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A while back, a girl from Milan asked me how on earth people find their way around Manhattan.
Fair question.
From the outside, it looks like someone spilled a spreadsheet across an island.
Streets run east–west. Avenues run north–south. Street numbers go up as you head uptown, and Fifth Avenue is the line between East and West.
Downtown, in the city’s oldest part, the grid gives up, and the old lanes take over.
And Broadway? Broadway does whatever it wants.
Above 14th Street, you’ll find a well-marked grid until you reach Upper Manhattan, where some avenues start changing names.
Below 14th Street, the older city takes over, and many streets are named instead of numbered.
(The East Village is the exception. It kept its numbers.)
The Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 laid it all out, and it’s still why a first-time visitor can find their way around Manhattan by the end of day one. Mostly.
It’s truly a mark of genius. They decided to leave what was already here and add new. But of course, they were hacking through farmland and property borders to do it.
However, because of these gentlemen’s success more than two hundred years ago, we have an incredible system for getting around Manhattan today.
What was New York City like before the grid system?
Long before anyone drew a grid, Manhattan was Lenape land.
The Dutch arrived in the 1620s and founded New Amsterdam at the island’s southern tip, and the English took over the colony about 40 years later, in 1664.
Fun Fact: Wall Street is named after an actual wall.
In 1653, the Dutch were at war with England, so New Amsterdam built a wooden stockade along the northern edge of town, from the Hudson River to the East River, to stop an English land attack.
You’ll often hear it was built to keep out Native Americans, but the original threat was the English.
And when the English finally took the city in 1664? They came by sea. So yeah, the wall didn’t help much.
One more thing worth knowing: much of that wall was built by enslaved Africans owned by the Dutch West India Company. That’s part of Wall Street’s story that rarely makes the postcards.
After the British took control and the city kept growing, New York City laid out its streets haphazardly, based on land-ownership boundaries and sub-communities within larger neighborhoods.
Why Lower Manhattan Streets Have Names Instead of Numbers
In the oldest part of Manhattan, the grid never stood a chance.
These streets were here first, some of them for more than 150 years before the commissioners picked up a pencil, so they kept their names.
And a lot of those names are clues.
Wall Street is the famous one, but it isn’t the only street that’s basically a history lesson on a sign.
Houston Street is where the numbered grid begins. East 1st Street starts just north of it.
It’s also the fastest way to spot a tourist, because it’s pronounced HOW-ston, not like the city in Texas.
The street was named for William Houstoun, a Georgia delegate to the Continental Congress who married Mary Bayard.
Her father, Nicholas Bayard III, owned the land the street was cut through, and he named it after his new son-in-law.
Early city records spell it Houstoun. Somewhere along the way, the extra “u” fell off. The pronunciation stayed.
So the next time someone says HYOO-ston Street, you can kindly let them know they’re in the wrong state.
Here’s another one to try on a map.
Stand on Pearl Street in the Financial District and walk toward the East River.
Pearl Street roughly follows Manhattan’s original shoreline.
Every block you cross after that was built on landfill, added one strip at a time from the 1700s into the early 1800s. In some spots, archaeologists found the fill runs 20 to 35 feet deep.
First came Water Street.
Then the city built another street in front of it: Front Street.
Then one more: South Street.
They were not subtle with the names.
Want more stories like these? Here are 5 historic streets in Manhattan you’ll want to discover.
The Commissioners’ Plan of 1811
By the early 1800s, New York was growing fast, and its streets were a patchwork of farm roads and property lines.
In 1807, the state legislature appointed three commissioners, Gouverneur Morris, Simeon De Witt, and John Rutherfurd, and gave them until 1811 to plan the rest of the island.
Their chief surveyor, John Randel Jr., was 20 years old when he started. Twenty.
His team hacked through woods and farmland, sometimes while landowners pulled up their survey markers behind them.
They eventually set 1,549 marble markers and 98 iron bolts to mark the future intersections. A few have even turned up in Central Park, marking intersections that thankfully never happened.
Fun Fact: There are so many interesting stories about how the commissioners came up with the plan. Listen to The Bowery Boys podcast episode #122 if you want to learn more.
The result was the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811: 12 avenues running north–south, 155 streets running east–west, and a city that could grow in straight lines.
To keep the peace, they left existing downtown neighborhoods, like Greenwich Village, mostly alone.
