New York (state)

New York
State
State of New York
Flag Seal
Nickname:  The Empire State
Motto(s):  Excelsior (in Latin)[1] Ever upward
Anthem: "I Love New York"
Map of the United States with New York highlighted
Country	United States
Before statehood	Province of New York
Admitted to the Union	July 26, 1788 (11th)
Capital	Albany
Largest city	New York City
Largest metro and urban areas	New York metropolitan area
Government
• Governor	Kathy Hochul (D)
• Lieutenant Governor	Antonio Delgado (D)
Legislature	State Legislature
• Upper house	State Senate
• Lower house	State Assembly
Judiciary	New York Court of Appeals
U.S. senators	Chuck Schumer (D) Kirsten Gillibrand (D)
U.S. House delegation	19 Democrats 8 Republicans (list)
Area
• Total	54,555[2] sq mi (141,297 km2)
• Land	47,126 sq mi (122,057 km2)
• Water	7,429 sq mi (19,240 km2)  13.6%
• Rank	27th
Dimensions
• Length	330 mi (530 km)
• Width	285 mi (455 km)
Elevation	1,000 ft (300 m)
Highest elevation (Mount Marcy[3][4][a])	5,344 ft (1,629 m)
Lowest elevation (Atlantic Ocean[4][a])	0 ft (0 m)
Population  (2021)
• Total	20,215,751[5]
• Rank	4th
• Density	416.42/sq mi (159/km2)
• Rank	7th
• Median household income	$71,100[6]
• Income rank	14th
Demonym	New Yorker
Language
• Official language	None
• Spoken language	English 69.6% Spanish 15.2% Chinese 3.1% Tagalog 2.5% French 1.6% Russian 1.2% Italian 0.9% Yiddish 0.7% Hindi/Urdu 0.6% Arabic 0.5% Korean 0.5%[7]
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
USPS abbreviation	NY
ISO 3166 code	US-NY
Traditional abbreviation	N.Y.
Latitude	40° 30′ N to 45° 1′ N
Longitude	71° 51′ W to 79° 46′ W
Website	www.ny.gov

New York state symbols
Flag of New York
Living insignia
Bird	Eastern bluebird
Fish	Brook trout (fresh water), Striped bass (salt water)
Flower	Rose
Insect	Nine-spotted ladybug
Mammal	North American beaver
Reptile	Common snapping turtle
Tree	Sugar maple
Inanimate insignia
Beverage	Milk
Food	Fruit: Apple Snack: Yogurt
Fossil	Eurypterus remipes
Gemstone	Garnet
Shell	Bay scallop
Slogan	I Love New York
Other	Bush: Lilac bush Sport: Baseball
State route marker
State quarter
Released in 2001
Lists of United States state symbols

New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of 54,556 square miles (141,300 km²),^[2] New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state by area. With 20.2 million people, it is the fourth-most-populous state in the United States as of 2021, with approximately 44% living in New York City, including 25% of the state's population within Brooklyn and Queens, and another 15% on the remainder of Long Island, the most populous island in the United States.^[5][8] The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east; it has a maritime border with Rhode Island, east of Long Island, as well as an international border with the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the north and Ontario to the northwest.

New York City (NYC) is the most populous city in the United States, and around two-thirds of the state's population lives in the New York metropolitan area, the world's largest urban landmass.^[9][10] NYC is home to the headquarters of the United Nations,^[11] and has been described as the cultural,^[12][13] financial,^[14][15][16] and media capital of the world,^[17][18] as well as the world's most economically powerful city,^[19][14][20] and is sometimes described as the capital of the world. The next five most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Yonkers, Rochester, Syracuse, and the state capital of Albany. Throughout its history, New York has maintained an overall progressive social stance and has been a pioneer in immigration policy, women's suffrage, and the LGBTQ+ rights movement, although the New York metropolitan area has generally been more politically liberal than regions northward in the state.

New York has a diverse geography. The southeastern part of the state, the area known as Downstate, includes Long Island and several smaller associated islands, as well as New York City and the lower Hudson River Valley. The much larger Upstate New York area spreads from the Great Lakes to Lake Champlain, while its Southern tier region extends to the border of Pennsylvania; Upstate includes a diverse topography and range of regions including the Adirondack Mountains in the northeastern lobe of the state and the Catskill Mountains in the southwestern part of the state. New York also includes several ranges of the wider Appalachian Mountains. The east–west Mohawk River Valley is the primary river valley bisecting more mountainous regions, and connects to the north-south Hudson River valley in the Capital Region of New York. Western New York is part of the Great Lakes region and borders the Great Lakes of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, as well as Niagara Falls. Between the central and western parts of the state, New York is dominated by the Finger Lakes, a popular vacation and tourist destination.

New York was one of the original Thirteen Colonies forming the United States. The area of present-day New York had been inhabited by tribes of the Algonquians and the Iroquois confederacy Native Americans for several thousand years by the time the earliest Europeans arrived.^[21] French colonists and Jesuit missionaries arrived southward from Montreal for trade and proselytizing. In 1609, the region was visited by Henry Hudson sailing for the Dutch East India Company.^[22] The Dutch built Fort Nassau in 1614 at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, where the present-day capital of Albany later developed.^[23] The Dutch soon also settled New Amsterdam and parts of the Hudson Valley, establishing the multiethnic colony of New Netherland, a center of trade and immigration. England seized the colony from the Dutch in 1664, with the Dutch recapturing their colony in 1673 before definitively ceding it to the English as a part of the Treaty of Westminster the following year.^[24] During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), a group of colonists of the Province of New York attempted to take control of the British colony and eventually succeeded in establishing independence. In the early 19th century, New York's development of its interior, beginning with the Erie Canal, gave it incomparable advantages over other regions of the east coast and built its political and cultural ascendancy.^[25]

Many landmarks in New York are well known, including four of the world's ten most-visited tourist attractions in 2013: Times Square, Central Park, Niagara Falls, and Grand Central Terminal.^[26] New York is also home to the Statue of Liberty, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[27] In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a global node of creativity and entrepreneurship,^[28] social tolerance,^[29] and environmental sustainability.^[30][31] New York has approximately 200 colleges and universities, including the expansive State University of New York system – the largest in the nation. Several universities in New York have been ranked among the top 100 in the nation and world.^[32][33][34]

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