NYC Basics

Orienting Yourself

New York City has five boroughs—the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island—that are linked by a series of bridges, tunnels and ferries. Manhattan is an island; the Bronx is north of Manhattan and the only borough attached to the mainland; Queens and Brooklyn are on the western tip of Long Island, which stretches east into the Atlantic Ocean. See Maps & Neighborhoods for more information.

Streets in Manhattan (13.4 miles long and 2.3 miles wide at its widest) run east-west and ascend in numerical order going north from Houston Street. Below Houston, streets are named.

Fifth Avenue divides Manhattan into the east side and west side; street addresses increase with their distance west and east from Fifth Avenue, usually by 100 per block.

Midtown is Manhattan’s main business district. Downtown (below 14th Street) contains Greenwich Village, SoHo, TriBeCa and Wall Street—the financial district. The phrase "downtown" can also simply mean south of wherever you happen to be at the moment, while "uptown" refers to all points north. 

Approximately 20 north-south blocks equal a mile.

As a general rule, traffic travels one-way going east on even-numbered streets and one-way going west on odd-numbered streets. Main east-west streets are two-way but some smaller streets don't follow this rule.

Sixth Avenue is formally named Avenue of the Americas; both terms are used.