The resulting creation was a grid system that worked well enough to accommodate the city’s growth over time.
Since then, the New York grid system has been updated several times and now includes a few exceptions.
But, as long as you know the basic rules, you’ll be fine navigating the city.
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The Streets of Manhattan
“I’m at the corner of first and first. Wait a minute. How can the same street intersect with itself? I must be at the nexus of the universe!” – Seinfeld, season 9 episode 19
Cosmo Kramer said it best. The system starts at the cross street of First Avenue and East 1st Street.
And although it has some variation, for the most part, the system continues all the way up to 155th Street and beyond.
Driving Direction for Streets
Most streets in Manhattan are only one way for drivers. Even-numbered streets drive west to east, and odd-numbered streets drive east to west.
What do “uptown” and “downtown” mean?
On the subway and on the street, uptown simply means north, while downtown means south.
That’s the meaning that matters most when you’re on a platform deciding which side to wait on, because the signs say “Uptown” or “Downtown,” not north or south.
As a neighborhood label, it’s looser.
Most people call everything below 14th Street Downtown, roughly 34th to 59th Street Midtown, and everything north of that Uptown. Ask five New Yorkers, though, and you’ll get five different borders.
You’ll notice on the map that streets south of 14th Street have other named streets that intersect it or don’t follow the exact grid outline.
Many were pre-existing streets that the Commissioner’s Plan decided to include in its plan for Manhattan. Or even accounted-for property lines belonging to wealthy New Yorkers of old.
The Avenues of Manhattan
Fifth Avenue is the dividing line of Manhattan. Streets east will be marked with an E, and streets addressed west of the line will be marked with a W.
If your address is 19 W 21st St, you’ll need to head to the west of Fifth Avenue on 21st until you come across #19.
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue, the original home of the Manhattan elite, now a major shopping district, cuts the island in half.
If you’re standing under the Washington Square Arch at the bottom of Fifth Avenue looking north, any street on your left going up will be preceded by a West, and any street to your right will have an East in front of the name.
This system was the true genius of the Commissioners’ Plan because it outlined the island in a way that made logical sense for people to travel.
Driving Directions for Avenues
Like streets, most avenues are one-way for drivers. Here’s the catch: the pattern flips at Fifth Avenue.
West of Fifth, it’s tidy.
Sixth, Eighth and Tenth (Amsterdam) Avenues run north, and Seventh and Ninth (Columbus) Avenues run south.
East of Fifth, it reverses.
First Avenue, Third Avenue and Madison run north, while Second Avenue, Lexington and Fifth itself run south.
Park Avenue is among the famous two-way exceptions in Midtown, along with York Avenue, West End Avenue, Central Park West, and Broadway above Columbus Circle.
Honestly? Unless you’re driving, you don’t need to memorize this. But it IS handy when you’re hailing a cab and wondering which side of the avenue to stand on.
Manhattan Avenues East of Fifth
Although all the streets and avenues are broken up into exact measurements, people believed there was too much gap between avenues on the East side of Manhattan.
As a result, there are more avenues on the East side of Manhattan than on the West. (Why they didn’t feel the same about the West Side is beyond me!)
Instead, York Avenue runs along the East River on the Upper East Side (with a small area that includes an East End Avenue up in the East 80s streets).
Then there’s First Avenue, Second Avenue, Third Avenue, Lexington Avenue, Park Avenue, Madison Avenue, and finally Fifth Ave.
Yes, a little confusing because we’re missing Fourth Avenue. No, you didn’t get lost; it’s not there.
Or, more precisely, it was renamed Park Avenue South. Fourth Avenue exists, but it only runs six blocks and doesn’t follow the pattern.
And downtown, east of First Avenue, you’ll find Avenues A, B, C and D, which is why that corner of the East Village is nicknamed Alphabet City.
Manhattan Avenues West of Fifth
West of Fifth Avenue on Manhattan is a bit more straightforward. Kind of.
Starting at the Hudson River, we have Twelfth Avenue, Eleventh Avenue, Tenth Avenue, Ninth Avenue, Eighth Avenue, Seventh Avenue, and Sixth Avenue before we arrive at Fifth Avenue.
Exceptions to the Rules
For the most part, the system outlined here is how the New York City street layout works. However, every rule has exceptions. Always keep a map handy and check your route in advance.
