Zoning in Upper West Side, Manhattan

What is the Upper West Side zoned?

The Upper West Side is mostly R8B on its side streets: 1,859 of the 4,408 tax lots in the three 2020 Upper West Side NTAs (42%) are R8B, with R7-2, R10A and R8 next (PLUTO 26v2). R8B allows a standard residential FAR of 4.00 and a 75-foot maximum height, while R10A allows FAR 10.00 and up to 215 feet near wide streets (ZR 23-22, ZR 23-432). Check any Upper West Side address free on Zohgo.

The Upper West Side shows Manhattan's classic split between low-rise contextual midblocks and high-density districts along the avenues.

Tax lots

4,408PLUTO 26v2

Most common

R8B42% of lots

Commercial overlay

384lots (9%)

Median lot

2,248 sq ftlot area

Residence districts are the main district on 3,742 of the 4,408 lots (85%), and commercial districts on 646 (15%), mostly contextual ones such as C4-6A, C1-8A and C2-7A. Only 2 lots are in manufacturing districts. PLUTO shows 22 main districts in the Upper West Side-Lincoln Square, Upper West Side (Central) and Upper West Side-Manhattan Valley NTAs. Nearly every lot (4,400 of 4,408) is in Manhattan Community District 7, which matters for one commercial FAR rule below.

Zoning districts in Upper West Side by tax lot

Zoning district (zonedist1)	Tax lots	Share	Standard residential FAR	Max building height (standard)
R8B	1,859	42.2%	4.00	75 ft
R7-2	581	13.2%	3.44 (4.00 near wide st.)	75 ft (85 ft near wide st.)
R10A	546	12.4%	10.00	185 ft (215 ft near wide st.)
R8	505	11.5%	6.02 (7.20 near wide st.)	115 ft (135 ft near wide st.)
C4-6A	201	4.6%	commercial or manufacturing district
C1-8A	131	3.0%	commercial or manufacturing district
R8A	111	2.5%	6.02	125 ft
C2-7A	108	2.5%	commercial or manufacturing district
C4-7	95	2.2%	commercial or manufacturing district
R9A	66	1.5%	7.52	135 ft (145 ft near wide st.)
All other districts (12)	205	4.7%
Total	4,408	100%

Source: PLUTO 26v2, field zonedist1, lots inside the 2020 NTA boundary. "Standard" FAR and height are the ZR 23-21 / 23-22 and 23-42x limits for standard residences; affordable, senior and qualifying sites can go higher. Other districts: C1-9, R9, C2-8, R10, PARK, C6-2, C4-2F, C2-8A, C6-6, (none), M3-2, M1-4.

What the main districts allow

R8B (42%). FAR 4.00, or 4.80 for qualifying affordable or senior housing (ZR 23-22). Street wall base 55 to 65 feet and a maximum height of 75 feet; qualifying affordable or senior housing can go to an 85-foot base and 95-foot building (ZR 23-432).
R7-2 (13%). FAR 3.44, or 4.00 within 100 feet of a wide street, and 5.01 for qualifying affordable or senior housing. Maximum height 75 feet on narrow streets and 85 feet near wide streets.
R10A (12%). FAR 10.00, or 12.00 (ZR 23-22). Within 100 feet of a wide street: base 125 to 155 feet, maximum height 215 feet. Elsewhere: base 60 to 125 feet, maximum height 185 feet. Qualifying affordable or senior housing can reach 235 feet (ZR 23-432).
R8 (11%). FAR 6.02, or 7.20 within 100 feet of a wide street; 7.20 for qualifying affordable or senior housing, and 8.64 near wide streets for UAP developments or qualifying senior housing outside MIH areas (ZR 23-22). Maximum height 115 feet on narrow streets and 135 feet near wide streets.
Commercial districts (C4-6A, C1-8A, C2-7A, C4-7, C1-9, C2-8). In Community Board 7, R10-equivalent commercial districts without a letter suffix cannot exceed FAR 10.0 (ZR 33-12, paragraph (b)), and no floor area bonuses are permitted in contextual districts such as C1-8A, C2-7A and C4-6A (ZR 33-12, paragraph (a)). See our C4 guide.

Check your Upper West Side building's zoning

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Worked example: a brownstone lot vs an avenue site

Step	Calculation	Result
R8B lot	20 ft x 100 ft (median R8B lot in PLUTO: 2,043 sq ft, 20 ft wide)	2,000 sq ft
R8B standard floor area	2,000 x 4.00; 8,000 / 680 = 11.76 (ZR 23-52)	8,000 sq ft, 12 units
R8B qualifying affordable	2,000 x 4.80	9,600 sq ft
R8B height	base 55 to 65 ft, max 75 ft (ZR 23-432)
R10A site within 100 ft of a wide street	10,000 sq ft x 10.00; 100,000 / 680 = 147.06	100,000 sq ft, 147 units
R10A qualifying affordable	10,000 x 12.00	120,000 sq ft, up to 235 ft

Most Upper West Side brownstones are also in historic districts, so Landmarks approval can limit additions regardless of zoning capacity. The R10A site is hypothetical.

