How Many Buildings in NYC? ~1.08 Million Housing Units (2020 Census)

An exact building count for New York City is elusive—constant construction, demolition, and conversion make it a moving target. The best official proxy comes from the 2020 U.S. Census:

• Housing units: 1,082,572 (includes apartments, houses, condos, co-ops).
• This counts units, not structures. One building may contain hundreds of units.

Estimates for Structures

• PLUTO data (NYC Dept. of City Planning): ~1,000,000 tax lots, ~860,000 buildings (2023).
• NYC Open Data (Building Footprints): ~1.1M footprints (includes sheds, garages).
• Skyscrapers (>150m): ~300+ (most in US).
• High-rises (>35m): ~6,500+.

Why It's Hard

• Mixed-use buildings blur residential/commercial lines.
• Constant churn: ~20,000+ new units permitted annually; demolitions ongoing.
• No single "building registry" — DOB, DOF, Census all count differently.

For practical purposes: ~1 million buildings, ~1.1 million housing units, 8.5M people. The density is the real story.