New York City’s Central Business District, which encompasses Midtown and Downtown Manhattan, has been an influential economic and financial capital since the 19th century, mainly thanks to the presence of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and other important financial institutions.

Today, it is the largest central business district in the United States, with a total area of 2.2 square miles. 

Key Facts & Figures about NYC Central Business District

•         The central business district consists of three sub-districts: Midtown, Midtown South, and Downtown, which are further divided into 18 sub-markets.
•         There are approximately 190,000 small businesses, which employ more than 900,000 people. 
•         This area is home to 40 Fortune 500 corporations, the highest concentration in the country.
•         The New York central business district was recently listed as the second best startup ecosystem in the nation and worldwide.
•         The central business district has more than 617,000 residents and nearly 900,000 people commute into the area every day.
•         Local companies attracted nearly $20bn in venture capital funding in 2023.
•         In 2023, NYC attracted more than 62 million visitors per year, with business travelers accounting for 20% of the total.

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All over the United States, central business districts serve as a magnet for economic growth and employment. In this article, we offer an updated overview of the top 10 largest CBDs in the country, accounting for the changes that CBDs have experienced post-2020.

1. New York City

New York City’s CBD is the largest in the country and covers a large area in Midtown and downtown Manhattan.

The city’s CBD contains nearly 420 million square feet of office real estate, with the biggest clusters being in Grand Central, Penn Station, Sixth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, Financial East, and World Trade Center.

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There are several types of office space in the USA. These properties are classified according to their quality standards and amenities, using the classification system developed by the Building Owners and Managers Association. This system establishes three main types of office space: Class A, Class B, and Class C. Here are the defining features of each Class:

Class A Office Space

These properties are characterized as having the highest quality standards, amenities, and fixtures. Common features include top-tier HVAC and lighting systems, the latest telecommunications infrastructure, and often have unique design or architectural traits. Because of their high standards, Class A offices are typically (but not always) in new or trophy buildings with high-quality road and mass transit connections. Location also plays a role in Class A offices, as they are often located in sought-after areas such as Capitol Hill, Downtown Los Angeles, and The Loop in Chicago.

Class B Office Space

Class B properties are a middle-of-the-road option for office-based businesses. They are a step below Class A properties in terms of design, systems, and infrastructure, but they are still functional spaces that can accommodate a wide range of office operations. Depending on their location and potential, some Class B buildings are acquired by property management or investment firms and refurbished to Class A standards. Many of these offices are located in buildings that are between 10 and 20 years old.

Class C Office Space

Class C offices are typically located in older buildings (20 years+) outside of the CBD or other highly sought-after business areas. These properties may have outdated infrastructure, fixtures, and amenities, with some requiring partial renovation.

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The Wall Street area is internationally renowned as the world’s financial capital and is an exceptional place to do business. Wall Street itself is a 0.5-mile long artery located between Broadway and South Street, and has a high concentration of highly successful banking and financial headquarters as well as large corporates.

Stock trading activities have been taking place in Wall Street since the 19th century. Today, Wall Street is a hub for firms involved in investment banking, private equity, hedge funds, and asset management. Although finance, banking and insurance are clearly predominant in the area, tourism is also an important industry, since Wall Street and the adjacent alleys are one of the premier tourist destinations within New York City. This area is home to important landmarks, such as the Lincoln Center, the Federal Reserve Building, and the Museum of American Finance.

Some of the most important organizations based in Wall Street are the New York Stock Exchange, Manhattan Chase Bank, Charles Swab, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, BlackRock, Citibank, but there is also a large number of businesses involved in the food services and leisure, which cater to the area’s tourists and daytime population.

