Yields across 59 ZIPs in Manhattan (New York County) range from 5.1% at the top end down to under 2% in the most expensive prime addresses, against a borough median of 2.9%. That spread is wider than almost any adjustment an operator can make through financing or management, which means where you buy matters far more than how you finance or manage the unit. This ranking shows which ZIPs lead on long-term rental yield and why the pattern exists in a market where short-term rentals are effectively banned.
A quick note on strategy before the numbers: NYC Local Law 18 (2023) prohibits most entire-home rentals under 30 days and requires hosts to register, be present during stays, and cap occupancy at two guests. In practical terms, the short-term rental route is closed for investment buyers in Manhattan. Every yield figure below is long-term rental only. That is also why this article focuses on long-term rental returns and capital-growth potential rather than the short-term-vs-long-term comparison used in more permissive markets.
Hamilton Heights (10031) Leads Manhattan at 5.1%, Nearly Double the Borough Median
Gross yields = annual rent / sale price. Based on 3-bed house medians (which in Manhattan includes brownstones, townhouses, and condos meeting that bedroom count). Short-term rental yields are not shown because entire-home stays under 30 days are prohibited under NYC Local Law 18. The dashboard shows every property type and bedroom count.
Warning: short-term rental data is excluded throughout this article. NYC Local Law 18 effectively bans entire-home rentals under 30 days across all Manhattan ZIPs, so any short-term yield figure would be misleading. Investors relying on that strategy should look outside Manhattan or focus on 30+ day corporate lets.
Why the Top ZIPs Lead: Commercial Midtown Pockets With Unusual Price-to-Rent Math
Hamilton Heights (10031) tops the list because its median 3-bed house price of about $794,000 is extraordinarily low for Manhattan, while achievable rent of about $3,400 per month still reflects the surrounding neighborhood's demand. This ZIP sits in Upper Manhattan, a pocket where residential inventory is thin, property-type mix skews toward older walk-ups and converted lofts, and the sale-price median is pulled down by the specific units that trade. Rent, which is set by the wider midtown labor market and the thousands of workers who commute there daily, does not fall in proportion. The result is an arithmetic yield that would be unreachable in prime residential Manhattan.
Midtown East (10022) and Midtown East (10017) follow similar logic. Both sit in dense commercial-residential mixed-use corridors where the price medians are held down by older inventory and smaller-footprint product, while demand from corporate tenants, relocators, and young professionals keeps rents at about $5,500 and about $5,200 respectively. These ZIPs tend to lease quickly because they are walking distance to Grand Central, Rockefeller Center, and the Park Avenue spine of corporate headquarters. For a long-term rental investor, this means low vacancy and predictable cash flow, two attributes that matter more than headline yield over a 10-year hold.
One caveat worth stating plainly: Manhattan ZIP-level medians are more volatile than suburban data because the sale counts per ZIP per year can be small, and a handful of unusual transactions can swing the median. Treat the ranking as a directional guide to where yield concentrates, not a buy signal for any one building. The dashboard's ZIP-level detail page shows the full distribution so you can see whether a median is drawn from 5 sales or 50.
The yield-price trade-off is steep in Manhattan
An investor entering at about $794,000 in Hamilton Heights (10031) versus the borough median of about $1.37m faces an entirely different capital-risk profile. At the top of the yield ranking, you are buying a smaller check into a commercial-adjacent pocket where price appreciation has historically trailed prime residential Manhattan. At the borough median, you are paying roughly twice the entry price for a property that may grow faster but will throw off rent-to-price ratios closer to 3%. The prime end of the market, with sales up to about $4.76m in trophy addresses, yields under 2% on a good day.
This inverse relationship between price and yield is sharper in Manhattan than in almost any other US market because the borough's buyers include pied-a-terre purchasers, foreign capital, and trust accounts that are not underwriting to rental income at all. When a material share of the buyer pool ignores rent entirely, prices decouple from yields and the spread between high-yield and low-yield ZIPs widens. The investor who underwrites to rent is not competing for the same units as the investor who underwrites to capital preservation.
Premium Manhattan Addresses: The Appreciation Play
For context, here is how some of Manhattan's most in-demand ZIPs compare. These are established prime addresses where investors typically accept lower long-term rental yields in exchange for capital growth, liquidity, and the kind of tenant quality that keeps properties in good condition.
High-rent premium ZIPs for context. Same methodology as the yield ranking above. Short-term rental yields omitted because of the citywide under-30-day ban.
