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City Guide · Honest Height Rankings
In Honest 100
9
Rank pending
0
Tallest (honest)
431.9m
Best ratio
2.1%
New York City contains more Honest 100 buildings than any other single city. The range of Vanity Ratios here is extreme: the Empire State Building scores 2.1%, built in 1931 before decorative spires became an architectural status symbol. One World Trade Center scores 28.6%, and the Bank of America Tower scores 36.0% - the highest confirmed Vanity Ratio in the database and the reigning Padded Pinnacle nominee. The city is simultaneously the most honest and least honest skyline in the world, depending on which building you look at.
Buildings ranked by Honest Height - the elevation of the highest occupied floor. Not architectural top. Not spires. Not decorative steel nobody rides an elevator to. The gap between the two is the Vanity Ratio. See the full methodology.
Buildings in New York City, drawn to scale
Each silhouette drawn to scale. Silver = the height humans actually reach. Amber = the decorative steel above it.
#1
Central Park Tower
New York City
431.9m
8.6% vanity
#2
270 Park Avenue
New York City
407m
3.8% vanity
#3
432 Park Avenue
New York City
392.1m
7.8% vanity
#4
One World Trade Center
New York City
386.5m
28.6% vanity
#5
Empire State Building
New York City
373.1m
2.1% vanity
#6
111 West 57th Street
New York City
346m
20.5% vanity
#7
30 Hudson Yards
New York City
340m
12.2% vanity
#8
One Vanderbilt
New York City
310.9m
27.2% vanity
#9
Bank of America Tower
New York City
234m
36.0% vanity
Top 5 in New York City · Confirmed occupied height
15
Central Park Tower
New York City · US
Vanity
8.6%
27
432 Park Avenue
New York City · US
Vanity
7.8%
29
One World Trade Center
New York City · US
Vanity
28.6%
43
Empire State Building
New York City · US
Vanity
2.1%
62
111 West 57th Street
New York City · US
Vanity
20.5%
Ranks 6-9 in New York City
The standard global ranking uses architectural top - the highest structural element regardless of whether anyone reaches it. The Honest Height ranking uses the highest occupied floor. For New York City, the delta between the two metrics is tracked as the Vanity Ratio for each building.
Tallest by honest height: Central Park Tower - 431.9m occupied
Tallest by architectural top: One World Trade Center - 541.3m
See: The full Honest 100 · Methodology
New York built the Empire State Building in 14 months and it has a 2.1% Vanity Ratio. Ninety years later, the same city built Bank of America Tower and padded 131.8 metres of decorative spire on top of a 55-floor office building. Both are in the Honest 100. The gap between them is 33.9 percentage points and approximately 90 years of architectural self-restraint.