State bird
Eastern bluebird
Sources: Designation & background
Local timeAlbany ·
U.S. States / Northeast · Card 032
New York
The Empire State
Fire Island lies off Long Island’s Atlantic coast.
New York and its surroundings
● State capital · Gold highlights New York.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
At a glance
- Capital
- Albany
- Postal abbreviation
- NY
- Population
- 20,002,427July 1, 2025 · Census estimate
- Total area
- 141,297 km²54,555 square miles · land and water
- Constitution ratified
- July 26, 1788One of the original thirteen states
- Region
- Northeast
Sources: Census · population · Census · area
State symbols & traditions
State song
I Love New York
Sources: Designation & background
State muffin
Apple muffin
Sources: Designation & background
Geography & flag
01
Location
Neighboring states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont.
02
Landscape & places
Fire Island lies off Long Island’s Atlantic coast. Beaches, dunes and maritime habitats form a barrier-island landscape that is continually affected by wind, waves and storms.
03
Land and water
The total area includes 122,057 km² of land and 19,240 km² of water, according to Census area measurements.
State flag
The state coat of arms on a dark-blue field, including Liberty and Justice beside a shield.
Sources: Census · geographic reference · Census · area measurements · National Park Service · Fire Island
How the landscape works
Fire Island is a barrier island off Long Island. Beaches and dunes face the Atlantic, while other habitats occur away from the open ocean. Wind, waves, and storms continually move sediment. Its setting helps distinguish New York State from New York City: the state includes coastal systems as well as the city’s familiar streets and buildings.
History
How the Erie Canal changed trade
Moving heavy goods overland was expensive before railways spread across the country. New York built the Erie Canal to link the Hudson River with Lake Erie. The completed canal opened in 1825, connecting inland producers to a water route toward the Atlantic through New York City.
The canal reduced the difficulty of moving freight and people across the state. Towns along its route grew as trading and manufacturing centers, while New York’s port gained stronger connections to the Great Lakes interior. Its importance came from joining existing waterways into a transportation network, not simply digging an isolated channel.
Read more: Historical source ↗
Why this mattered
The Erie Canal reduced the cost and difficulty of moving goods between the Great Lakes region and the Hudson River route to the Atlantic. Its effect came from connecting existing regions into a more useful transportation system. A canal matters not only because it contains water, but because of the markets and communities its route connects.
Key dates
-
English colonial charter issued
-
Constitution ratified · One of the original thirteen states
-
Vermont entered the Union after resolving New York's claim
Sources: Congressional Research Service · statehood · U.S. Census Bureau · historical geography · National Park Service
People and place
Indigenous history and communities today
The Onondaga Nation’s own account provides a present-day Haudenosaunee perspective from New York. A transportation history centered on the Erie Canal does not fully explain the region’s land, government, and cultural relationships.
Continue with Onondaga Nation. This is one starting point, not a complete account of the peoples connected to this land.
Compare
New York and Connecticut
| Measure | New York | Connecticut |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2025) | 20,002,427 | 3,688,496 |
| Land area (km²) | 122,057 | 12,542 |
| People per km² of land | 163.9 | 294.1 |
Connecticut has more people per square kilometer of land. Population density divides population by land area. It is an average across the whole jurisdiction, not a claim that residents are evenly spread out.
Calculated from the Census population series and land-area measurements used on these pages. Rounded figures; water area is excluded. Explore Connecticut.
Economy
Main activities
In 2025, finance and insurance was the largest of the broad industry groups compared here by current-dollar output. Other major groups included real estate and rental and leasing, professional and business services, and educational services, health care, and social assistance.
Total economic output was $2,467.7 billion in current dollars in 2025.
Largest industry groups · 2025
- Finance and insurance: 21.8%
- Real estate and rental and leasing: 13.4%
- Professional and business services: 12.8%
- Educational services, health care, and social assistance: 9.4%
Share of total current-dollar GDP. These figures measure output, not employment.
Sources: BEA · annual GDP by state, SAGDP2
Production, jobs and wages answer different questions
The industry chart measures the value of production. It does not count workers. An industry with a large share of GDP need not employ the most people or pay the highest wages. Employment and wage data would be needed to answer those questions.
Population & economic trends
Population, 2020–2025
Millions of people20.002025 · millions of people
July 1 resident population estimates, using the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 series.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau
View data table
| Year | People |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 20,122,262 |
| 2021 | 19,835,345 |
| 2022 | 19,713,025 |
| 2023 | 19,786,543 |
| 2024 | 20,001,419 |
| 2025 | 20,002,427 |
Real GDP, 2010–2025
Billions of chained 2017 dollars1,894.272025 · billions of chained 2017 dollars
Real GDP measures economic output adjusted for inflation. The chart uses BEA’s chained 2017 dollars.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
View data table
| Year | Millions of chained 2017 dollars |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 1,431,624.0 |
| 2011 | 1,440,346.8 |
| 2012 | 1,496,280.1 |
| 2013 | 1,501,818.0 |
| 2014 | 1,535,375.9 |
| 2015 | 1,565,835.2 |
| 2016 | 1,590,567.8 |
| 2017 | 1,624,800.7 |
| 2018 | 1,665,186.8 |
| 2019 | 1,704,364.3 |
| 2020 | 1,667,234.8 |
| 2021 | 1,750,551.2 |
| 2022 | 1,781,554.1 |
| 2023 | 1,793,384.5 |
| 2024 | 1,840,059.3 |
| 2025 | 1,894,269.6 |
Read the trend, then ask what explains it
New York’s population decreased by about 0.6% between 2020 and 2025 in this series. That shows the size of the change. The chart alone cannot tell us how much came from births, deaths or migration.
Real GDP adjusts for changes in prices, so it helps compare production over time. Current-dollar GDP includes price changes. Neither measure tells us how income is distributed among residents.
Representation
- Electoral votes
- 282024 & 2028 elections
- Voting U.S. House seats
- 262020 Census allocation
- U.S. Senate seats
- 2
Electoral votes equal the state’s U.S. House seats plus its two U.S. Senate seats. These allocations apply to the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.
Practice
Test your knowledge
Use the explanations and data on this page to answer ten questions. Hints and links to the relevant sections are available throughout.
10 questions about New York
Show a hint
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Sources & notes
Narrative and quiz updated 5 October 2026. Statistical data prepared 27 September 2026. Population: Census Bureau Vintage 2025, July 1 estimates for 2020–2025. Real GDP: BEA annual state accounts, SAGDP9, millions of chained 2017 dollars; industry shares: SAGDP2, current dollars. Data downloaded 27 September 2026. Area measurements include land and water.
Sources: Census · population estimates · BEA · state GDP · Census · area measurements · Natural Earth · map data
The capital clock shows current local time. Statistical figures are dated estimates and may be revised.
Updated 29 October 2026. Statistics retain the dated series shown in the charts; these are not live figures. Sources are linked beside each topic.