For the latest edition of his FYI series, Michael Pollak of the New York Times did some impressive calculations to determine approximately how many windows in buildings there are in New York’s most densely populated borough.
The answer: 10.7 million.
To get there, Pollak’s assumes there are 47,000 buildings in Manhattan, which he explains is accurate “give or take a hundred or two, depending on the reference source.” He then considers Census Bureau data which shows the island is home to about 850,000 housing units and about 2.2 million daily workers, including commuters and working Manhattanites. Taking into consideration all housing forms, Pollack puts the average number of windows per residential unit at 10, while “generously” allotting each daily worker one window. So… 850,000 x 10 + 2.2 million = 10.7 million. Simple.
Except for the fact that Pollak comes up with a very different number using another calculation method, which you can read all about in the New York Times here.
