About half of the one- to three-family houses in New York City were built before 1940, and in Suffolk County about two in five occupied homes burn fuel oil. Those two facts decide more of what a home inspector looks at closely than the price on the listing does. We are Inspecwise, a New York State-licensed, InterNACHI-certified home inspection business in South Ozone Park, Queens, and this page lays out the age of homes in NYC, on Long Island and in Westchester using public data, so you can see what kind of house you are likely to be buying before the inspection is booked.
Every figure below comes from two public sources, named under each table: the City’s tax-lot file (PLUTO) for the five boroughs and the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for the counties. They describe groups of buildings, not your building. The last sections explain what they cannot tell you.
Age of homes in NYC: how old are the City’s houses?
In the City’s tax-lot file, 637,835 lots with a one-, two- or three-family building class have a recorded year of construction, and 326,314 of them, 51 percent, were built before 1940. The age of homes in NYC differs a great deal from one borough to the next.
| Borough | Lots with a recorded year of construction | Built before 1940 | Share built before 1940 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queens | 270,875 | 135,977 | 50% |
| Brooklyn | 190,219 | 134,772 | 71% |
| The Bronx | 61,967 | 28,457 | 46% |
| Manhattan | 5,599 | 5,174 | 92% |
| Staten Island | 109,175 | 21,934 | 20% |
| All five boroughs | 637,835 | 326,314 | 51% |
Queens and Brooklyn each have about the same number of pre-1940 lots, roughly 136,000 and 135,000, but Brooklyn’s are 71 percent of its houses and Queens’ are 50 percent. Staten Island is the newest of the five: 20 percent. Manhattan’s 92 percent describes only 5,599 lots, because the borough’s homes are overwhelmingly apartments in larger buildings, which this file does not count as houses. See co-op inspections in Queens and Brooklyn and our Manhattan co-op and condo page for that side of the market.
One-, two- and three-family houses by borough
The same file shows what the houses are built as. A three-family house has three apartments under one roof, which changes how heating, wiring and plumbing are shared and what the certificate of occupancy has to say.
| Borough | One-family | Two-family | Three-family | Two- and three-family share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Queens | 150,637 | 96,302 | 23,991 | 44% |
| Brooklyn | 61,349 | 94,710 | 34,174 | 68% |
| The Bronx | 21,413 | 29,465 | 11,092 | 65% |
| Manhattan | 2,336 | 1,867 | 1,396 | 58% |
| Staten Island | 76,985 | 31,349 | 872 | 30% |
| All five boroughs | 312,720 | 253,693 | 71,525 | 51% |
Brooklyn is the clearest case: about 68 percent of its small houses are two- or three-family. In Queens it is 44 percent and on Staten Island 30 percent, where the detached one-family house dominates. If you are buying a two- or three-family house, read our page on two- and three-family house inspections and how to check the certificate of occupancy and permits.
Long Island and Westchester: housing age and heating fuel
Outside the five boroughs there is no tax-lot file that works the same way, so the table uses the Census Bureau’s estimates for every housing unit in each county. Median year built is the Census Bureau’s estimate, rounded.
| Area | Median year built | Built before 1940 | Built 1940 to 1959 | Built 1960 or later | Heated with fuel oil | Heated with utility gas | Heated with electricity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn | 1944 | about 47% | about 19% | about 34% | about 7% | about 72% | about 14% |
| Queens | 1953 | about 30% | about 33% | about 37% | about 10% | about 74% | about 10% |
| The Bronx | 1955 | about 33% | about 23% | about 44% | about 21% | about 52% | about 18% |
| Manhattan | 1951 | about 43% | about 15% | about 42% | about 15% | about 49% | about 28% |
| Staten Island | 1974 | about 18% | about 14% | about 69% | about 4% | about 85% | about 7% |
| Nassau County | 1955 | about 19% | about 47% | about 34% | about 26% | about 62% | about 7% |
| Suffolk County | 1970 | about 9% | about 22% | about 69% | about 44% | about 41% | about 9% |
| Westchester County | 1959 | about 28% | about 25% | about 48% | about 28% | about 52% | about 14% |
Nassau’s housing is concentrated in the post-war years: about 47 percent of its units date from 1940 to 1959, and about 26 percent of its occupied homes heat with oil. Suffolk is the newest and the most oil-dependent, with a median year built of 1970 and about 44 percent of occupied homes on fuel oil. Westchester sits between the two, with about 28 percent built before 1940 and about 28 percent on oil. Brooklyn, by comparison, is about 7 percent oil and about 72 percent utility gas.
The building mix is different too. The table shows the share of owner-occupied homes, detached houses, buildings with two to four units and buildings with five or more.
| Area | Owner-occupied | Detached houses | Buildings with 2 to 4 units | Buildings with 5 or more units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn | about 29% | about 5% | about 32% | about 55% |
| Queens | about 45% | about 19% | about 30% | about 42% |
| The Bronx | about 20% | about 6% | about 16% | about 72% |
| Manhattan | about 25% | about 1% | about 3% | about 95% |
| Staten Island | about 68% | about 35% | about 26% | about 13% |
| Nassau County | about 82% | about 76% | about 7% | about 13% |
| Suffolk County | about 82% | about 80% | about 5% | about 8% |
| Westchester County | about 62% | about 43% | about 15% | about 35% |
In Manhattan about 95 percent of housing units are in buildings of five or more units, against about 13 percent in Nassau and about 8 percent in Suffolk. That is why a Manhattan purchase is so often an apartment, and a Long Island purchase so often a detached house.
