Which city is the main setting of Holden's wanderings after he leaves school?

New York City is the main setting of Holden's wanderings after he leaves school.

After being expelled from Pencey Preparatory Academy in Pennsylvania, Holden travels to New York ahead of his scheduled return home. He stays at the Edmont Hotel, visits nightclubs and bars, meets acquaintances, and moves through the city while delaying the moment when he must tell his parents about his expulsion.

The city is more than a backdrop. Holden's encounters there expose his loneliness, his fascination with adulthood, and his tendency to judge the people around him as “phony.” Important locations include the Central Park Zoo, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grand Central Terminal, and the carousel in Central Park, where the closing scenes take place.

A common mix-up is identifying Pencey as the main setting. Pencey begins the story, but it is a fictional boarding school in Pennsylvania. Holden's central series of adventures unfolds in Manhattan, where the novel's compressed, wandering structure gives the city an almost character-like presence.