Chinatown

The Lay Of The Land

Chinatown occupies the blocks around Canal, Mott, and East Broadway, a dense and long-established neighborhood that has expanded over the decades into the edges of Little Italy and the Lower East Side. Its streets are among the busiest at ground level in the entire city, lined with markets, restaurants, and shops, and its buildings are tightly packed tenements that rarely rise above six stories. The energy here is constant and distinctly its own.

The housing is overwhelmingly prewar walk-up. Narrow tenement buildings hold compact apartments, many in original or lightly renovated condition, with railroad layouts and ground-floor commerce below. Elevators, doormen, and outdoor space are rare, and the trade for that is some of the more attainable rents in Lower Manhattan.

Transit is among the deepest downtown. The 6 stops at Canal, the N, Q, R, and W and the J and Z meet nearby, the B and D run under Grand, and the F is a short walk east, so the station cluster around Canal Street reaches most of the system. Little of the city is hard to get to from here.

The markets, the restaurants, and the parks at Columbus and Sara D. Roosevelt give the neighborhood its texture, with the rest of Manhattan and Brooklyn both a short walk or ride away. Chinatown suits someone who wants to be at the center of downtown at a lower rent, who values walkability and street life and does not need a doorman building or much space.

Asking rents among listings active on Sidewalk, updated September 27.

• Metrograph★ 4.6 (1,530) · Movie Theater7 Ludlow StWebsite
  350 ft away
• Shu Jiao Fu Zhou★ 4.6 (3,258) · Chinese Restaurant295 Grand StWebsite
  0.1 mi away
• Golden Diner★ 4.4 (3,275) · Diner123 Madison StWebsite
  0.2 mi away
• Double Chicken Please★ 4.4 (2,476)115 Allen StWebsite
  0.3 mi away
• Mei Lai Wah★ 4.4 (4,142) · Chinese Restaurant41 Mott StWebsite
  0.3 mi away
• Thai Diner★ 4.4 (3,088) · Thai Restaurant186 Mott StWebsite
  0.4 mi away

• 10 Rutgers10 Rutgers Street
• The Artissima282 Grand Street
• 19 Eldridge Street
• 37 Orchard Street
• 120 Madison Street
• 45 Orchard Street
• 32 Rutgers Street
• 207 Madison Street
• 100 Forsyth Street
• 102 Forsyth Street
• 29 Orchard Street

Live Listings In Chinatown

• 
  282 Grand Street · 601

  1.0 bed · 1.0 bath

  $5,295/mo
• 
  207 Madison Street · 3

  2.0 bed · 1.0 bath

  $4,240/mo
• 
  102 Forsyth Street · 11

  1.0 bed · 1.0 bath

  $4,500/mo