless or with no money in New York City, you are buried by prisoners on Hart Island in a mass grave: up to 1000 per grave for children and 50 for adults.
- In 2002, the comptroller of the City of New York estimated the impact of 9/11 on the city's wealth to be US$30.5 billion.
- In New York, 6.5 hectares of buildings were directly affected when the Twin Towers collapsed in 9/11.
- Already in 1985, Mother Teresa opened a hospice in New York for AIDS victims.
- New Yorkers spent 74 hours of their lives in traffic jams in 2014.
- Around Central Park, New York, it can cost almost US$300,000 a year just for the right to operate a hot dog stand.
- The population density of Manhattan is much lower today than it was 100 years ago, and total population has fallen by about 25%.
- November 28, 2012 was the most peaceful day New York City ever had—not a single violent crime was reported.
- If Manhattan had the same population density as Alaska, only 28 people would live on the island.
- 37% Of New Yorkers were born in another country.
- Traveling to every single stop of the New York City subway (without leaving the transit system) would take at least 21 hours and 49 minutes.
- Central Park costs about as much money as the entire state of Alaska.
- There are approximately 1,600 pizza restaurants in New York City.
- New York City's Subway serves up to 6 million riders per day.
- New York City is home to the largest transgender population in the U.S., estimated at 25,000 in 2016.
- In New York City, pinball was illegal until 1976.
- Hoverboards are illegal in New York City since 2015.
- Less than 10% of Manhattan buildings with 13 or more stories actually label a floor with the number 13.
- New York City, at 8.4 million (2013) has a higher population than 39 out of the 50 U.S. States.
- The Waldorf Astoria Hotel once had its own private railroad track at Grand Central so that its guests couldclandestinely enter and exit New York City.
- There is an island known as "Just Room Enough Island" that has just enough room for a tree and a house.
- About 300,000 pedestrians, the population of Iceland, pass through Times Square every day.
- If you ever get lost in Central Park, each one of the 1,600 lampposts around the grounds have a special code to help you map where you are.
- UPS trucks get about 15,000 parking tickets a month in New York City.
- Wall Street was named after a 12-foot wall that was built by the 17th-century citizens of New Amsterdam to discourage pirate attacks.
- No more than 40 people live 800 feet (243 m) above the ground of New York City. It's an exclusive privilege for the super rich.
- Sheep were grazing in Central Park until 1934, when they were moved during the Great Depression for fear they would be eaten.
- Together, the world's top 12 richest people could buy all of Manhattan.
- New York nightlife is a US$10 billion per year industry.
- Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art Sections of NYC's Metropolitan Museum are women, but 85% of the nudes are female.
- In Alaska, more than 80% of adults are registered as organ donors, while in New York only 12% of adults are.
- Every one of New York City's 279 subway stations has free WiFi.
- The Empire State Building generates more revenue from the observation deck than from all the commercial tenants in the remaining 101 floors combined.
- There are 1.6 million people in Manhattan and 1.2 billion ants.
- On average, New Yorkers save $1,160 a month and $13,926 annually by relying on public transportation.
- The most disproportionately common physical injury diagnosis in New York is "knee injury."
- The Empire State building gets hit by lightning about 23 times per year.
- Central Park was officially home to 25 residents in the New York City Census of 2010.
- More money was spent buying Central Park land than all of Alaska.
- The Brazilian wax was invented in New York.
- New York City is actually rainier than London.
- Texas, New York and California all have economies bigger than Russia.
- Hidden inside Grand Central Station, in New York, is the Vanderbilt Tennis Club.
- Tokyo is the city with the most millionaires in the world but London has the most multi-millionaires and New York the most billionaires.
- 40% of the buildings in Manhattan could not be built today. They do not conform to at least one part of the current zoning code.
- Drivers in NYC spend an average of 107 hours per year searching for parking at a cost of $2,243 per driver in wasted time, fuel and emissions.
- World renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma once left his 266 year old cello, worth $2.5 million, in the back of a NYC taxi. It was returned to him in time for his evening concert.
- Studies show that spending just a few minutes in the noisy New York City subway system every day can ultimately result in hearing loss.
