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Country Guide · Honest Height Rankings
In Honest 100
12
Rank pending
0
Tallest (honest)
431.9m
Best ratio
2.1%
The United States has ten confirmed and pending entries in the Honest 100, clustered in New York City and Chicago. The range of Vanity Ratios is the widest of any country in the database: from the Empire State Building at 2.1% - the most honest building constructed before 1970 in the entire ranking - to Bank of America Tower at 36.0%, the highest confirmed Vanity Ratio in the database. Willis Tower in Chicago proves that the pre-decorative-spire era was not a failure of ambition. At 412.4 metres occupied, it out-ranks buildings completed 40 years later.
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 United States, 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
Willis Tower
Chicago
412.4m
6.7% vanity
#3
270 Park Avenue
New York City
407m
3.8% vanity
#4
432 Park Avenue
New York City
392.1m
7.8% vanity
#5
One World Trade Center
New York City
386.5m
28.6% vanity
#6
Empire State Building
New York City
373.1m
2.1% vanity
#7
St. Regis Chicago
Chicago
357m
2.2% vanity
#8
111 West 57th Street
New York City
346m
20.5% vanity
#9
Trump International Hotel and Tower
Chicago
340.1m
19.6% vanity
#10
30 Hudson Yards
New York City
340m
12.2% vanity
#11
One Vanderbilt
New York City
310.9m
27.2% vanity
#12
Bank of America Tower
New York City
234m
36.0% vanity
Top 5 in United States · Confirmed occupied height
15
Central Park Tower
New York City · US
Vanity
8.6%
21
Willis Tower
Chicago · US
Vanity
6.7%
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%
Ranks 6-12 in United States
111 West 57th Street
New York City · US
346m
20.5% vanity
30 Hudson Yards
New York City · US
340m
12.2% vanity
One Vanderbilt
New York City · US
310.9m
27.2% vanity
Bank of America Tower
New York City · US
234m
36.0% vanity
Trump International Hotel and Tower
Chicago · US
340.1m
19.6% vanity
270 Park Avenue
New York City · US
407m
3.8% vanity
St. Regis Chicago
Chicago · US
357m
2.2% vanity
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 United States, 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
America built the Empire State Building in 1931. It has a 2.1% Vanity Ratio and ranks 28th on the Honest 100. America also built Bank of America Tower in 2009. It has a 36.0% Vanity Ratio and is the reigning Padded Pinnacle nominee. The country can do either. The data shows a preference for one era over the other, and it is not the one with the better buildings.