NYC Zoning

Zoning is a law that regulates how land is used.

It limits the size and use of buildings, where they go, and how dense neighborhoods are.

History

1916The nation’s first comprehensive zoning ordinance.Height and setback controls; homes, business and industry kept apart.
1961Today’s Resolution takes effect, December 15.Three district types: Residence, Commercial, Manufacturing.Parking required citywide for all uses.
1961 to 2024Limits on density and required parking hold back housing for decades.
2024City of Yes: a little more housing in every neighborhood.In some mapped areas, new homes need no parking at all.

Fast facts

About 75%Share of zoned land in residence districts.

Not zonedPublic parks.

NYC BuildingsThe agency that enforces zoning.

Sections

A plain-language summary of the Zoning Resolution (zr.planning.nyc.gov, October 2026) and NYC Planning pages. Not legal advice: overlays, special districts and exceptions change the numbers on many lots.

What can go there

Start with one lot. The first thing zoning decides is how the lot is used.

A use is any purpose a building or open land serves. Uses sort into ten Use Groups.

How much building

Next: how big can a building on the lot be? Zoning measures size in floor area: every floor added up.

FAR = floor area ÷ lot area

FAR caps total floor space, not shape.

Lot coverage is the share of the lot under the building, seen from above.

FAR Blocks

Example: FAR 2.0 on a 10,000 sf lot allows 20,000 sf, in one building or two.

Floor area: Every floor added up, measured to the outside of the walls. An attic with 8 ft of headroom counts.
Lot area: The area of the zoning lot: one lot of record, or adjoining lots on one block.

How tall and where on the lot

Floor area says how much. Height and setback rules say how tall and what shape. They keep light and air reaching windows, and give privacy.

Envelope

The envelope is the space a building must fit inside. The street wall rises to the base height, the building sets back, then it stops at the maximum height.

Yards

A yard is open from the ground to the sky along a lot line: front, side or rear.

Bulk

Bulk: The size and shape of buildings. FAR, height and yards are all bulk rules.

Districts

Use, floor area, height and yards change from place to place. The city is divided into districts, or zones, with similar rules in each.

Each district type is a bundle: its own mix of use, bulk and parking rules. Parking rules keep cars from being stored on the streets.

Three families: R for Residence, C for Commercial, M for Manufacturing.

Every district name has the same parts: the family letter, one or two numbers, sometimes a letter suffix.

R: Residence

12 basic residence districts, R1 to R12. Higher number, bigger buildings: the number sets density, building size and parking.

Housing types

R1, R2Single-family detached houses, low density.

R3A, R3X, R4A, R5AOne- or two-family detached houses.

R3-1, R4-1Detached or semi-detached houses.

R3-2, R4, R5 to R12All types of housing. Except R4B: one- and two-family only.

Every residence district also allows community facilities: schools, houses of worship, medical facilities.

C: Commercial

Eight commercial districts, C1 to C8.

More detail: C1 to C8 one by one

C1, C2Local shops for the blocks around them. Mapped widely.

C3Waterfront boating and fishing.

C4Regional shopping centers, like Main Street in Flushing.

C5, C6Central business districts, like Midtown and Downtown Brooklyn.

C7Amusements and job-heavy uses. No homes.

C8Auto repair and heavy service. No new homes.

Homes are allowed in every commercial district except C7 and C8.

A C1 or C2 can also be drawn over a residence district: a commercial overlay, with ground-floor shops under homes.

Homes there follow the size rules of a matching residence district. Example: C4-2 and C4-3 match R6 for homes.

M: Manufacturing

M1Light industry in enclosed buildings: a buffer next to homes. Generally no new homes.

M2Medium industry. No new homes.

M3Heavy industry. No new homes or community facilities.

More than factories: caterers, warehouses, film studios, ferry terminals, train yards and sanitation garages all sit in M districts.

Suffixes

A letter suffix, like the A in R10A, often marks a contextual district: one that keeps or sets a neighborhood’s building scale.

Decoder

Now read any district name, part by part.

District Decoder

The zoning map

District lines are drawn on the zoning maps. The maps are law, as much as the text.

Sample Zoning Map

Map key

R, C, M colors District families. The label names the district.

Heavy line A district boundary.

Hatched strip A commercial overlay: a C1 or C2 over homes, for ground-floor shops.

