Harlem (North)

Neighborhood · Manhattan

Harlem (North) takes in the northern half of Central Harlem, reaching up to 155th Street between Fifth Avenue and St. Nicholas and Edgecombe Avenues.

  • 0.85 square miles
  • 83,327 residents, 2020 Census
  • 128 street corners
  • 6 subway stations
  • 10 bus routes

Its landmarks include the King Model Houses, four rows commissioned in 1891 on West 138th and 139th Streets that became known as Strivers' Row in the 1920s and 1930s, and the Harlem River Houses, finished in 1937 as the city's first federally funded, built and owned housing project. The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture traces its start to a department of Black literature and history that opened at the 135th Street branch library in 1925.

Sources: Harlem (Wikipedia); St. Nicholas Historic District, Borough of Manhattan (LP-0322, March 16, 1967) (NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission); Harlem River Houses, 151st to 153rd Streets, Macombs Place to Harlem River Drive (LP-0894, 1975) (NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission); Schomburg's Library - Arturo (Arthur) Schomburg Research Guide (New York Public Library).

Map

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Harlem (North) borders five areas, and Frederick Douglass Boulevard holds more of its corners than any other street, 33 of 128.

Street map of Harlem (North), Manhattan, outlined among East Harlem (North), Hamilton Heights-Sugar Hill, Manhattanville-West Harlem and Harlem (South), with its six subway stations and Brigadier General Charles Young Playground.Hamilton Heights-Sugar HillHighbridge ParkEast Harlem (North)Manhattanville-West HarlemHarlem (South)
  • Harlem (North)
  • A neighboring area
  • Park
  • A station in the list
  • Another station

Neighborhood areas and streets: NYC Department of City Planning. Parks: NYC Parks. Stations: MTA.

Neighboring areas

Subway stations

  • 155 St lines B D
  • Harlem-148 St lines 3 accessible
  • 145 St lines 3
  • 135 St lines B C
  • 135 St lines 2 3 accessible
  • 125 St lines A B C D accessible

Getting around

Six subway stations and buses on ten routes stop in or at the edge of Harlem (North).

  • 6 subway stations
  • 3 of them listed by the MTA as fully accessible
  • 10 local bus routes

Local bus routes

  • Bx6
  • Bx19
  • Bx33
  • BX92
  • M1
  • M2
  • M3
  • M7
  • M10
  • M102

Safety record

Between 2021 and 2025, its corners averaged more police-reported crashes than the average Manhattan corner.

  • 2,706 police-reported crashes at its corners
  • 21.1 a corner, on average
  • 13.4 the average Manhattan corner
  • 6 corners with a clean record

Signal or safety changes on City record, at 90 of its corners

Leading pedestrian intervals
68
Accessible pedestrian signals
36
Barnes Dance all-way crossings
17
Turn calming
5
Safety Improvement Projects
2

Camera tickets

In 2025 its corners had more school-zone speed camera tickets than red-light or bus-lane tickets.

  • 0 red-light camera tickets
  • 6,039 school-zone speed camera tickets at five corners
  • 0 bus-lane camera tickets

People and homes

The 2020 Census counted 83,327 residents in Harlem (North), about 98,000 per square mile.

  • 39,553 homes, 2020 Census
  • 2,673 homes added since April 2010, net, by City Planning's count

Half of its 2,012 residential lots hold buildings from 1910 or earlier, and 89% of them date from before 1940, by the City's tax lot records.

NYCHA developments

NYCHA's Drew-Hamilton, Polo Grounds Towers, Rangel and Saint Nicholas developments lie wholly or partly within Harlem (North).

Parks and landmarks

Parkland
25.4 acres of NYC Parks property
The largest pieces
Brigadier General Charles Young Playground (6.6 acres), Holcombe Rucker Park (3 acres) and Frederick Johnson Playground (2.5 acres)
Designated landmarks
The Harlem River Houses; the Dunbar Apartments; the Abyssinian Baptist Church, Community House; and the Harlem YMCA, among others
Historic districts
Central Harlem – West 130th-132nd Streets and St. Nicholas, wholly or partly within Harlem (North)

Streets and trees

Trees
4,085 in NYC Parks' records, most often thornless honeylocust, London planetree and Callery pear
Street with the most corners
Frederick Douglass Boulevard, with 33 of the area's 128
Height above sea level
From 7 feet at 5th Avenue & West 143rd Street to 43 feet at St Nicholas Avenue & West 140th Street
Honorary street names
22 at its corners, enacted by local law

Schools and libraries

The City lists 28 schools and three libraries in Harlem (North).

Public schools
15
Charter and private schools
13
Libraries
Countee Cullen Library, Macomb's Bridge Library and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Bike share and public art

By the station list of October 3, 2026, 26 bike-share stations stand in Harlem (North). The City's public art inventory lists three works in the area: Frederick Johnson Memorial (1971), Tree of Hope III (1972) and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Mural (1992).

  • 26 bike-share stations
  • 3 works of public art

Public safety

How complaints are counted

In 2025 the NYPD recorded 1,215 major felonies at places in Harlem (North).

Recorded by the NYPD at places in Harlem (North)

  • 1,231 major felonies in 2024
  • 5,264 other felonies, misdemeanors and violations in 2025

In 2025, on the streets along the edge of Harlem (North), the NYPD recorded another 184 major felonies. Counting the streets along its edge, in 2025 the NYPD recorded 16.8 major felonies for every thousand residents the 2020 Census counted in Harlem (North).

Police precincts
32nd (most of the area), 28th
Major felonies recorded at places in Harlem (North), 2021 to 2025

From January to June 2026 the NYPD recorded 603 major felonies at places in Harlem (North), against 595 in the same months of 2025.

Sources: the NYPD's Complaint Data Historic, updated April 28, 2026, and Complaint Data Current (Year To Date), updated July 27, 2026, on NYC Open Data. Figures to June 30, 2026.

Street corners

How the figures above are measured: Methodology.