NYC is widely known as “the city that never sleeps,” but on National Napping Day, we’s like to know if that’s true? Nightlife rages on until 4 or 5 am here—possibly later if you count the afterparties—but does that mean nobody is sleeping?
Well, as you probably guessed, “the city that never sleeps” is a hyperbole. Of course New Yorkers sleep. Without sleep, we’d die. But how much sleep are we getting? The data indicates that, to some extent, New Yorkers do stay up later and get less sleep than most of the country.
According to the Jawbone blog, Brooklyn has the latest average bedtime of any county in the United States: 12:07 am. The other NYC boroughs are not far behind. Next is Manhattan at 11:55 pm, Queens at 11:52 pm, the Bronx at 11:47 pm, and Staten Island at 11:46 pm.
There are other cities, though, that stay up just as late as NYC. On average, people in Miami stay up until 11:54 pm, those in Atlantic City stay up until 11:53 pm, and those in Las Vegas stay up until 11:49 pm.
So when it comes to staying up late, we’re ranked all the way up at the top, among some fierce competitors. But how much sleep do New Yorkers get? Do those late nights translate to less hours?
According to Jawbone, no city in the United States gets more than seven hours of sleep per night, on average, which is the minimum recommended by the National Sleep Foundation. New Yorkers get an average of 6.8 hours of sleep per night, about the same amount as New Orleans, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and many other U.S. cities. Las Vegas gets the least sleep—only 6.5 hours per night.
So when it comes to being night owls and living with sleep deprivation, New Yorkers definitely know how to compete with the best of them. But rumors that the city never sleeps have definitely been exaggerated.