Which city hosts the headquarters of the United Nations?

Which city hosts the headquarters of the United Nations? New York City. The UN headquarters occupies an international district in Turtle Bay, on Manhattan’s East Side, beside the East River. Its address is commonly given as 760 United Nations Plaza, New York, New York.

The complex includes the tall Secretariat Building, the General Assembly Building and the Conference Building. Construction began after the United States and New York helped provide a permanent site; the headquarters’ groundbreaking ceremony took place on September 14, 1948, and the main complex was completed in the early 1950s.

The headquarters is physically in the United States, but the site has a special international legal status under agreements with the U.S. government. That status is often described as extraterritorial, though it does not mean the grounds are outside all U.S. jurisdiction or that every visitor has diplomatic immunity.

New York is the UN’s principal headquarters, but it is not the location of every UN body. Major offices and agencies also operate in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi. UNESCO, for example, is headquartered in Paris, which explains a common quiz mix-up.