Satellite: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX (CC BY 4.0). Outline and points © OpenStreetMap contributors / Natural Earth. North up.
In numbers
54.5km²
Area
54km
Coastline
172m
Highest point
Manhattan High Point
1,610,000
People
23°C
Warmest sea
August
When to go to Manhattan
Best for the beach from July to September.
The sea is warmest in August (23 °C) and coolest in February (4 °C). Comfortable swimming (21 °C or more): from July to September.
Averages 1991–2020. Sea: NOAA OISST, the water within 35 km of the coast. Air, rain and sun: NASA POWER. Best months weigh warm afternoons (23–30 °C), sea of 24 °C or more and few wet days.
Island in New York City, United States
Manhattan is an island in United States. It covers 54.5 km², with 54 km of coastline. Its highest point, Manhattan High Point, rises to 172 m. About 1,610,000 people live on it.
Getting there
- LaGuardia Airport (LGA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 7 km in a straight lineCar hire at LGA airport (New York)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- FerriesStaten Island Ferry, Hoboken NJ Transit - Pier 11 / Wall Street, Belford - Battery Maritime Building, IKEA Express
- From July to Septemberbest months to go (from 30 years of averages)
Plan the trip
Ferries, stays and things to do
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
On the island
What you find on Manhattan.
- 5beachesDyckman Street Beach, Gansevoort Peninsula Sand Bluff, Spuyten Duyvil Beach and 2 more
- 83viewpointsGWB View, HBP 187 View, C Rock and 80 more
- 1lighthousesLittle Red Lighthouse
- 14ferry terminalsPier 11 / Wall St. Terminal, Whitehall, Battery Maritime Building and 11 more
- 4marinasPier 25 Marina, Skyport Marina, Dyckman Marina and 1 more
- 7named peaksManhattan High Point, Inwood Hill, Long Hill and 4 more
- 7waterfallsThe Loch and 6 more
- 4castles and fortsBlockhouse No. 1, Fort Clinton, Belvedere Castle and 1 more
- 4ruins and archaeological sites18th Century Cistern, New York Central Railroad 69th Street Transfer Bridge, Miller Highway Remnant and 1 more
- 5waymarked walking routesHudson Valley Greenway Trail (The Battery, NYC to Inwood), Hudson Valley Greenway Trail (Inwood to The Bronx), Wall Street and 2 more
- 485hotels, guesthouses and apartments
- 5,411restaurants, cafés and bars
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, inside the island's outline. A low number may only mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Manhattan in our other atlases
Everything Coastya, Peakyas, Lakeyas and Cascadyas know about what lies inside Manhattan, each with its own numbers.
1lakeLakeyas
Largest lake
0.28km²
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
according to Lakeyas
Warmest lake
27.6°C
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir
surface water, warmest month · according to Lakeyas
1 lakes
on Lakeyas, the lake atlas
- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir0.28km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
The shape of the land.
On average the island stands 30 m above the sea. 100 % of it is below 200 m.
- 84 %0–50 m
- 16 %50–200 m
Share of the island's area in each altitude band, from the Copernicus DEM (30 m, read at 30–240 m on large islands).
Size, for real
Next to islands you may know.
10 km
All outlines drawn to the same scale (Natural Earth and OpenStreetMap).
Towns on the island
- New York City8,804,190 people
- Manhattan1,487,536 people
- Upper West Side226,989 people
- Washington Heights152,613 people
- Harlem116,345 people
- East Harlem115,921 people
- Chinatown90,000 people
- East Village62,832 people
- Financial District60,976 people
- Morningside Heights55,929 people
- Hell's Kitchen45,884 people
- Manhattan Valley38,500 people
Month by month
The weather on the island.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon high (°C) | 2 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 25 | 29 | 28 | 25 | 18 | 11 | 5 |
| Night low (°C) | -6 | -5 | -2 | 4 | 10 | 16 | 19 | 18 | 14 | 8 | 2 | -2 |
| Sea (°C) | 6 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 18 | 22 | 23 | 21 | 17 | 13 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 81 | 81 | 100 | 102 | 98 | 117 | 109 | 114 | 105 | 122 | 91 | 116 |
| Wet days | 10 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| Sun h/day | 3.8 | 4.9 | 5.6 | 6.5 | 6.9 | 7.8 | 8.5 | 7.6 | 6.8 | 4.8 | 4.2 | 3.1 |
| Wind (km/h) | 14 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 13 |
Averages 1991–2020 for the ~55 km NASA POWER cell over the island; the sea from NOAA OISST.
Recent years
Warmer and cooler years at sea.
Each month's sea temperature compared with its 1991–2020 average, in degrees.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | +0.9 | +1.7 | +2.2 | +1.0 | −0.6 | +0.4 | +2.3 | +0.5 | +0.9 | +0.5 | +1.3 | +0.9 |
| 2021 | +0.3 | −1.1 | +0.8 | +1.3 | +1.5 | +0.6 | +0.4 | +1.4 | +1.3 | +2.9 | +1.5 | +1.1 |
| 2022 | +0.8 | −0.3 | +1.1 | +0.6 | +0.1 | +1.1 | +0.9 | +0.8 | +1.0 | −0.6 | +1.8 | −0.5 |
| 2023 | +0.3 | +1.8 | +1.3 | +2.2 | +1.8 | +0.5 | +1.8 | −0.3 | +0.6 | +0.3 | +0.5 | +0.3 |
| 2024 | +0.4 | +0.8 | +2.6 | +1.4 | +1.8 | +1.9 | ±0.0 | ±0.0 | +0.3 | +0.5 | +1.4 | −0.1 |
| 2025 | −0.2 | −0.6 | +0.9 | +0.8 | +0.8 | +0.9 | +1.8 | +0.5 | +0.5 | +1.5 | −0.3 | −1.2 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Photos
Seen by visitors.
Nearby
More islands nearby.
Staten Island
United States150 km²49 m28 km away
Liberty IslandUnited States0.06 km²2 m13 km away
Long IslandUnited States3,566 km²122 m61 km away
Ellis IslandUnited States0.11 km²2 m12 km away
Fire IslandUnited States22 km²7 m70 km away
Aquidneck IslandUnited States99 km²260 m241 km away
Martha's VineyardUnited States227 km²82 m288 km away
NantucketUnited States119 km²9 m329 km awayAbout these numbers
| Names, area, population | Wikidata (Q11988039) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Outline | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Sea temperature | NOAA OISST v2.1 · 1991–2020 |
| Climate | NASA POWER · 1991–2020 |
| Relief, 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Beaches, ports, lighthouses, trails | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Towns | GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Beaches, mountains, lakes and waterfalls | Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0, LakeTEMP (Korver et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0 |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
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