Dashed outline A special purpose district, laid over the districts below and changing their rules.

Park No district.

Layers

Map Layers

Look up a lot

Now find a real lot. ZoLa, NYC Planning’s Zoning and Land Use map, shows the zoning of any lot.

Illustrative panel, not a live lot lookup.

One more layer to check: the transit zone. Since December 5, 2024, it sets the parking new homes need. Level 2 explains the zones.

Open ZoLa Open the Zoning Resolution

After ZoLa

Decode the districtLetter, number, suffix. Check overlaysCommercial overlays, special districts. Size the buildingFloor area and height in the sandbox. Check the transit zoneInner, Outer or Beyond, for parking.

Then read the sections in the Zoning Resolution itself.

Level 1 check

Allowed, by permit, or not

Level 2 puts numbers and marks on each rule, starting with use. A use can be allowed outright, allowed by permit, or not allowed.

As-of-rightFollows the zoning rules. No approval beyond NYC Buildings.

Special permitThe City Planning Commission (CPC) or the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) modifies the rules for one project.

Use tables

The residence district rules set what is allowed for Use Groups I to VIII. The commercial district rules cover all ten.

In the Zoning Resolution’s use tables, each use gets one of these marks for each district. A use in a covered group can still be marked not allowed.

Allowed as-of-right.

As-of-right only in some places.

Special permit from the BSA or CPC.

Not allowed.

SSize limit.

PExtra conditions.

Parking

Next, parking in numbers. Since December 5, 2024, the parking new homes need depends on the transit zone.

Diagram, not a map. Appendix I is an area mapped in the Zoning Resolution. Inner: listed community districts inside it. Outer: the rest of Appendix I, plus blocks within ¼ or ½ mile of stations. Real lines are on ZoLa, NYC Planning’s Zoning and Land Use map.

The purpose: keep cars from being stored on the streets.

Parking calculator

Parking for New Homes

Transit zone

District

Standard homes

Income-restricted homes

Lot area (sf)

Selected districts. Shows the raw product before rounding. Not covered: senior homes, ancillary units, qualifying-site waivers, narrow lots, street-access exceptions.

Three zones

Inner Transit ZoneNone required for homes created after Dec. 5, 2024.

Outer Transit ZoneHomes × the district’s percentage. At or under the waiver number: none.

BeyondThe same math, with higher percentages.

More detail: small and narrow lots

Outer zone, R7-2, R7-3 and R8 to R12: waived on lots of 10,000 sf or less.

Beyond, district	10,000 sf or less	10,001 to 15,000 sf
R7-1, R7A, R7B, R7D, R7X	30%	usual %
R7-2, R7-3	waived	30%
R8 to R12	waived	20%

R3-1, R3A, R3X, R4-1, R4A, R4B and R5A: lots existing on Dec. 5, 2024 that are 25 ft wide or less need no parking.

FAR by district

Now that FAR and parking are clear, here is how much floor area each district allows.

Since 2024, most residence districts have two FARs: standard, and a higher one.

R3 to R5Higher FAR on a qualifying residential site.

R6 to R12Higher FAR for qualifying affordable or senior housing.

Qualifying residential site: An R3 to R5 lot of 5,000 sf or more in the Greater Transit Zone. It must front a wide street or the short end of a block.
Greater Transit Zone: The Inner and Outer Transit Zones plus special parking areas, mapped by NYC Planning. The zones are explained under Parking.
Qualifying affordable housing: A Mandatory Inclusionary Housing or Universal Affordability Preference development, or a building under an affordable housing regulatory agreement. More in City of Yes.

Commercial and manufacturing

Commercial-only FAR is the cap for a lot with only commercial uses, no homes. It runs from 0.50 to 15.00, from C3 to the densest C5, C6 and C7.

Manufacturing, without an A suffix: 1.00 (M1-1) to 10.00 (M1-6).

Air rights

Air rights are unused floor area: the maximum allowed minus what the existing building already has.

Open the building sandbox

Yards and coverage

Yards and lot coverage from Level 1, in numbers. They change with the district and the type of lot.

Lot Plan

Lot types

Plan of one block.

Corner lot: Where two or more streets meet. Every street side is a front.
Through lot: Runs between two opposite streets.
Interior lot: Everything else.

