The 21 most influential digital creators based in New York who rule Instagram, YouTube, and other social-media platforms

• Business Insider is recognizing the leading digital stars who live and create content around the Greater New York City area.
• We are highlighting these 21 top creators based on audience size, creativity, and their impact on the influencer business as a whole.
• These New York-based creators run successful digital businesses across platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
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Los Angeles often takes center stage when it comes to the influencer world.

Headline-making creators like David Dobrik and Tana Mongeau post popular vlogs in the city, and a new wave of TikTok stars recently moved into LA mansions like the Hype House and Sway LA.

But New York is its own hub for some of the internet's top digital stars. New York hosts some of the world's most popular creators who use the city as a backdrop to post content to their millions of followers on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter.

It's one of the epicenters of the influencer business. New York, California, Florida, Texas, and Georgia have more influencers working in their states than the other 45 US states combined, according to data analysis provided by the influencer marketing agency, CreatorIQ.

Business Insider is recognizing the leading digital stars who live and create content in the greater New York City area. In this inaugural list, we are highlighting the top 21 New York-based influencers who run successful digital businesses, from podcasting to TikTok.

"New York's a really cool place to create content around, just because it's a city unlike any other," said Courtney Quinn, a lifestyle and fashion creator with more than 600,000 followers on Instagram. "We just recently did a shoot on the subway. We like to bring elements like that into our storylines and into the content because it makes it more interesting and more authentic to where we are."

As a traditional media and advertising capital, New York also provides endless opportunities for influencers to meet with brands, marketers, and other creators.

"You have really great access to brands and organizations here, so even if you're just starting out, you can go out and network and meet people," Quinn said. "There's always a way to get your foot in the door if you're willing to put yourself out there."

Sara Dietschy, a YouTube influencer who films technology videos in a studio in Manhattan's TriBeCa neighborhood, said brands and creators are constantly visiting New York, even if they aren't based there.

"From a practical standpoint, if there's a creator or a YouTuber or someone in the industry who doesn't live here, they will always be here probably at least once a year," Dietschy said. "We already have such a great creative community here, but even if someone's not here, they're always coming through."

To form a list of the city's top creators, Business Insider relied on a mix of our own reporting, nominations from readers, and industry experts to narrow down the finalists. We chose them based on factors like audience size, creativity, and a creator's impact on the influencer business as a whole.

We excluded media companies, traditional celebrities, and social publishers where creators aren't featured regularly in content (e.g. meme and food-focused channels).

The 21 creators and influencers are listed in alphabetical order:

Send tips on the influencer industry to aperelli@businessinsider.com and dwhateley@businessinsider.com.