What Is a BIN?

A BIN (Building Identification Number) is a 7-digit code assigned by the NYC Department of Buildings to every building in the five boroughs. While a BBL identifies the tax lot, a BIN identifies the physical structure on that lot. For permits, inspections, violations, and complaints, BIN is the primary key.

Structure of a BIN

A BIN is a 7-digit number. The first digit encodes the borough:

The remaining 6 digits are sequential within the borough. There is no meaning to the spacing — BINs are not padded and are always exactly 7 digits.

BIN vs. BBL

A key source of confusion: a lot (BBL) can contain multiple buildings (BINs), and a condominium building has one BIN shared by all the individual unit lots (BBLs). Here are the typical relationships:

Where to Find a BIN

• DOB NOW / BIS — the Department of Buildings' systems use BIN as the primary key
• NYC Planning Geosearch API — returns the BIN alongside BBL for any address lookup
• Lotlyze — resolves any address or BBL to its BIN automatically
• PAD (Property Address Directory) — the city's authoritative address-to-BIN/BBL table, available via Open Data: data.cityofnewyork.us/resource/5zhs-2jue.json

Why BIN Matters for Research

If you want to look up permits, violations, job filings, or complaints for a building, you must use the BIN — not the BBL. The DOB's Socrata endpoints are all keyed on BIN:

# Permits (DOB Permit Issuance)
GET https://data.cityofnewyork.us/resource/ipu4-2q9a.json?bin__=3123456

# Violations (DOB ECB Violations)
GET https://data.cityofnewyork.us/resource/wvxf-dwi5.json?bin=3123456

# Complaints (DOB Complaints Received)
GET https://data.cityofnewyork.us/resource/eabe-havv.json?bin=3123456

ACRIS records, by contrast, are keyed on BBL (borough + block + lot). This is why a complete property lookup requires both identifiers.

Placeholder BINs

The city assigns special placeholder BINs for lots without a discrete building (vacant land, parking lots, underwater land). These typically end in 000000 (e.g. 1000000 for Manhattan). If you see a BIN like this in the data, it means DOB has no building-specific records for that lot.