Front yards

Front yards shrink as density rises, to none in R6 to R12.

20 ft

R2, R3-1, R3-2

15 ft

R3A, R3X, R4, R5

10 ft

R4B, R5B, R5D

5 ft

R6 to R12

none

Side and rear yards

Side yardsDetached house: two, 8 ft each in R1, 5 ft elsewhere.R6 to R12 apartments: none. Any side open area: at least 5 ft.

Rear yardDetached, or lot 40 ft wide or more: 20 ft up to 75 ft high, 30 ft above.Semi-detached or attached on a lot under 40 ft wide: 30 ft.

Lot coverage

Lot coverage is the share of the lot under the building, seen from above.

HousesOne- and two-family, interior lot: 40% in R1 and R2, 50% in R3, 60% in R4 and R5. Corner lot: 80%.

Apartment buildings80% on an interior lot, 100% on a corner.

Open space

Open space is open to the sky and usable by everyone living on the lot.

Residence districts call for it wherever practicable.

Commercial districts require no front or side yards.

Height and setback

The envelope from Level 1, district by district: base, setback and maximum height in feet.

Envelope by district

Envelope

Within the Greater Transit Zone

Model: a 50 × 100 ft interior lot, without short-block-end frontage.

Wide and narrow streets

Wide street75 ft or more. Setback above the base: at least 10 ft.

Narrow streetUnder 75 ft. Setback above the base: at least 15 ft.

Qualifying affordable or senior housing gets a taller base and maximum height.

Towers, pitched roofs and the line-up rule: Towers and special shapes.

Building sandbox

Put floor area, yards and the envelope together on one lot.

Building Sandbox

Within the Greater Transit Zone District

Lot width

Lot depth

The sandbox stacks 10 ft floors from the ground up until the floor area runs out or the envelope stops it.

Simplified: one interior lot on one street. No courts, towers, bonuses, special districts or overlays.

Changing zoning

So far, the rules as written. They can also be changed, or modified for one project.

Ways to build

Variances

The Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) grants a variance only if it can make every required finding.

The first: unique physical conditions of the lot, like irregular shape, narrowness or topography.

Rezonings

Private citizens, city agencies or elected officials can propose one. After a rezoning, new permits follow the new rules.

Overlapping laws

When zoning and another law overlap, the more restrictive rule governs.

Level 2 check

City of Yes

Level 3 starts with the 2024 changes behind the second FAR and the transit zones in Level 2.

Before and After

City of Yes for Housing Opportunity: a text amendment adopted December 5, 2024. Its aim: a little more housing in every neighborhood.

Expected: 82,000 homes over 15 years.

What changed

Affordable housingR6 to R12 get a second, higher FAR for qualifying affordable or senior housing.

Backyard homesOne ancillary dwelling unit (ADU), up to 800 sf, per one- or two-family house.

Apartments near transitR3 to R5 qualifying residential sites get more FAR and height.

ParkingNone in the Inner Transit Zone; less elsewhere.

Terms

Qualifying residential site: In R3 to R5: a lot of 5,000 sf or more in the Greater Transit Zone. On a wide street or the short end of a block.
Greater Transit Zone: The Inner and Outer Transit Zones plus the special parking areas, mapped on ZoLa.
UAP: Universal Affordability Preference: at least 20% more housing when the extra homes are permanently affordable.

More detail: affordable housing terms

Qualifying affordable housing: MIH developments in Mandatory Inclusionary Housing areas, UAP developments, or buildings under an affordable housing regulatory agreement.

Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH): income-restricted homes required when sites are upzoned or gain new development rights.

R11, R11A and R12 can only be mapped in MIH areas.

Other parts of City of Yes: ancillary dwelling units (NYC Planning calls them accessory), conversions, town center zoning, transit-oriented development, campuses, small and shared housing.

Overlays and special districts

The hatched strip and the dashed outline from the map key, in detail.

Elevation, not to scale.

Commercial overlays

A commercial overlay is a C1 or C2 drawn over a residence district: homes with ground-floor shops, sometimes two floors of shops.

The residence district underneath sets the maximum floor area.

A lot with only commercial uses has its own cap: 1.00 to 1.60 FAR in R1 to R3, 2.00 in R4 and denser.

Special purpose districts

Each sits on top of the districts below and adds to or changes their rules.

