How Tall Is the Empire State Building? Height & Facts in Feet

The Empire State Building is 1,454 feet tall including its spire, with 102 floors — the world’s tallest building for 40 years and still an icon of the New York skyline. The roof sits at 1,250 feet, the mooring mast and spire add 204 feet, and two observatories draw millions of visitors a year. Completed in 1931 in just 13 months, it remains the standard against which every skyscraper since has been measured.

Skyscraper height has three common measures — roof, architectural top, and tip — and the Empire State Building’s ranking shifts with each. Its 1,454-foot architectural height held the world title from 1931 to 1971; its 1,250-foot roof was the highest occupiable point for decades. This guide breaks down every height, explains the famous mooring mast, and shows where the grand old tower stands among today’s giants.

Empire State Building Height Breakdown

Section	Height	In meters	Notes
Architectural top (spire tip)	1,454 ft	443.2 m	Official height
Roof	1,250 ft	381 m	Top of the setback tower
Mooring mast + spire	204 ft	62 m	Added above the roof
102nd-floor observatory	1,224 ft	373 m	Enclosed, highest public
86th-floor observatory	1,050 ft	320 m	Open-air main deck
Antenna (tip, not counted)	1,454 ft	443.2 m	Broadcast antennas

New York’s Tallest Compared

#	Building	Height	Floors	Notes
1	One World Trade Center	1,776 ft	104	Spire-aided; symbolic 1776
2	Central Park Tower	1,550 ft	98	Tallest residential building
3	111 West 57th Street	1,428 ft	84	Slender supertall
4	Empire State Building	1,454 ft	102	1931 icon
5	Bank of America Tower	1,200 ft	55	Spire to 1,200 ft
6	Chrysler Building	1,046 ft	77	1930 rival, spire trick
7	30 Hudson Yards	1,270 ft	73	Observation deck Edge
8	Woolworth Building	792 ft	57	1913 former record holder

Empire State Building in Everyday Context

#	Comparison	Size	Context
9	Burj Khalifa	2,717 ft	Empire State is 54% of Burj
10	Eiffel Tower	1,083 ft	Empire State is 371 ft taller
11	Football field	360 ft	Building equals 4 fields stacked
12	Statue of Liberty (ground to torch)	305 ft	Empire State is 4.8× taller
13	Elevator ride to 86th floor	~60 seconds	1,050 ft in a minute
14	Steps to the top	1,860 steps	Annual Run-Up race
15	Windows	6,514 windows	Cleaned on rotation

1. The 1,454-Foot Architectural Height

The Empire State Building’s official height of 1,454 feet is measured to the tip of its spire — the architectural top. This is the number on the record books, the one that held the world’s-tallest title from 1931 until the World Trade Center’s North Tower surpassed it in 1971. The 204 feet above the 1,250-foot roof is all mooring mast and spire, a distinction that mattered enormously in the 1930 race with the Chrysler Building. Without the spire, the roof alone would still have been a record in 1931 — the mast was ambition, not necessity.

2. The 1,250-Foot Roof

The roof of the Empire State Building sits at 1,250 feet — the top of the occupied tower before the mast begins. For decades this was the highest roof on earth, and it remains one of the most famous rooftops in architecture. The setbacks that create the building’s wedding-cake profile are not just decorative: 1916 zoning laws required them to let light reach the street, and they give the tower its iconic silhouette. Standing on the 1,250-foot roof level (restricted access), Manhattan spreads in every direction with the other boroughs beyond.

3. The Mooring Mast: 204 Feet of Ambition

The 204-foot mooring mast was originally designed for docking dirigibles — airships were expected to moor at the tower’s peak and disgorge passengers onto the 102nd floor. A 1931 test with a small blimp proved the winds too violent, and the mast became an observatory and broadcast antenna instead. The dirigible dream lasted barely a year, but the mast secured the height record and gave the building its needle-like crown. It is a monument to an alternate future that never arrived — and the reason the official height reads 1,454 rather than 1,250.

4. The 102nd-Floor Observatory: 1,224 Feet

The enclosed 102nd-floor observatory sits at 1,224 feet — the highest public vantage point in the building and, at opening, the highest in the world. Smaller and quieter than the main deck, it offers floor-to-ceiling views through glass on all four sides. On clear days the visibility stretches 80 miles to five states. The 102nd floor was the dirigible passengers’ planned arrival point; today it is the premium ticket, the place visitors go to stand at the very crown of the 1931 dream.

5. The 86th-Floor Observatory: 1,050 Feet

The open-air 86th-floor observatory at 1,050 feet is the main deck — the one in the movies, the proposals, the postcards. Its wraparound promenade has hosted over 100 million visitors, more than any observatory on earth. The deck’s binoculars, art-deco railings, and unobstructed 360-degree views made it the definitive New York experience for generations. At 1,050 feet, the street noise vanishes and the city’s grid resolves into pattern — the moment every visitor remembers.

6. The Race with the Chrysler Building

The Empire State Building’s height was a weapon in the 1929–1930 race with the Chrysler Building. Chrysler’s builders secretly assembled a 125-foot spire inside the tower and raised it at the last moment, claiming 1,046 feet and the record. The Empire State’s developers responded by adding the mooring mast, pushing to 1,454 feet — a lead of 408 feet that settled the matter decisively. The spire trick and counter-spire remain the most famous episode in skyscraper history, and the reason height rules now distinguish spires from antennas.

