Location: The Financial District is located in Downtown Manhattan, south of City Hall and east of Broadway.

Sub-divisions: The Seaport/Fulton Street area and its surroundings is included in our definition, although some people consider it as a separate neighborhood. Also, the area adjacent to City Hall is sometimes referred to as "Civic Center".

Character: For most of the 20th century the Financial District was a 9-to-5 kind of neighborhood which emptied out at night. Not any longer, thanks to building conversions and NYU dorm additions that significantly increased the number of local residents. Nowadays, it is entirely possible to bump into a neighbor on the way home around midnight, especially on massively "residentialized" streets like John Street.

Wall Street, the nerve center of American capitalism, now contains quite a few luxury residental buildings. Ditto for John Street and Water Street.