Wall Street is known for attracting some of the brightest talent around, and although the recession caused job losses, employment gains have been evident for some time. There are many corporate recruiters based in Wall Street, including Michael Page, Amity Search Partners, Oxbridge, Foster McCay Group, Smith Hanley, SG Partners, and Glocap Search. However, the area is no longer the largest employment hub in the city, since that position now belongs to the Silicon Alley area located in Midtown / Lower Manhattan. Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of USA Office Market

During 2016, the USA office market was marked by a climate of cautious optimism and moderate growth across the board. This was mostly evident in office rental rates, which increased by a modest 0.1 per cent or even declined in cities like Chicago, New York, Washington and San Francisco. This was coupled with a slow-down in leasing activity, as net absorption rates only reached 6.5 million square feet during the last quarter of 2016. The bulk of lease transactions consisted of small and medium-sized office properties, and the total number of leases exceeding 500,000 dropped by 43 per cent.

Key market indicators (such as take-up, vacancy, and availability rates) were linked to the performance of those industry sectors that make up for the bulk of office occupiers in the USA. 2016 saw a tightening of the labor market in the tech sector, driving vacancy rates down to break the 10 per cent barrier for the first time. This offset the relative stagnation in activity coming from occupiers involved in financial services, legal, and government.

Important figures that reveal the market’s performance during 2016 included:

– A total inventory in excess of 137 million square feet

– Total vacancy rates of 16.9 per cent

– Annual net absorption above 1.1 million square feet

– Nationwide average asking rates $23.91

– Office space under construction 4.9 million square feet, of which 53.7 per cent is already pre-leased

USA Office Market by City

Mid-sized markets were among the best performers in the year that has just ended. Portland, Nashville, Salt Lake City, and San Antonio were characterized by occupancy increases that averaged 3 per cent. In San Francisco, market indicators were also positive despite the fact that occupancy growth levels dropped from 2.9 to 1.1 per cent. Other regional office markets that did well included Austin, Silicon Valley, and Seattle. In these markets, occupancy growth averaged 2 per cent. Read the rest of this entry »

Centered on the north-central region of the country, the Midwest United States includes 12 states including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Although major urban centers such as Chicago are known around the world as key economic drivers, the Midwest is also home to several smaller cities that provide promising conditions for new businesses. WalletHub’s 2015 ranking of the best cities to start of a business in the United States included six Midwestern cities in the top 20. The ranking used a number of metrics, from the five-year survival rate of businesses to the affordability of office space.

Springfield, Missouri
Springfield, Missouri ranked as the best Midwestern city to start of business in the United States, according to the 2015 study. The city also placed first nationally in terms of access to resources, including financing and affordable office space. Known as the Queen City of the Ozarks and the Birthplace of Route 66, Springfield is home to the Missouri State University and Drury University. The third largest city in Missouri is the economic hub of an area that spans 27 counties in Missouri and neighboring Arkansas and is home to some 1 million people. The economy is based on health care, manufacturing, retail, education and tourism. The city has also been recognized for its high quality of life, and in 2008 it was among the best communities for young people by the America’s Promise Alliance and relocating families by Worldwide ERC.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota
The same ranking found that Sioux Falls was the sixth best city to start a business in the US. With a growing population, the city also ranked second in terms of the best business environment in the United States. It was also named as the next big boom town by The Atlantic in 2013. The largest city in South Dakota, Sioux Falls is a diverse economic center focused on financial services, health care and retail. Sitting on the crossroads of interstates 90 and 29, the city is within a day’s drive from many major cities in the Midwest. The lack of a state corporate tax has helped attract a number of financial companies to Sioux Falls, including Wells Fargo and Citigroup. Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of Business in Manhattan

For decades, Manhattan has been a global business hub of undisputed prestige. This New York borough is home to some of the world’s most successful businesses and to the largest stock exchange in the world. Manhattan has repeatedly topped the global lists of most powerful cities, staying ahead of other leading business hubs like London, Dubai, Hong Kong, or Shanghai. Due to its excellent infrastructure, world-class business environment, and valuable human capital, Manhattan is the world’s most desirable business location . The borough’s thriving business scene is a catalyst for economic growth, and this is reflected in the local employment levels. According to the NYCEDC, more than 310,000 jobs are based in this borough, tens of thousands of which have been created in the private sector since 2005.