Broadway
Broadway is the big exception to every rule above. You might know the name as shorthand for New York City’s Theatre District, but it’s also a real street, and a very old one.
It started as the Native American Wickquasgeck Trail and was expanded several times over the years into the major road it is now.
Because it was established before the Commissioners’ Plan, it runs diagonally from east to west across Manhattan.
The city turned that into a feature. Almost everywhere Broadway crosses an avenue, you’ll find a square or a little triangle of open space:
- Union Square – Broadway, Fourth Avenue/Park Avenue South & 14th Street
- Madison Square – Broadway, Fifth Avenue & 23rd Street
- Herald Square – Broadway, Sixth Avenue & 34th Street
- Times Square – Broadway, Seventh Avenue & 42nd Street (with Duffy Square at its north end)
- Columbus Circle – Broadway, Eighth Avenue & 59th Street
- Dante Park and Richard Tucker Square – Broadway, Columbus Avenue & 66th Street (across from Lincoln Center)
- Verdi Square – Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue & 72nd Street
Two-Way Streets
Most streets are one-way. In general, even numbers head east, and odd numbers head west, with plenty of exceptions.
The big two-way streets are the wide ones.
The 1811 plan made 15 crosstown streets 100 feet wide instead of the usual 60: 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th, 72nd, 79th, 86th, 96th, 106th, 116th, 125th, 135th, 145th and 155th. Most of them still carry traffic in both directions today.
So if you’ve ever wondered why 42nd Street feels so much bigger than 41st, they planned it that way in 1811.
Add Times Square, where Broadway crosses 42nd Street, and you’ve got most of the reason 42nd Street is so famous.
One newer change: since 2019, 14th Street between Third and Ninth Avenues has been a busway.
From 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., only buses and trucks can drive straight through. Cars can make local stops but must turn right at the next intersection.
Where the Avenues Change Names
On the East Side, the avenues keep their names all the way up the island. On the West Side, starting at 59th Street, they get new identities:
- Eighth Avenue becomes Central Park West along the park, then Frederick Douglass Boulevard north of 110th Street
- Ninth Avenue becomes Columbus Avenue
- Tenth Avenue becomes Amsterdam Avenue
- Eleventh Avenue becomes West End Avenue
North of Central Park, two more change:
- Sixth Avenue becomes Lenox Avenue, also called Malcolm X Boulevard
- Seventh Avenue becomes Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard
Insider Tip: If you want to sound like a real New Yorker, 59th Street along the park is Central Park South, Eighth Avenue along the park is Central Park West, and 110th Street across the top of the park is Central Park North. And Fifth Avenue along the park? That’s just Fifth Avenue. There’s no Central Park East. I know. I’m as disappointed as you are.
Streets Above Central Park
Although the Commissioner’s Plan originally plotted Manhattan up to 155th Street, now it runs to 220th Street.
However, north of Central Park, the city streets shift again and are far less orderly.
Just like in neighborhoods below the grid, your best bet is to use a map to navigate New York City streets.
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How do you get from one end of Manhattan to the other?
The best way to get around Manhattan is by the NYC subway. The New York City public transportation system is one of the only transit systems in the United States that operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Whether you’ve never used it before or need a refresher, I have a complete guide on how to use the New York City subway.
However, if you only need to move short distances, your best bet is to walk or bike.
New York City has Citi Bike, a program where you can rent a bike for as long as you need it, pick it up, and drop it off at designated places.
You can download the Citi Bike app or check your Lyft app for locations and secure a bike.
Insider Tip: If you’re not confident enough in your biking skills, take a class with Bike.nyc. This organization offers free bike riding classes for adults, where all you need to do is show up, and they’ll provide the rest! You can check out their class schedule on their website.
Walking is my preferred choice, though! I’ve walked from the top of Central Park down to Greenwich Village before, and any distance in between.
Being part of the city and watching as the architecture and neighborhoods change as you go is one of the best experiences.
How do I find my building?
The NYC street numbering system is based on distance from the island’s center, Fifth Avenue.
Generally, you can follow building numbers with a simple trick. At Fifth Avenue, the building numbers reset.
This means 1 West 51st Street and 1 East 51st Street sit directly across Fifth Avenue from each other.
Odd-numbered buildings are on the north side of the street, and even-numbered buildings are on the south side.
Street addresses tell you which avenues you’re between, too.
