New York City's land area covers 321 square miles (almost 206,000 acres or nine billion square feet). Excluding streets and major bodies of water, almost 154,000 acres (about 6.9 billion square feet) of land, or lot area, is available for use. The citywide and borough distributions of major categories of land use are presented here in tables and maps. The major land use categories are:

One- and Two-Family Residences
Low-density residences, the largest use of city land, are found mostly in Staten Island, eastern Queens, southern Brooklyn, and northwest and eastern Bronx.

Multi-Family Residences
Medium- to high-density residential buildings (three or more dwelling units) contain more than two-thirds of the city's housing units but occupy less than 12 percent of the city's total lot area. The highest density residences are found mainly in Manhattan, and four- to twelve-story apartment houses are common in many parts of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.

Mixed Residential and Commercial
This use is most often typified by apartment buildings with stores and/or neighborhood services on the ground level. Mixed use buildings with both offices and residences are also included, but less common.

Commercial Uses
These uses occupy only a fraction of the city’s land (less than four percent), but they use space intensively. Most of the city’s 3.7 million jobs are in commercial areas, ranging from the office towers of Manhattan and the regional business districts of downtown Brooklyn, Long Island City, Jamaica, and the Hub, to the local shopping corridors throughout the city.

Industrial / Manufacturing
Industrial uses, the warehouses and factories occupying four percent of the city’s total lot area, are found primarily in the South Bronx. along either side of Newtown Creek in Brooklyn and Queens, and along the western shores of Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Transportation / Utility
Airports, ferry terminals, train yards, sewage treatment facilities and power plants are among the city’s essential infrastructure uses. JFK and LaGuardia airports alone occupy almost half the land devoted to these uses.

Public Facilities and Institutions
Public facilities and institutions -- including schools, hospitals and nursing homes, museums and performance centers, houses of worship, police stations and fire houses, courts and detention centers, -- are spread throughout the city and occupy seven percent of the city’s land.

Open Space and Recreation
Approximately one-quarter of the city’s lot area is occupied by public parks, playgrounds and nature preserves, cemeteries, amusement areas, beaches, stadiums and golf courses.

Parking
Parking includes public and private off-street lots and free-standing garages that are not accessory to residential or commercial buildings.

Vacant Land
Approximately eight percent of the city’s land is classified as vacant. Staten Island has the most vacant land with more than 5,300 acres, Manhattan the least with less than 400.

Introduction | Primary Land Use Tables | Land Use Maps | Sources and Disclaimer

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