World’s Largest Gold Vault Reportedly Hides 6,000 Tons Of Gold Beneath New York

Deep under the streets of Lower Manhattan, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York houses what is widely regarded as the largest known depository of monetary gold in the world.

Located at 33 Liberty Street and built directly into Manhattan’s bedrock, the vault sits about 80 feet below ground level and 50 feet below sea level, creating a natural foundation strong enough to support the enormous weight stored within it.

The vault is home to more than 500,000 gold bars, with recent estimates placing the total holdings at around 6,300 metric tons.

These bars are not owned by the Federal Reserve itself, but by foreign governments, central banks and international organizations that trust New York as a secure, neutral location for safeguarding their reserves. Much of the gold found its way into the vault during and after World War II, when many nations sought a safe haven for their monetary assets.

Although holdings once peaked at over 12,000 tons in the early 1970s, the vault remains unmatched globally in scale and significance.

Security around the vault is famously strict. The only entrance is sealed by a 90-ton steel door designed to lock airtight and watertight, with access controlled by multiple layers of verification.

Any movement of gold, even from one compartment to another, requires the supervision of vault staff and internal auditors. The facility is reinforced by thick concrete walls, round-the-clock surveillance and numerous hidden security systems.

Recent headlines claiming that the vault “hides $850 billion worth of gold” stem from multiplying the tonnage by current market prices. While the tonnage figure aligns with documented estimates, the dollar valuation fluctuates with gold prices and does not represent the official accounting value used by the Federal Reserve.

Even so, the scale of the holdings places the New York vault above more famous sites like Fort Knox in terms of total monetary gold stored.

Today, the vault remains a critical part of the global financial system. It symbolizes stability, trust and international cooperation, serving as a long-standing safe-deposit site for nations seeking security and accessibility at the heart of one of the world’s most important financial cities.