Sources & Data

As of the latest 2021 data cited on the NYC Urban Forest Plan website, tree canopy covers 23.4% of New York City. The earlier 2015-2016 TreesCount! census placed it at 22%, and the USDA Forest Service 2018 i-Tree analysis (NRS-117) measured 21%. The Urban Forest Plan notes a 1.2% total increase from 2017-2021 across parkland (+2.3%) and streets (+2.1%). The 30% goal was codified in Local Law 148 of 2023, with a target date of 2035 per PlaNYC. Trees Count 2025 is underway and will produce a new official figure.

The $260 million annual benefit figure is cited on the NYC Urban Forest Plan website and attributed to the USDA Forest Service i-Tree analysis (Resource Bulletin NRS-117, Nowak et al. 2018). It encompasses all 7+ million trees across public and private land citywide, including $78M in annual air pollution removal (1,100 tons), energy savings equivalent to 8,000 homes, and reduction of stormwater runoff by 69 million cubic feet per year. The 2015-2016 TreesCount census separately valued street trees at $151.2M annually.

The NYC Urban Forest Plan states urban trees can cool city streets up to 2 degrees F, while forested natural areas are on average 6 degrees F cooler than surrounding neighborhoods. NYC Parks press releases from the Cool Neighborhoods program cite "up to 6 degrees" for air temperature reduction. Surface temperature reductions are much larger (20-45 degrees F per federal EPA data cited in Cool Neighborhoods NYC).

No formal vacant planting site inventory has been published by NYC Parks. The agency had a backlog of 42,000+ individual tree requests as of late 2024, but this reflects citizen demand, not a GIS-verified count. In April 2025, NYC Parks discontinued individual tree requests in favor of the Neighborhood Tree Planting Program (9-year cyclical block-by-block approach). NYC Open Data's Forestry Planting Spaces dataset shows approximately 31,588 empty street-level spaces (PSStatus=Empty with PlantingSpaceOnStreet designation).

Aggregated from 6,628 Census block groups. 23 priority areas (TES < 60).

Mean difference between current canopy coverage and recommended goal across all block groups.

Calculated by applying USDA Forest Service rate constants to canopy area data from American Forests. Carbon uses 0.28 kg C/m²/yr (Nowak et al., 2013); stormwater uses 7.3 gal/m²/yr. Tools like i-Tree Eco and Tree Equity Score use local models that account for precipitation, species, and leaf area, so their figures will differ. These estimates are designed for consistent comparison across cities, not as a replacement for a site-specific tree inventory.