Over the past few years, more and more Americans have been moving out of the suburbs and into
high density urban cities.
This trend is especially pronounced in the state of New York, where nearly half of the
population lives in New York City.
In fact, New York is one of the most diverse regions in the world, with enormous artistic,
political, cultural, and social influence.
So we wanted to know, just how powerful is New York?
Well, the entire state covers roughly 55,000 square miles, which is a bit larger than Greece,
and would rank New York 95th worldwide, if it were a country.
But New York doesn’t even rank that highly in size for the US, coming in as the 30th
biggest state.
Instead, it is New York’s population that’s really booming.
With nearly 20 million residents in total, it is the third most populous state in the
US, and would be the 58th worldwide.
This is partially due to the fact that New York is one of the biggest migrant destinations
in the world, with nearly a quarter of the population foreign born.
New York also contains the largest Puerto Rican population in the US, with a huge proportion
of Dominican, Jamaican, and Mexican Americans.
As one of the financial capitals of the world, and the home of Wall Street, it should be
no surprise that New York is incredibly wealthy.
Their GDP is estimated around one and a half trillion dollars, barely below Russia and
Canada, ranking 12th worldwide.
New York’s largest export commodity is actually diamonds, followed by gold, and jewelry.
During World War II, Jewish jewellers in Antwerp and Amsterdam were forced to flee to New York,
establishing it as a major hub in the global diamond trade.
It is estimated that as many as 90% of the diamonds entering the US pass through New
York.
Today, the US has more Jews than any other country besides Israel, and roughly 13 percent
of the Jewish-American population lives in New York.
So, how does New York protect all that wealth and culture?
Well, the New York City Police Department alone has a budget of about $5 billion dollars.
That would rank them 40th worldwide in total defense spending.
The entire country of Ukraine has about the same defense budget as New York City.
The NYPD is the biggest police force in the US, with more employees than even the FBI.
Overall, New York State has nearly 100,000 full time law enforcement personnel, which
is about the size of Australia’s entire military.
Clearly, New York can hold it’s own on the world stage.
Although New York State is propelled there almost entirely by the efforts of New York
City.
But despite being one of the most influential cities in the world, New York does have its
problems.
One in five New Yorkers suffer from mental health issues, and many allege that the city’s
police department is plagued with racism and the use of unnecessary force.
Still, whether talking about the city or the state, there is no question: New York is mad
powerful, b.
California comes in as the number one most populous U.S. state.
Learn more about the extent of the Golden State’s power in our video.
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