7. Built in 13 Months

The Empire State Building rose in just 13 months — from March 1930 to April 1931 — with crews completing up to four and a half floors per week at peak. Some 3,400 workers, including Mohawk ironworkers famous for their comfort at height, built the 102-story tower through the Great Depression’s darkest early months. The speed was a deliberate flex: faster than the Chrysler Building, faster than anyone thought possible. Photographs of workers lunching on bare beams 1,000 feet up remain the defining images of Depression-era daring.

8. One World Trade Center: 1,776 Feet

One World Trade Center stands 1,776 feet to its spire tip — the height deliberately echoing the year of American independence. Its roof is 1,368 feet, lower than the Empire State’s spire tip but higher than its roof. The 1,776-foot figure includes a 408-foot spire that critics call an antenna, reviving the century-old spire debate. By roof height, the Empire State’s 1,250 feet still commands respect; by official height, the new tower leads by 322 feet. Both are New York icons; only one held the world title.

9. Empire State vs. Burj Khalifa: 2,717 Feet

The Burj Khalifa’s 2,717 feet makes the Empire State Building’s 1,454 look almost quaint — the Dubai tower is 1,263 feet taller, or 87 percent taller. The Empire State held the world record for 40 years; the Burj took a lead so large it may hold for longer. Yet the Empire State remains the more beloved building globally, proof that height records and cultural stature are different things. Tourists photograph the Burj; they dream about the Empire State.

10. Empire State vs. Eiffel Tower: 1,083 Feet

The Eiffel Tower reaches 1,083 feet with its modern antennas — the Empire State Building exceeds it by 371 feet. For 41 years the Eiffel Tower was the world’s tallest structure; the Empire State took the crown in 1931 and the tower that defined vertical ambition for two generations became a comparative footnote. The 371-foot margin is itself taller than most buildings. Parisians and New Yorkers still debate which is the greater icon, but the tape measure settled the height question 95 years ago.

11. The 1,860-Step Run-Up

Every year, runners race up the Empire State Building’s 1,860 steps from the lobby to the 86th floor — 1,050 vertical feet in the world’s most famous stair climb. Elite times run under 10 minutes; most finishers take 20 to 40. The race has run since 1978 and draws athletes worldwide. It is the only way the public experiences the building’s full height under their own power — and a reminder that 1,050 feet is a serious climb when the elevator is not an option.

12. 6,514 Windows

The Empire State Building has 6,514 windows, all replaced in a 2010 retrofit with energy-efficient glass. Cleaning them is a continuous operation with dedicated crews. The 2010 upgrade — part of a $550 million green retrofit — cut energy use by nearly 40 percent and became a model for modernizing historic towers. The windows’ rhythm across the limestone facade is the building’s visual signature; from the street, their grid is what makes 102 stories readable as a single composition.

13. The Tower Lights

The Empire State Building’s tower lights, visible for miles, change color for holidays, events, and causes — a tradition since 1976. The LED system installed in 2012 can display 16 million colors. The lights turn the building’s height into a civic signal: green for the environment, rainbow for Pride, red-white-blue for the Fourth. At 1,454 feet, the illuminated crown is a lighthouse for the entire metropolitan area, the city’s way of broadcasting its mood.

14. King Kong and Cultural Height

The building’s cultural height exceeds its physical one. King Kong’s 1933 climb fixed the tower in global imagination; Sleepless in Seattle, Independence Day, and a thousand other films renewed it. More visitors recognize the Empire State Building than any taller tower — proof that 1,454 feet, achieved first and fastest in the Depression’s depths, bought a permanent place in the world’s mental skyline. Architects call it the building that taught the world what a skyscraper feels like.

15. Where It Stands Today

Today the Empire State Building is the fourth-tallest in New York and far down the global list — yet it remains the city’s soul. Its 1,454 feet, 102 floors, and 1,050-foot open deck still draw 4 million visitors a year. New supertalls around it rise higher but thinner, luxury slivers beside the old tower’s broad shoulders. Height records are temporary; the Empire State Building’s lesson is that how a building earns its height — in 13 months, in a Depression, with a dirigible mast for a crown — matters more than the number.

FAQs

How tall is the Empire State Building in feet?

The Empire State Building is 1,454 feet tall to the tip of its spire, with the roof at 1,250 feet. It has 102 floors and was the world’s tallest building from 1931 to 1971. Two observatories sit at 1,050 feet (86th floor) and 1,224 feet (102nd floor).

How many floors does the Empire State Building have?

The Empire State Building has 102 floors above ground. The 86th floor holds the main open-air observatory at 1,050 feet, and the enclosed 102nd-floor observatory sits at 1,224 feet. It was built in just 13 months, from 1930 to 1931.

Is the Empire State Building taller than the Eiffel Tower?

Yes — the Empire State Building at 1,454 feet is 371 feet taller than the Eiffel Tower’s 1,083 feet. The Eiffel Tower held the world’s-tallest-structure title for 41 years until the Empire State surpassed it in 1931.

How long did it take to build the Empire State Building?

The Empire State Building was constructed in just 13 months, from March 1930 to April 1931. At peak, crews completed four and a half floors per week. About 3,400 workers built the 102-story tower during the early Great Depression.

Final Thoughts

The Empire State Building’s 1,454 feet — 1,250 of roof plus 204 of mooring mast — bought it 40 years as the world’s tallest and a permanent place in the global imagination. The numbers tell a Depression-era epic: 102 floors in 13 months, a secret spire war with the Chrysler Building, a dirigible mast for airships that never docked, and observatories at 1,050 and 1,224 feet that have hosted 100 million visitors. Taller towers now crowd its skyline, from One World Trade Center’s 1,776 feet to the Burj Khalifa’s 2,717. But the Empire State Building proved that height is not just a measurement — it is a story, and this one, told in limestone and light over 1,454 feet, is still the best in the business.