Morningside Heights

Neighborhood · Manhattan

Between Morningside Park and Riverside Drive, Morningside Heights runs from 110th to 125th Street, with Central Harlem to the east.

  • 0.57 square miles
  • 38,865 residents, 2020 Census
  • 72 street corners
  • 4 subway stations
  • 11 bus routes

The Battle of Harlem Heights was fought here on September 16, 1776, with the heaviest fighting in a wheat field where Barnard College now stands. Columbia, chartered in 1754 as King's College, moved here in the late 1890s; the Cathedral of St. John the Divine opened its first section in 1911, and Riverside Church and the Jewish Theological Seminary's buildings were completed in 1930. Grant's Tomb, on Riverside Drive at 122nd Street, holds Ulysses S. Grant and his wife, Julia, and is the largest mausoleum in North America.

Sources: Morningside Heights, Manhattan (Wikipedia); Our History (Columbia University); General Grant National Memorial (National Park Service).

Map

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Morningside Heights borders three areas, and Amsterdam Avenue and Riverside Drive hold more of its corners than any other street, 13 each of 72.

Street map of Morningside Heights, Manhattan, outlined among Harlem (South), Manhattanville-West Harlem and Upper West Side-Manhattan Valley, with its four subway stations and Riverside Park.Manhattanville-West HarlemHarlem (South)Upper West Side-Manhattan Valley
  • Morningside Heights
  • 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

  • 125 St lines 1
  • 125 St lines A B C D accessible
  • 116 St-Columbia University lines 1
  • Cathedral Pkwy (110 St) lines 1

Getting around

Four subway stations and buses on 11 routes stop in or at the edge of Morningside Heights.

  • 4 subway stations
  • 1 of them listed by the MTA as fully accessible
  • 11 local bus routes

Local bus routes

  • M3
  • M4
  • M5
  • M7
  • M11
  • M60-SBS
  • M100
  • M101
  • M104
  • M116
  • M125

Safety record

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

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

Signal or safety changes on City record, at 40 of its corners

Leading pedestrian intervals
22
Accessible pedestrian signals
22
Enhanced crossings
5
Barnes Dance all-way crossings
4
Safety Improvement Projects
3
Turn calming
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
  • 6,795 school-zone speed camera tickets at three corners
  • 0 bus-lane camera tickets
Most speed tickets
Broadway & West 120th Street, 4,522

People and homes

The 2020 Census counted 38,865 residents in Morningside Heights, about 68,200 per square mile.

  • 15,046 homes, 2020 Census
  • 1,609 homes added since April 2010, net, by City Planning's count

Half of its 326 residential lots hold buildings from 1910 or earlier, and 91% of them date from before 1940, by the City's tax lot records.

NYCHA development

NYCHA's Grant development lies wholly or partly within Morningside Heights.

Parks and landmarks

Parkland
101.2 acres of NYC Parks property
The largest pieces
Riverside Park (66.7 acres), Morningside Park (30.5 acres) and Sakura Park (2.1 acres)
Designated landmarks
The Casa Italiana; the Eglise de Notre Dame; the Croton Aqueduct, West 119th Street Gatehouse; and the Rectory of the Eglise de Notre Dame, among others
Historic district
Morningside Heights Historic District, wholly or partly within Morningside Heights

Streets and trees

Trees
3,972 in NYC Parks' records, most often London planetree, American elm and maidenhair tree
Street with the most corners
Amsterdam Avenue, with 13 of the area's 72
Height above sea level
From 6 feet at Marginal Street & Henry Hudson Parkway to 139 feet at Amsterdam Avenue & West 116th Street
Honorary street names
7 at its corners, enacted by local law

Schools and libraries

The City lists eight schools and two libraries in Morningside Heights.

Public schools
3
Charter and private schools
5
Libraries
George Bruce Library and Morningside Heights Library

Bike share and public art

By the station list of October 3, 2026, 11 bike-share stations stand in Morningside Heights. The City's public art inventory lists seven works in the area, among them Woman's Health Protective Association (1910), Carl Schurz Memorial (1913) and Bear and Faun (1914).

  • 11 bike-share stations
  • 7 works of public art

Public safety

How complaints are counted

In 2025 the NYPD recorded 367 major felonies at places in Morningside Heights.

Recorded by the NYPD at places in Morningside Heights

  • 393 major felonies in 2024
  • 956 other felonies, misdemeanors and violations in 2025

In 2025, on the streets along the edge of Morningside Heights, the NYPD recorded another 156 major felonies. Counting the streets along its edge, in 2025 the NYPD recorded 13.5 major felonies for every thousand residents the 2020 Census counted in Morningside Heights.

Police precinct
26th
Major felonies recorded at places in Morningside Heights, 2021 to 2025

From January to June 2026 the NYPD recorded 150 major felonies at places in Morningside Heights, against 166 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.