Major Industries

The banking and financial sector is the key economic driver for the local economy. More than 300,000 people are employed in this industry, which according to the Federal Reserve generates more than 35 per cent of the city’s income. The service sector is another key industry in Manhattan, as it employs over 1 million people in areas like tourism (over 240,000 jobs), professional and business services (287,000 jobs), or healthcare and social assistance (208,000 jobs).

The number of technology, advertising, media, and information companies (TAMIs) has skyrocketed since 2009. Back then, TAMIs barely occupied 100,000 square feet of space in Manhattan, but at the end of 2014 that figure had increased to more than 1.6 million. A report published by the Downtown alliance estimates that this sector is comprised of over 800 firms that generate a combined annual output of $125 billion and that employ nearly 29,000 people. Likewise, Manhattan has recently been attracting a steady number of creative firms. According to an article published at the Wall Street Journal, the number of employees working in creative ventures in this part of Manhattan has increased by 71 per cent over the past five years. Read the rest of this entry »

Rockville, MD
Rockville is a small suburb of Maryland that has a population of a little over 50,000 people. While it may not be the biggest place in the world, its location is what makes it such a hotbed of startup activity. Its proximity to a number of major national laboratories makes Rockville specifically a hub of the biotech industry, and it means that there are a lot of funding sources available for the right type of startup.

San Francisco, CA
San Francisco, California, is known mostly for its art and culture, but it also has a bustling economic scene in these tough times. The real benefit of operating out of San Francisco is the convergence of academia and business. There are a lot of established universities out here, as well as a lot of giants in the technology industry.

Franklin, TN
Franklin, Tennessee, is a small town about the size of Rockville, but is more of an entity of its own. There is a major biotechnology push in Franklin, with the university putting up state-of-the-art facilities to push development in that sector. More than half of the people living in Franklin have at least a four-year college education, and the technology industry here is on the rise.

Bellevue, WA
Close to the home of such giants as Microsoft, Bellevue, situated in Washington, is one of the hottest spots of activity in the technology sector in the country. Bellevue’s residents hold more patents than any other city in the country, and there are a lot of tax incentives for small startups, especially in the technology sector. Being so close to many of the larger, older technology firms gives startups the ability to utilize a wealth of industry information that is more readily found in this area than in other areas.

Cambridge, MA
Cambridge will be recognizable to most people as the home to both MIT and Harvard, two of the most prestigious universities in the world. As a town of roughly 100,000 people, Cambridge maintains a very low-key persona that carries an air of growth. The town has a reputation to uphold as one of the hotbeds of advancement in the country, and the incentives for small business development here are ample.

Irvine, CA
Irvine, California, has a number of things going for it that make it very attractive for startups. It is right outside of Los Angeles, so it is mostly populated by technology and entertainment-based startups, but there are many different businesses here. One of the most attractive aspects of the city is that it gives entertainment and technology startups access to Los Angeles without actually having to be located in the city itself.

Bend, OR
Bend, Oregon, has experienced a growth rate of 50 percent over the past decade, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. The town itself used to be centered around logging, but has since become very involved with the technology, aviation, and biotech industries.

Santa Monica, CA
Santa Monica, California, has become very popular for film startups over the past decade. The proximity to Los Angeles is the big draw here, with business owners getting all the benefits of Los Angeles without the stifling taxes that come with living in the city. Digital media production companies find that they are able to compete with larger film companies while operating out of Santa Monica.

Boca Raton, FL
Looking to shirk its reputation as nothing but a paved old folks home, Boca Raton, Florida, is very welcoming of startups, especially in the technology industry. There are a lot of smaller companies that work here that have been started by employees of IBM, which has operated out of Boca Raton since the 1970s.

Boulder, CO
Boulder, Colorado, has become something of an icon of the technology startup community. As the university has advanced its technology base over the past ten years, more and more businesses have been developing here from the resulting boom in startup grant funding. There are a number of national research labs maintained in Boulder, and these labs bring in a swathe of talent from around the globe– making Boulder a hotbed of activity in the technology industry.