About the deck
The Empire State Building's 86th-floor outdoor observatory has been open since 1931. At 320 metres, the outdoor deck wraps the building's famous mooring mast transition, with views across all five New York boroughs. The deck is fully outdoor and fully unobstructed.
The building's Vanity Ratio is 2.1% - 373m of the 381m architectural top is occupied and usable. The observation deck at 320m sits within the occupied zone, not in the vanity gap..
The honest take
The Empire State Building was built in 1931 and already has one of the lowest Vanity Ratios in the Honest 100 (2.1%). Ninety-three years after it opened, most of its competitors are still trying to figure out how to add 200 metres of decorative needle and call it honest. The 86F observatory has been running since before the CTBUH existed. That is a data point.
See the full height breakdown: Empire State Building profile.
Height in context
Elevation data
Deck elevation: 320m (1050 ft)
Floor: 86
Access type: Outdoor
Data notes
Height and floor data sourced from Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA). Ticket prices verified from official sources on 2026-05-03. Prices change frequently - verify before booking.
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