What the numbers mean for an inspection
A high pre-1940 share means original systems
Where 71 percent of the houses were built before 1940, the wiring, piping, chimneys and roofs are often older than any one owner. The Standards of Practice do not change for an old house: the inspector still reports what is visible and accessible. What changes is where the questions are. Start with the pre-war home inspection guide, then knob-and-tube wiring and cast-iron and galvanized pipes.
A high oil share means tanks and flues
In Suffolk, about 44 percent of occupied homes heat with oil, so a tank, its piping and the chimney or flue are part of most purchases. The Standards of Practice for heating systems require the inspector to describe the heating fuel and equipment and operate the system with the thermostat, but they do not require tests of flue interiors or for carbon monoxide, and a buried tank is outside what must be observed. Read how a heating system inspection works, why oil tanks have their own check and what New York requires for carbon monoxide alarms.
A detached-house market means roofs, grading and water
On Staten Island about 35 percent of housing units are detached houses, and in Suffolk about 80 percent. A detached house has four exposed walls and a full roof, so roofing, drainage and the grade around the foundation matter more than they do in a row house. See roof inspection in New York homes and basement water after heavy rain.
A high multi-unit share means shared systems and records
Where most homes are in buildings of five or more units, the inspection covers one apartment and what can be seen of the shared areas, and the building’s condition is documented elsewhere. Our guide to the inspection process explains what a visit produces, and which add-on tests you need lists what sits outside it.
A worked example: an older two-family with oil heat
Take a two-family brick house in Brooklyn built before 1940, heated by an oil-fired boiler. This is an illustration, not a case we handled. The age puts the wiring, piping and roof on the list of things to read closely. The heating fuel puts the tank, the burner and the flue on it. The two-family layout adds a question the inspection cannot settle: whether both apartments are legal. In the report you would expect the inspector to describe the type of wiring and the condition of the panel, the piping materials, the roof covering and its method of observation, and the heating equipment, and to list anything that could not be reached, with the reason. Under the Standards the inspector does not report code violations or estimate the remaining life of the roof or the boiler. The general limitations say so in terms. The sensible next steps are an electrician for the panel if the report asks for one, a heating contractor for the boiler, and your attorney for the certificate of occupancy. None of them is a reason to walk away from the house; each is a question with a name next to it.
What these numbers cannot tell you
- They describe groups. A borough share says nothing about the house you are buying. A 1931 house with a new service panel and rebuilt plumbing and a 1965 house with its original everything are both in the data.
- PLUTO’s year of construction for older buildings is often a rounded estimate, so we quote the share built before 1940 and never a median year for the boroughs. The Census median year built is also an estimate.
- Census figures are estimates with margins of error, which is why we round them and say “about”. Do not read much into a gap of a point or two between areas.
- Heating-fuel shares are for occupied homes, and a household can have more than one source. They say nothing about whether a particular tank is above ground, below ground or already removed.
- A ZIP code is a mail-delivery area, not a neighborhood, so this page does not rank ZIP codes. Our area pages show ZIP-level figures with that caveat.
- They are a snapshot. The City republishes PLUTO several times a year and the Census Bureau releases new five-year estimates every year, so the figures here will move slightly. The shares are stable enough to show the pattern, which is the point; for a decision about one house, the house and its own records are what count.
Look up your own address
You can pull the same tax-lot record for a specific lot. NYC’s PLUTO dataset on NYC Open Data lists year built, building class, number of units and lot size for every tax lot in the five boroughs. The year may be rounded, and the dataset does not say whether the certificate of occupancy matches how the building is used. For that, follow our certificate of occupancy and permits guide. For a county or town outside the City, start with the area pages: Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester.
Questions about the age of homes in New York
How old is the average house in New York City?
The tax-lot file does not give a reliable average, because the year of construction for older buildings is often rounded. What it supports is a share: about 51 percent of one- to three-family lots with a recorded year were built before 1940, from about 20 percent on Staten Island to about 71 percent in Brooklyn.
Which borough has the oldest houses?
Among the boroughs with many houses, Brooklyn: about 71 percent of its one- to three-family lots predate 1940, against about 50 percent in Queens and 46 percent in the Bronx. Manhattan’s share is higher but covers only 5,599 lots, because most of its homes are apartments in larger buildings.
What year were most Long Island houses built?
The Census Bureau’s estimated median year built is 1955 for Nassau County and 1970 for Suffolk County. About 47 percent of Nassau’s housing units were built between 1940 and 1959.
How many New York homes heat with oil?
It depends on where. The Census Bureau estimates about 44 percent of occupied homes in Suffolk, 26 percent in Nassau and 28 percent in Westchester, against about 7 percent in Brooklyn and 4 percent on Staten Island.
Does an older house fail a home inspection?
No. A home inspection is a written report of what is visible and accessible, not a pass or a fail. In an older house the report is more likely to describe original wiring, piping or roofing, and to say when a licensed electrician, plumber or roofer should look further.
Where does this data come from, and can I check it?
The borough figures come from the City’s PLUTO tax-lot file, version 26v2, on NYC Open Data. The county figures come from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024 five-year estimates. Both are public, and the links are in this guide.
About the figures in this guide
Borough counts: NYC PLUTO, version 26v2, tax lots with a one-, two- or three-family building class and a recorded year of construction. County figures: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, 2020 to 2024 five-year estimates, all housing units for age and structure type, occupied homes for heating fuel, rounded. Last pulled 25 October 2026.
Booking a home inspection when you know the age of the house
Tell us the address and the year on the listing. We will say what a visit covers, which parts of an older or oil-heated house deserve extra attention, and which add-on tests are worth asking about. We inspect in the five boroughs, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester, and in other areas on request, and we work in English, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindi.
Questions first? Call 718-925-7071.