NYC’s escape velocity is visible from the corner offices of Hudson Yards to the stoops of Bed-Stuy: the city is back to building, hiring, opening – and arguing – at a scale and intensity only New York can manage.
The political headlines alone have been seismic: Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani shocked the establishment by winning June’s Democratic mayoral primary and now heads into November favored in a city where Democrats dominate. Whatever your politics, the race has already re-centered City Hall’s attention on housing supply, transit financing and the cost of living, and New Yorkers will feel the effects in permitting timelines, budget priorities and where the next big projects break ground.
On the ground, demand for the city is undeniable. By spring 2025 Manhattan’s doorman buildings posted a $5,200 median monthly rent, with concessions shrinking and vacancy hovering on the lean side – real signs that household formation and office-adjacent leasing are back, even with more supply on the way. Brooklyn’s rental market is just as tight. For investors and operators, that’s a one-two punch: rent resilience alongside a steady pipeline of new product created by long-running rezonings and incentives.
Tourism has returned to a full, throaty roar. After welcoming nearly 65 million visitors in 2024, New York is tracking roughly 64.1 million in 2025 as transatlantic softness weighs on international trips even while domestic travel holds. The spend still hums – north of $70 billion by the city’s accounting – and crucially it’s diversifying beyond Manhattan as outer-borough museums, nightlife and food halls compete for itineraries. Expect a fresh spike in 2026 as MetLife Stadium across the Hudson hosts the FIFA World Cup final and the airports’ new capacity comes online, cementing their #2 global ranking.
The crown jewel is JFK’s New Terminal One, now weather-tight and racing toward a mid-2026 Phase A opening with the first 14 gates; the full build-out to 23 gates and over 300,000 square feet of dining, retail and lounge space will follow by decade’s end. The $19-billion JFK program is a bet on New York’s long-term primacy as a global gateway… and a reminder that the region builds big when it matters.
At street level, the country’s most watched mobility experiment is, well, moving traffic. After its early-2025 launch, Manhattan’s congestion pricing produced an immediate double-digit drop in cars south of 60th Street and faster bus travel, while first-month tolls delivered tens of millions in revenue. That cash helps anchor the MTA’s $68.4-billion 2025–2029 capital program, which is now accelerating signal modernization, putting design dollars into the Interborough Express and adding elevators at more than 60 stations to make over half the system accessible.The technology upgrades continue as OMNY becomes ubiquitous and the fare-gate refresh expands to high-traffic stations.
The skyline keeps sprouting. And re-using. JPMorgan Chase’s 1,388-foot headquarters has crowned Park Avenue again, and Brookfield’s Two Manhattan West has filled out its eight-acre campus with a roster of blue-chip tenants. More consequential for the city’s social math are the conversions: the former Pfizer headquarters in Midtown is being transformed into the 1,602-unit Nexus in what is now America’s largest office-to-residential conversion, and 5 Times Square is green-lit to deliver up to 1,250 mixed-income homes starting later this decade using new state tools like the 467-m Initiative and the lifted FAR cap. The city’s “City of Yes” reforms and fresh conversion incentives have shifted adaptive reuse from press-conference talking point to a replicable pro-forma, unlocking older Class B/C stock and pointing Midtown and FiDi toward a denser, 24/7 future.
Even the masterplans are maturing.
Related has pivoted Hudson Yards’ second phase away from a casino bid and toward housing, parkland and offices around the future Hudson Green – an encouraging sign that the West Side’s long-promised park-forward finish is within reach. Across the riverfront, the River Ring and Domino Park district in Williamsburg are setting the pace for climate-resilient shoreline design, and in Queens, the long arc of Sunnyside Yard planning is back in public view with fresh momentum tied to the housing deal in Albany. These are long-term plans.
“We are pleased that New York City is included on Resonance’s 2025 World’s Best Cities list,” said Julie Coker, NYC Tourism + Conventions President and CEO. “This recognition is a testament to NYC’s unmatched energy, cultural vibrancy, and world-class experiences across the five boroughs that keep us firmly positioned as a must-visit global destination.With major events including Sail4th 250 celebrating America’s Semiquincentennial and the FIFA World Cup matches next year, we look forward to sharing the spirit of NYC with visitors from around the world.”
NYC’s culture (ranking #2 in our Theaters & Concerts subcategory) has rarely been hotter. The Studio Museum in Harlem reopens this fall in its purpose-built home, reaffirming Uptown’s centrality to American art.
The New Museum is expanding on the Bowery with an OMA-designed tower opening by the time you read this, while The Met’s $550- million modern wing moves through design milestones en route to a 2030 reveal. The city’s Top 5 Museums ranking is well earned.