The Third Tallest Building in the America

By Trey Thoelcke Updated Nov 13, 11:12AM EST · Published Nov 13, 9:00AM EST

After a ruling by the Height Committee of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat on Tuesday, New York City’s One World Trade Center is recognized as the tallest building in the United States, as well as the third largest building in the world.

The question had been whether the needle on top of the World Trade Center was really part of the structure or simply an add-on, like an antenna or lightning rod. The Height Committee, the final arbiter of global building heights, determined that it was a permanent, integral part of the structure, and so the official height of the World Trade Center is 1,776 feet.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago disagreed with the decision: “I would just say to all the experts gathered in one room, if it looks like an antenna, acts like an antenna, then guess what? It is an antenna.”

Chicago’s 1,450-foot Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, had claimed the title as tallest in the United States for 40 years. Trump International Hotel and Tower is the third tallest in America, standing at 1,389 feet.

Burj Khalifa in Dubai holds on to the top spot in the world. The 163-floor office, hotel and residential building stands at 2,717 feet high.

New York City is also home to three more of the top 10 tallest buildings in the United States. The Chrysler and Empire State Buildings were built in the 1920s. The Chrysler Building tops out a more than 1,050 feet high, while the Empire State Building reaches up 1,250 feet, edging out the Bank of America Tower.

One World Trade Center was built on the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

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About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.