The City Planning Commission has mapped them since 1969 for areas with unique conditions. §11-122 lists 59.

Midtown

Lower Manhattan

Hudson Yards

Little Italy

Coney Island

City Island

Coastal Risk

Hillsides Preservation

Natural Area

Park Improvement

Hudson River Park

Show all 59

Suffix rule

A rule for R4 also covers R4-1, R4A and R4B, unless the section says otherwise.

A rule naming only C4-6A does not cover C4-6.

Towers and special shapes

Some districts swap the plain envelope for other shapes.

Tower coverage above the base, drawn as a share of the lot. Sketch, not to scale.

Towers

In R9 to R12 (not R9A, R9X, R10A or R11A), a tower can replace the height limit.

Above the base: 65% of the lot up to 300 ft, 50% above that.

Pitched-roof houses

Side views, street on the left, heights to scale. The pigeon has the best seat at 35 ft.

Houses in R1 to R4 (not R4B) and R5A: walls to 25 ft, ridge at 35 ft.

R4B tops out at 25 ft. R5: base up to 35 ft, top at 45 ft.

Line-up rule

Plan. The yellow band runs from the closer neighbor wall to the farther one.

In R6B, R7B and R8B, the street wall lines up between its neighbors’ walls.

Commercial districts

Non-contextualA sloping sky exposure plane, or tower rules at the highest densities.

ContextualA set base height and a set maximum height.

Community facilities

One Use Group gets its own size rules.

Use Group III: schools, houses of worship, health and other essential services. Allowed in every residence district.

They serve nearby residents and work best in a residential setting.

Their own bulk rules

A community facility building, or that part of a mixed building, follows Article II, Chapter 4.

In some districts that means more floor area than housing, for medical centers or schools.

Where homes are mostly one- and two-family, some facilities are banned or size-limited.

Parks and the City Map

One kind of land has no district at all.

District lines stop at the park.

Parks are not zoned

District designations do not apply to public parks.

Two exceptions: a Special Natural Area District on a park (§105-91), and a special floor-area rule in §62-361.

A public park is any publicly owned park, playground, beach, parkway or roadway under the Parks Commissioner.

Not included: park strips and malls in streets the Commissioner does not control.

If a park is given up

Natural areas in parks

In a Special Natural Area District on parkland, natural features existing on December 19, 1974 stay unless the CPC authorizes a change.

A park as a wide street

In commercial districts, a park of 1 to 15 acres counts as a wide street for the front height and setback of buildings next to it.

Not if the park is more than 75% paved.

The City Map

A zoning “street” starts as a way established on the City Map.

Where the City Map shows a street setback line, the yard runs along that line.

The Charter side of parks and mapping: NYC Parks: Rules and Charter.

Trees and planting

Last: what zoning asks to be planted.

Street trees

Street Tree Count

One tree per 25 ft of street frontage. A half tree or more rounds up.
NYC Parks sets the species and caliper and the planting standards.
Where Parks finds a tree infeasible, a rain garden built to Department of Environmental Protection standards can stand in.
Planting strip along the curb: fully planted with grass or groundcover.
In commercial districts: required for new developments and for additions of 20% or more floor area.

Parking lot landscaping

Applies to open lots with 18 or more spaces, or over 6,000 sf, in the cases §25-66 lists.

Parking Lot Planting

Section through the perimeter strip. Runoff from the lot drains in. The rule says ponding “must drain in at least 24 hours.”

Perimeter strip at the street line: at least 7 ft wide.
Soil at least 2 ft 6 in. deep, over filter fabric and 1 ft of gravel.
The lot drains into the planted areas. 6 in. to 1 ft of ponding, which “must drain in at least 24 hours.”

Inside the lot

One tree per 8 spaces, 3 in. caliper, in an island of at least 150 sf.
No more than 15 spaces between islands.

Level 3 check

Quiz

FAR Duel

Flashcards

Questions

Glossary

Sources

Each Source label opens a quote checked word for word against the source, with a link to it.

Not covered

Each special purpose district’s own rules
Use Group tables district by district
Waterfront, flood zone and landmark rules
Rounding rules for parking and street trees beyond what is quoted
ULURP steps and timelines
Inclusionary housing program rules beyond the definitions quoted
Courts, bonuses, existing-lot waivers and narrow-street sites on short block ends