Home > Your Personal Side > City Guides > New York > Neighborhoods

Upper East Side

Photo Credit: MagazineUSA.com

Often referred to as the Gold Coast, the Upper East Side arguably is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country. In fact, its southernmost zip code, 10021, contains the largest concentration of wealth in America, most of it the old money variety. In contrast to the Upper West Side’s more creative crowd, this neighborhood’s inhabitants are, for the most part, fairly conservative.

Not only does the Upper East Side have luxurious mansions, apartment buildings, townhouses, condos, walk-ups, and elegant prewar co-ops, it has excellent private schools and some of the best shopping in the world. And there are so many museums on Fifth Avenue—including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim—it’s also known as Museum Mile.

Atmosphere is everything in this neighborhood and its residents have taken great care to keep things beautiful. There’s a large resident-funded budget just for the maintenance of the numerous flowerbeds and for decorating the area with lights during the holidays. There also are community groups who work to preserve the area’s architectural integrity. Aiding in that process is its historic-district designation, which helps restrict new development. And it doesn’t hurt that Central Park runs along the area’s western edge. The close proximity to the park, and its attendant views, is part of the neighborhood’s cachet.

Healthcare facilities on the Upper East Side:

Hospital for Special Surgery
Lenox Hill Hospital
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Metropolitan Hospital Center
Mount Sinai Medical Center
Rockefeller University Hospital
Weill Cornell Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian
Weill Cornell Medical Center