This Vault In New York Holds An Almost Unbelievable Amount Of Gold

You may know that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building is in the New York City Financial District.  But, you may not know that there's an almost unbelievable amount of gold in the vault in its basement. The Federal Reserve Bank vault in New York is one of the richest spots in the whole wide world and you are going to be amazed at what's down there. Read on to learn more about it.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building, also known as 33 Liberty Street, is the home of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York headquarters. It's located in the Financial District in Lower Manhattan; it was built between 1919 and 1924.

This building has fourteen stories above ground and five levels of basement.

The building's vault lies on the lowest level. It's 80 feet below street level and 50 feet below sea level. It's 30 feet below and 100 feet away from the nearest subway tunnel.

This vault holds the largest known monetary-gold reserve in the world. As of 2019, the vault held close to 500,000 bars of gold.

All of that gold weighs around 6,000 tons. The building was designed to withstand the immense weight.

Each 400 ounce (27.4 poind) gold bar is worth about $750,000.

When you do the math on all that, the numbers are pretty overwhelming.

In the vault, there are 122 compartments. Some hold the gold of just a single owner. Others have shelves and hold the gold of one or more account holders.

Who does all this gold belong to? Well, 98% of it belongs to the central banks of 36 different countries. The other 2% is owned by the United States and various international organizations.

When one account holder pays another, gold is moved from one compartment to another. Three staff members must be present for any transaction. The bank charges $1.75 to move each bar.

There has never been a successful break in or theft from this vault, although it was fictionally robbed in the movie Die Hard with a Vengance.

School groups tour the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Building, but they won't get to see the gold - they'll just show them a display sample. The only people who can look at the bars of gold in the vault are the account holders.

Guess you'll just have to save up enough money to become one, right?

It's pretty amazing to daydream about the amount of gold in a basement in New York City!

Looking for more fun things to do in New York? Check out our New York page for more!