On the West Side, numbers 1–99 sit between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, 100–199 between Sixth and Seventh, 200–299 between Seventh and Eighth, and so on, adding 100 at every avenue.
So the Richard Rodgers Theatre, home of Hamilton, at 226 West 46th Street? West of Fifth, in the 200s: it’s on 46th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. You’ll be in the room where it happens in no time.
The 100-per-avenue numbering above is the standard rule for the West Side, but the East Side runs uneven because Madison, Park, and Lexington were squeezed in later.
It takes time to learn how to navigate NYC streets, so if you haven’t figured it out after your first trip, don’t worry.
How to Find the Cross Street for Any Manhattan Address
Ask a New Yorker where 350 Fifth Avenue is and they won’t say “350 Fifth Avenue.” They’ll say “Fifth and 34th.” (That’s the Empire State Building, by the way.)
Street addresses are easy. Numbers start at Fifth Avenue and climb as you walk away from it.
Avenue addresses are a different story. Each avenue started numbering wherever it happened to begin, so the same number lands on completely different blocks.
350 Fifth Avenue is at 34th Street, but 350 Seventh Avenue is down around 30th.
So New Yorkers came up with a trick. Before smartphones, it was printed in Manhattan phone books, newspapers, guidebooks, even on wallet-sized cards, and it still works.
The Manhattan cross-street formula
- Divide by 2.
- Take the building number and drop the last digit.
- Add (or subtract) the key number for that avenue from the table below.
- The answer is your nearest cross street.
Let’s try it with the Chrysler Building at 405 Lexington Avenue:
- 405 becomes 40
- 40 ÷ 2 = 20
- Lexington Avenue’s key number is 22, so 20 + 22 = 42
Two exceptions to the cross street formula
Along Central Park, Fifth Avenue and Central Park West only have buildings on one side of the street.
The other side is, well, the park.
Riverside Drive works the same way. On those stretches, drop the last digit but DON’T divide by 2.
The Met is at 1000 Fifth Avenue: 100 − 18 = 82, and there it is, at 82nd Street.
And Broadway below 8th Street doesn’t work at all, because the streets down there have names, not numbers. Downtown, it’s maps or getting purposely lost.
| Avenue | Address numbers | Step 1 | Step 2 | Key number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avenues A B C and D | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +3 |
| York Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +4 |
| First Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +3 |
| Second Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +3 |
| Third Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +10 |
| Lexington Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +22 |
| Park Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +34 |
| Park Avenue South | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +8 |
| Madison Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +27 |
| Fifth Avenue | 63–108 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +11 |
| Fifth Avenue | 109–199 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +13 |
| Fifth Avenue | 200–399 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +16 |
| Fifth Avenue | 400–599 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +18 |
| Fifth Avenue | 600–774 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +20 |
| Fifth Avenue (along Central Park) | 775–1286 | Drop the last digit | Do NOT divide | −18 |
| Fifth Avenue | 1287–1499 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +45 |
| Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | −12 |
| Seventh Avenue | 1–1800 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +12 |
| Seventh Avenue | Above 1800 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +20 |
| Eighth Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +9 |
| Ninth Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +13 |
| Tenth Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +14 |
| Eleventh Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +15 |
| Broadway | 756–846 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | −29 |
| Broadway | 847–953 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | −25 |
| Broadway | Above 953 | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | −31 |
| Central Park West | All | Drop the last digit | Do NOT divide | +60 |
| Columbus Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +60 |
| Amsterdam Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +59 |
| West End Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +59 |
| Riverside Drive | 1–567 | Drop the last digit | Do NOT divide | +72 |
| Riverside Drive | Above 567 | Drop the last digit | Do NOT divide | +78 |
| Lenox Avenue (Malcolm X Blvd) | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +110 |
| St. Nicholas Avenue | All | Drop the last digit | Divide by 2 | +110 |
A quick confession: this formula is an estimate, not a GPS. It usually lands you within a block. 501 Fifth Avenue comes out to 43rd Street, but the building is actually on 42nd. Close enough to start walking, and the street signs will take it from there.
Tips to Help You Learn the New York Grid System
The city has hundreds of streets, and navigating them all can feel overwhelming. However, a few tips can help you learn New York’s streets.
Use map apps
Maps are essential tools for learning the streets of New York. My two favorite apps are Citymapper and Google Maps.
Citymapper is free in the App Store and allows full functionality with ads with a free account.
