What city is home to the world's tallest residential building?

New York City is home to the world's tallest primarily residential building, Central Park Tower.

The skyscraper stands at 217 West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan, on the stretch of Billionaires' Row overlooking Central Park. It rises about 472.4 metres, or 1,550 feet, and was topped out in 2019 before completion in 2020. Its developer was Extell Development Company, with design by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.

The wording “residential building” matters. Dubai's Burj Khalifa is taller overall and contains residences, but it is a mixed-use tower rather than a primarily residential building. Central Park Tower is classified as residential because most of its floor area is devoted to homes, while its lower levels include retail space, including Nordstrom.

The tower is also a notable example of a New York pencil tower: extremely tall and narrow, made possible partly by transferred development rights and a cantilever over the neighboring Art Students League building. Its record is therefore about building use and classification, not simply total height.