There are more skyscrapers in New York City than in all of Europe.

New York City is famous for its soaring skyline. Buildings such as One World Trade Center and the Empire State Building spring come to mind, but there are many more than those — so many, in fact, that the Big Apple boasts more skyscrapers within its city limits than all of Europe combined.

While there’s no single universal definition of what constitutes a skyscraper, databases such as the Skyscraper Center still track and rank cities based on the number of buildings exceeding roughly 500 feet, which has therefore become a widely accepted benchmark. By that standard, NYC is home to around 324 skyscrapers. (Only Hong Kong and Shenzhen in China have more.)

The world’s first skyscraper was built in New York City.

fact

FIB

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

sign up!

Please enter valid email.

Sign up

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fib

The first skyscraper is widely considered to be Chicago's Home Insurance Building, completed in 1885. Though only 10 stories high, its steel-frame design ushered in the modern skyscraper era.

Europe, by comparison, has roughly 314 skyscrapers taller than 500 feet across all of its countries. That also includes transcontinental countries such as Russia and Turkey, some of whose skyscrapers are actually concentrated outside Europe’s boundaries. Even with that in mind, New York comes out on top.

The skyscraper era began in the U.S. in the 1880s and spread across many global financial centers by the late 20th century. There are a few reasons for the European imbalance: Cities such London, Paris, and Rome developed the historic cores of their city centers long before the era of steel-frame construction made skyscrapers possible. Further development in the modern era was, and still is, often constrained by historic preservation and planning rules.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Email