- New York is the third most populous state in the United States after California and Texas. The population is about 19 million. 8 million of them live in New York City.
- New York is the 27th largest state. Rhode Island would fit into New York over 35 times.
- New York City is the largest city in the state, of course, but it isn't the capital. The capital is Albany which is an eightieth the size of NYC. Albany has gone through a series of name changes. The first inhabitants of the area were the Mohicans, who called the city PempotowwathutMuhhcanneuw, or "the first fireplace of the Mohican nation." Dutch settlers called it Beverwijck or "Beaver District," and also Fort Orange. The name Albany came from the British settlers who named it after the Duke of Albany.
- The Woodstock music festival in 1969 took place in this state, but not in the town of Woodstock, which actually refused to host it, as did the town of Wallkill. It was actually held on a dairy farm in Bethel.
- Presidents Martin Van Buren, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Millard Fillmore were all born in New York. Other famous people from New York include singers Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Maria Callas and Barbara Streisand; actors Jennifer Lopez, Denzel Washington, Adam Sandler, Lucille Ball and Tom Cruise; composer George Gershwin; The Marx Brothers; writers Arthur Miller, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville and L Frank Baum, who wrote Wizard of Oz. In his home town of Chittenango there are yellow brick sidewalks leading up to a number of Wizard of Oz themed businesses. There's also an annual Munchkins parade.
- New York is home to the world's smallest church. The Cross Island Chapel in Oneida measures just 51" x 81", big enough for two people to sit inside.
- New York is known as the "Empire State" due to growth and prosperity early in its history. The state motto is Excelsior (Ever Upwards); State Bird - Eastern Bluebird; State Mammal - Beaver; State Insect - Nine-spotted ladybug; State Fish - Brook Trout; State Shell - Bay Scallop; State Flower - Rose; State Gem - Garnet; State Fossil - Sea scorpion; State Tree - Sugar Maple; and the state fruit is the Apple.
- New York has a national park which is bigger than Yellowstone, Glacier, Everglades, and Grand Canyon National Parks combined. Adirondack Park has an area of 6 million acres. It was also the first state to have a state park - Niagara Reservation.
- New York firsts: the first railroad in America ran between Albany and Schenectady and was 11 miles long; New York was the first state to require license Plates on cars; the first United States pizzeria opened in New York City in 1857; the first women's rights convention in the United States was held in Seneca Falls in 1848.
- Jumping off a building in New York carries the death penalty, although given the height of a lot of them, few people would survive to face the consequences. In Carmel it is against the law for a man to go outside wearing a jacket and Trousers that don’t match, but until relatively recently it was perfectly legal for women to go topless in parts of the state as long as they weren't promoting a business. It's illegal for a blind man to drive a car. It's also illegal in some parts of the state to wear slippers after 10pm, throw a ball at someone's head for fun, talk to other people in Lifts, eat Peanuts and walk backwards on the sidewalks during a concert or greet your friends by “putting one’s thumb to the nose and wiggling the fingers”. Flirting and “looking at a woman in that way” results in a $25 dollar fine for the first offence. A second offence means the man will be required to wear horse blinkers when he goes out in public.
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