The division of New York City into 5 boroughs dates from 1898.

Today, the boroughs are:

• Manhattan
• Brooklyn
• Queens
• Bronx
• Staten Island

 

New York City is the most populous city in the United States. NYC is divided into five boroughs, which constitute an administrative division specific to the city.

• Manhattan (or New York County): 1,664,727 inhabitants in 2017. Manhattan is the richest borough in New York City and the most populated. The most famous buildings in NYC are located in Manhattan. Manhattan is a financial center with the Dow Jones (NYSE) and the Nasdaq. Manhattan is also a major decision-making center: the UN headquarters and many corporate headquarters. At the university level, Manhattan is home to New York University, the prestigious Columbia University (part of the Ivy League) and Fordham University. Manhattan is considered to be the centre of New York City.
• Brooklyn (or Kings County): 2,648,771 inhabitants in 2017. Brooklyn is a neighbourhood with a residential tendency and is the most populated borough of the city. It was an independent city for a long time, before being attached to New York City in 1898. Brooklyn has one of the few beaches in the city. The Brooklyn Nets NBA team plays its home games at the Barclays Center.
• Queens (or Queens County): Population 2,358,582 in 2017. Queens is both a residential and industrial borough. It is the largest in NYC. It is connected on the outside with the two main airports of the city, JFK and LaGuardia. Queens is also home to one of the major tennis tournaments of the season, the US Open. The New York Mets team plays its matches at the City Field, located in the Flushing district.
• The Bronx (or Bronx County): 1,471,160 inhabitants in 2017. The Bronx has long been considered New York City's poor borough, but since the 1990s, city policy has made the Bronx much more attractive. The neighborhood is also considered the birthplace of hip-hop culture. The Bronx is also home to the new Fulton Fish Market, one of the largest fish markets on the East Coast. The New York Yankees play their games in Yankee Stadium, located on the border between Manhattan and the Bronx.
• Staten Island (or Richmond County): Population 479,458 in 2017. It is the least integrated borough in New York City due to its geographical remoteness. Staten Island is connected to Brooklyn by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. The borough of Staten Island remains a residential neighborhood with many waterways, parks and green spaces.

New York City and especially Manhattan reputation is made by its diverse neighborhoods, in which you will find monuments, squares or cultural venues.

These include:

• Financial District
• Chinatown
• Greenwich Village
• Soho
• Little Italy
• Midtown
• Central Park
• Batteyr Park City
• Tribeca
• Harlem
• Flatiron

 

Manhattan is world famous for its skyscrapers and its dynamism. It is the most touristy borough in the Big Apple and is the borough best served by the New York subway. Manhattan is the economic and financial heart of NYC, built around Wall Street, which hosts the New York Stock Exchange, and Midtown, which includes several headquarters of companies such as Time Warner, Bloomberg LP and MetLife. Manhattan is the cultural centre of New York, with museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History and the MoMa. Most of the most famous skyscrapers are also located in this neighborhood: the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Comcast Building and the One World Trade Center.

Manhattan consists of three main areas (from south to north):

• Downtown: this is the historic heart of NYC, in the south of the island. It includes the Financial District business district as well as the Chinatown and SoHo neighborhoods. It is in the extreme south of Manhattan that the World Trade Center now replaced by the One World Trade Center stood.
• Midtown: this is the most important business district in the United States. The densest and most characteristic part of the district is in the north where Grand Central Terminal is located.
• Uptown: the neighbourhoods to the north, west and east of Central Park, the borough's main green space. It is a predominantly residential area (Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Harlem...).

Manhattan's many neighborhoods do not follow any particular rules: 

• Some are geographic, like the Upper East Side; 
• Some describe an ethnic reality, like Chinatown or Washington Heights is inhabited by immigrants from the Dominican Republic;
• Some are acronyms, such as Tribeca ("TRIangle BElow CAnal Street") or SoHo ("SOuth of HOuston"), or NoLIta ("NOrth of Little ITaly"). 

Manhattan's neighborhoods reveal all the diversity of Manhattan: the Lower East Side and East Village are bohemian neighborhoods. Chelsea is the artistic and nightlife district.  The Upper West Side is often defined as an intellectual and creative neighborhood while the Upper East Side, one of the richest neighborhoods in the United States, is characterized as conservative.

Brooklyn coincides with Kings County. With a population of over 2,600,000, it is the most populous borough in New York City. The borough of Brooklyn can be divided into many distinct neighborhoods, most of which developed from villages and towns dating back to the Dutch colonization of the 1600s.

• Downtown Brooklyn is an important business district, the third largest in New York City after Midtown and Lower Manhattan.
• The neighborhoods located northwest between the Brooklyn Bridge and Prospect Park are Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Clinton Hill, Vinegar Hill, Dumbo, Fort Greene, Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Heights and Red Hook. They are among the wealthiest neighborhoods in Brooklyn. 
• Further north are Williamsburg and Greenpoint, traditionally inhabited by the working classes, the neighborhood has been attracting more and more artists since the 1990s. 
• The central and southern parts of the Brooklyn Borough include other distinct neighborhoods : Borough Park is a neighborhood marked by Orthodox Judaism, Bedford-Stuyvesant is an African-American neighborhood, Bensonhurst is an Italian neighborhood. East Flatbush and Fort Greene are home to the middle classes. Brighton Beach is home to many Russians.

Queens is made up mostly of middle-class and affluent neighbourhoods. It is also home to some of the poorest neighbourhoods in NYC. Queens has a population of more than 2,300,000 and is home to John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia International Airport. 

Queens is home to film studios such as Kaufman Studio in the Astoria neighborhood, which produces many television shows. Queens is also becoming an artistic crossroads, with the presence of MoMA, Noguchi Museum, Socrates Sculpture Park, Museum of African Art and Queens Museum. The Queensbridge working-class neighbourhood is a breeding ground for hip-hop music. Rappers such as Nas, Havoc and Prodigy from Mobb Deep, Tragedy Kadafi, Frenchie, Cormega, 50 Cent and singer Nicki Minaj have come from there. Citi Field Stadium is also located in Flushing Meadow-Corona Park. Since 1978, the US Open tennis tournament has been held at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

Staten Island is an island and one of the five boroughs of the city of NYC. Staten Island is the least urban borough in New York City, with a population of approximately 500,000. It is a very green neighborhood with many trees that allows you to find nature.

• South districts of Staten Island: Annadale, Bay Terrace, Great Kills, Charleston, Richmond Valley, Eltingville, Huguenot, Prince's Bay, Tottenville, Woodrow
• Neighbourhoods on the coast of Staten Island: Arrochar, Concord, Fort Wadsworth, Grant City, Midland Beach, New Dorp, Oakwood 
• Neighbourhoods from Mid Island to Staten Island: Bloomfield, Heartland Village, Lighthouse Hill, New Springville,Todt Hill
• Staten Island's North End: Castleton Corners, Clifton, Elm Park, Grymes Hill, Mariners Harbor, Port Richmond, Rosebank, Stapleton

The Bronx is the northernmost borough of NYC, it coincides with Bronx County and has a population of approximately 1,500,000. Since the late 1990s, the Bronx has become increasingly safe and vibrant, which means that its population has grown and violence has dropped sharply. 

The Bronx is made up of several emblematic neighborhoods like the real Little Italy where you will find very few tourists and very good Italian addresses. By visiting the Grand Concourse, you will discover the Art Deco style buildings. The Camp Apache district has given the district a bad reputation. During the 70's, it was a district known worldwide as one of the most dangerous and criminal areas in the world. Today, it is a safe neighborhood worth visiting.