Simply enter your current location and where you want to go, and Citymapper will list all the different ways to get there and how long each will take.
It lists not only walking and subway routes, but also bus and bike routes, driving directions, and tram or ferry routes when available.
It also includes an offline subway map you can use if you’re stuck underground or in a subway station without service.
And of course, Google Maps is another universal app to help you figure out which subway lines to take in New York City. You can download a map for offline use in Google Maps, too.
Ask for Help
Sometimes, you may feel overwhelmed by how much information you need to memorize about New York’s streets.
When in doubt, ask for help. New Yorkers get a bad reputation for being rude, but they’re usually in a hurry and stick to themselves.
That’s not to say they won’t help you if you ask!
If you want to meet a New Yorker who will be happy to answer your questions, take a walking tour with a licensed guide.
I always loved it when guests asked me more specific questions for advice and recommendations as we walked from stop to stop, and it’s literally our job to teach people about the city we love.
Get Lost
When you’re trying to learn the streets of New York, getting lost is inevitable. Embrace this part of the experience.
Getting lost helps you understand the city’s street grid better and lets you discover incredible areas you might have missed otherwise.
I actually stand by this idea so much that you’re currently reading this on a website called The Purposely Lost *wink.*
Guide to the NYC Grid System: FAQs
How many avenues in NYC?
Manhattan’s 1811 grid plan laid out 12 numbered avenues plus lettered Avenues A through D. Lexington and Madison Avenues were squeezed in later. Several avenues change names on the Upper West Side and in Harlem, and not all of them run the full length of the island.
The other four boroughs, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, also have their share of avenues, although the number and naming conventions differ somewhat from Manhattan.
How many streets in Manhattan?
Manhattan’s numbered streets run from East 1st Street in the East Village up to 220th Street in Inwood. Some numbers are skipped or interrupted, and hundreds of named streets fill Lower Manhattan, where the grid doesn’t reach.
What street divides east and west in NYC?
Fifth Avenue divides East and West in Manhattan from 8th Street north. Below 8th Street, where Fifth Avenue ends at Washington Square, Broadway takes over as the dividing line. That’s why it’s West Houston Street on one side of Broadway and East Houston Street on the other.
How long is Manhattan?
Manhattan is about 13 miles long and about 2.3 miles wide at its widest point. Walking the whole length is a long day, but a great day.
How long is a NYC block?
A standard Manhattan street block is about 260 feet, or roughly 1/20 of a mile, including the street. In the 1811 plan, each street is 60 feet wide with about 200 feet of buildings between streets. Blocks between avenues are much longer and vary from avenue to avenue.
How do I find the cross street of a Manhattan avenue address?
Drop the last digit of the building number, divide by 2, and add the avenue’s key number. For the Chrysler Building at 405 Lexington Avenue, that’s 40 ÷ 2 = 20, plus 22 = 42nd Street. The table above lists the key numbers for every major avenue, and the answer is usually accurate within a block.
Why doesn’t Broadway follow the grid?
Broadway is older than the grid. It began as the Wickquasgeck Trail, a Native American path, long before the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811. The commissioners actually left most of it off their map, keeping it only up to 23rd Street. But people kept using the old road, and the city added it back piece by piece starting in 1838. That’s why it cuts diagonally across Manhattan, creating Union, Madison, Herald and Times Squares wherever it crosses an avenue.
How many blocks are in a mile in NYC?
About 20 north–south blocks make a mile in Manhattan. Each block plus the street beside it measures roughly 260 feet. East–west blocks between avenues are much longer, often three to four times that, so 10 avenue blocks is a much longer walk than 10 street blocks.
Why is 42nd Street so famous?
42nd Street is one of Manhattan’s widest, busiest crosstown streets, planned at 100 feet wide in 1811. Times Square sits where it meets Broadway and Seventh Avenue, Grand Central Terminal is on it, and it’s lined with Broadway theaters. It even has its own musical, 42nd Street.
How do you pronounce Houston Street?
In New York, Houston Street is pronounced HOW-ston, not HYOO-ston like the city in Texas. It’s named for William Houstoun, a Georgia delegate to the Continental Congress, not Sam Houston.
Understanding NYC Streets: The New York Grid System Explained Wrap-Up
It takes time to learn how to understand NYC streets, but patience will pay off. Once you master the streets of New York, you’ll never want to leave!
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