Commercial overlays

Commercial overlay (overlay1)	Tax lots	Share of all lots
C1-5	252	5.7%
C2-5	132	3.0%
Any overlay	384	8.7%

Only 384 lots (9%) carry a C1-5 or C2-5 overlay; much of the avenue frontage is in full commercial districts such as C4-6A and C1-8A, which are counted in the district table above. In R8B, R7-2, R8 and R10A, commercial-only floor area on an overlay lot is capped at FAR 2.00 (ZR 33-121, column A).

Special districts

Special Enhanced Commercial District 2 (376 lots) covers Amsterdam Avenue generally between West 73rd and West 110th Streets and Columbus Avenue generally between West 72nd and West 87th Streets (ZR 132-11). On lots at least 50 feet wide, at least two non-residential establishments are required for every 50 feet of frontage, and a ground floor establishment's street wall is capped at 40 feet wide, or 25 feet for banks and similar financial services (ZR 132-21).
Special Enhanced Commercial District 3 (200 lots) covers Broadway generally between West 72nd and West 110th Streets (ZR 132-11). The C4-7 streetscape rules apply there, and banks are capped at 25 feet of street wall (ZR 132-21).
Special Lincoln Square District (81 lots) is meant to protect the area as the home of a unique cultural and architectural complex for the performing arts (ZR 82-00).
Mandatory Inclusionary Housing applies to just 3 lots, from the 2018 West 108th Street WSFSSH rezoning (DCP MIH dataset). UAP is the City of Yes program that lets a development or enlargement outside a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing area exceed the standard FAR, but only by the amount of affordable housing it provides (ZR 27-111).

How we defined Upper West Side and counted lots

Boundary: the official 2020 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas Upper West Side-Lincoln Square (MN0701), Upper West Side (Central) (MN0702), Upper West Side-Manhattan Valley (MN0703), published by NYC City Planning on NYC Open Data. Real-estate listings often draw Upper West Side differently, so treat the edges as approximate.
Lots: every tax lot in PLUTO version 26v2 (pulled October 26, 2026) whose latitude and longitude fall inside that boundary, 4,408 lots in total. 9 more lots in the same census tracts had no coordinates in PLUTO and are not counted. A cross-check using PLUTO's 2020 census tract field gave almost the same count.
District: PLUTO's "zonedist1", which is the district covering the largest part of each lot. 393 lots are split by a district, overlay or special district boundary (PLUTO "splitzone"); each is counted once, under its main district. Special districts only appear in PLUTO when they cover at least 10% of a lot (PLUTO Data Dictionary).
Lot counts measure how many parcels are in a district, not land area. A large lot and a small one each count as one.

Upper West Side zoning FAQ

What is the most common zoning district on the Upper West Side?

R8B. In PLUTO 26v2, 1,859 of the 4,408 tax lots in the three 2020 Upper West Side NTAs (42%) have R8B as their main district.

How tall can a building be in R8B?

75 feet, with a street wall base between 55 and 65 feet. Qualifying affordable or senior housing can reach 95 feet with a base up to 85 feet (ZR 23-432).

What FAR does R10A allow?

10.00 for standard residences and 12.00 for qualifying affordable or senior housing (ZR 23-22).

What is the Special Enhanced Commercial District on the Upper West Side?

Districts 2 and 3 cover Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues (EC-2) and Broadway (EC-3) between roughly West 72nd and West 110th Streets (ZR 132-11). They require multiple storefronts and cap ground floor street wall widths, for example 40 feet per establishment in EC-2 and 25 feet for banks (ZR 132-21).

Is there a special commercial FAR rule in Community Board 7?

Yes. Within Manhattan Community Board 7, R10-equivalent commercial districts without a letter suffix may not exceed FAR 10.0 (ZR 33-12, paragraph (b)).

Sources

Lot counts are our own tabulation of PLUTO 26v2 inside the 2020 NTA boundary, pulled October 26, 2026. PLUTO is updated a few times a year, so counts will drift.

NYC Open Data: Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output (PLUTO), version 26v2, queried October 26, 2026: https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/64uk-42ks
NYC Open Data: 2020 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTAs): https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/9nt8-h7nd
NYC DCP: PLUTO Data Dictionary, August 2026 (26v2) (PDF): https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/dcp/assets/files/pdf/data-tools/bytes/pluto_datadictionary.pdf
NYC Open Data: Mandatory Inclusionary Housing areas (DCP): https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/m79g-k9r4
ZR 23-21: Floor area regulations for R1 through R5 Districts: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-21
ZR 23-22: Floor area regulations for R6 through R12 Districts: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-22
ZR 23-432: Height and setback requirements (R6-R12): https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-432
ZR 23-52: Maximum number of dwelling units: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-52
ZR 33-121: Commercial overlay (C1, C2) floor area ratios: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-iii/chapter-3/33-121
ZR 33-12: Maximum floor area ratio (commercial districts), incl. Community Board 7 rule: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-iii/chapter-3/33-12
ZR 132-11: Special Enhanced Commercial Districts specified: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-xiii/chapter-2/132-11
ZR 132-21: Special Enhanced Commercial Districts 2 and 3 rules: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-xiii/chapter-2/132-21
ZR 82-00: Special Lincoln Square District, general purposes: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-viii/chapter-2/82-00
ZR 27-111: Definitions, including "UAP development": https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-7/27-111