These premium ZIPs yield less on long-term rental because buyers pay for location quality, building prestige, and the implicit bet that land values in prime Manhattan will compound over decades. Rents at about $8,600 and above look impressive until you divide them by sale prices above about $3.20m, at which point the yield collapses. The investment thesis here is not cash flow. It is owning a durable asset in a supply-constrained global city, with rent covering a meaningful share of the carrying cost while capital compounds.
What the Table Doesn't Show
A high yield can mean depressed prices rather than strong rents. Several of the top-yielding Manhattan ZIPs rank that way because their sale-price medians are pulled down by unusual inventory (older walk-ups, commercial-conversion lofts, small-footprint condos). Rent is set by the surrounding labor market, which is stronger than the micro-location of any one building. That gap is real and exploitable, but it is not the same as finding a neighborhood with genuinely strong rent growth. The dashboard's time-series view shows which ZIPs have rent trending up versus sideways.
The table also does not show vacancy risk, capital growth trajectory, or property-tax variation by building class. Manhattan's effective property tax rate of roughly 0.8% looks low nationally but masks enormous building-by-building variation driven by co-op versus condo tax treatment, 421-a abatements, and assessment lag. Two units in the same ZIP with identical rents can have annual tax bills that differ by 50%. This is one of several reasons the article's ZIP-median view is a starting point, not an endpoint.
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Manhattan Yields Trail the NY State and National Medians, but the Appreciation Story Is Different
The borough's 2.9% median sits well below the NY state median of 5.3% and the national median of 5.3%, and even the top-yielding Manhattan ZIPs at 5.1% fall short of the national average. Investors who buy Manhattan on income math alone are almost always making a mistake. The historical case for Manhattan has rested on capital growth, currency-hedged wealth preservation, and access to a tenant pool that pays premium rents reliably. For pure yield hunters, permissive upstate NY markets with long-term rental yields above 10% and no short-term rental ban offer a fundamentally different risk-return profile, and they show up clearly on the dashboard when you filter by yield.
For investors committed to Manhattan, the suburb ranking matters precisely because it separates the yield-focused play from the appreciation-focused play. The top of the list is a cash-flow thesis in commercial-adjacent pockets. The premium table is a capital-preservation thesis in prime addresses. Choosing between them is the real decision, and it has nothing to do with picking a single "best" ZIP.
The market score methodology and data sources pages explain how rent and sale medians are constructed and why yields vary. For a comparison to other constrained US markets, Queens Long-Term Rentals Yield 3.6%, Short-Term Rentals Banned covers similar dynamics, and Long Island Nets Under on Rentals: Appreciation Must Do the Heavy Lifting offers a contrast in a more permissive jurisdiction.
Data reflects market conditions as of June 2026.
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This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.
Methodology and Assumptions
Defaults used in the figures above. All inputs are adjustable in the dashboard.
How available nights are determined
Available nights default to 330 per year, reflecting an active operator with minimal blocked time. Where local regulations cap whole-home short-term lets (for example New York City 30-day minimum stays and San Francisco un-hosted 90-night caps), the cap is applied. In markets where short-term rental requires owner-occupancy or is otherwise prohibited for investment properties, available nights drop to zero.
How occupancy is measured
The percentage of available nights that get booked, drawn from market data. A property listed for 200 nights with 100 bookings shows 50% occupancy. Adjustable in the dashboard.
Long-term rental management default
Defaults to self-managed (zero management fee), reflecting the most common arrangement for US individual investors. The dashboard slider lets you add a property manager fee if you plan to outsource.
Short-term rental management default
Set to self-managed (zero management fee) by default, the most common arrangement for individual investors. Hiring a professional manager typically costs around 20% of gross revenue and reduces net yield proportionally. Toggle in the dashboard.
How property tax is calculated
Calculated as a percentage of property value, varying by state and county. California properties show lower effective rates due to Proposition 13's 1% cap on assessed value. Property tax sits with the owner; long-term tenants do not pay it.
Local regulations
Check state, county, and HOA rules before investing; these change frequently. The regulations summary in this article reflects the latest data we hold. Always verify the live position with the local authority.
Sampling and data sources
Short-term rental yield figures reflect properties currently listed on short-term rental platforms. In high-tourism markets, listings tend to concentrate in central postcodes, which can pull city-median yields above what residential areas of the same city would achieve. Yields for any specific suburb may differ significantly from the city-wide median.
For metric definitions and broader methodology, see the About page.