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.
4mountainsPeakyas
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
4 mountains
on Peakyas, the mountain atlas
- Summit Rock
- Inwood Hill
- Long Hill
- Manhattan High Point
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 | Peakyas, 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
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.You are here
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit