The metropolitan area of New York is one of the largest urban areas in the world. It is the most densely populated major city in the United States with more than 9.5 million inhabitants spread over an area of 789.43 km². The city of New York consists of five boroughs or parts of cities: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. Many of the city’s monuments and districts are world-famous and often symbolise the United States in general. There are the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, skyscrapers such as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building, the old World Trade Center with the Twin Towers, destroyed by terrorists in 2001, and its successor, the One World Trade Center, opened in 2014.

The hustle and bustle give the city the nickname The City That Never Sleeps. Another popular nickname is the Big Apple.