City Journal is a public policy magazine and website, published by the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute for Policy Research since 1990. City Journal covers a range of public policy topics on urban affairs, such as education, labor, housing, policing, and other issues. The magazine also publishes articles on arts and culture, urban architecture, family life, and other topics that are not policy-related.
History
City Journal was founded in 1990 by Richard Vigilante, editorial director of the Manhattan Institute, who also served as the magazine's first editor. Vigilante originally sought to launch the magazine as a for profit venture but eventually persuaded William M. H. Hammett, head of the conservative Manhattan Institute. Contributor Christopher Rufo, in particular, has drawn attention for writing numerous pieces in the magazine that often focus on these matters. In articles published by City Journal, Rufo has accused Seattle's Office of Civil Rights of "endorsing principles of segregationism, group-based guilt, and race essentialism"; and compared the diversity training conducted by the city of Seattle to "cult programming". In 2025, the University of Florida ranked first overall, based on “commitment to meritocracy," “student free speech," and other factors.
Publication
The magazine is published by the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a national free-market think tank based in New York City. It was edited by Richard Vigilante and then Fred Siegel in the early 1990s. Myron Magnet, its editor from 1994 to 2006, is now editor-at-large. City Journals current editor is Brian C. Anderson, who was appointed in late 2006 after serving as senior editor for 10 years. In 2016, City Journal ranked second in The Global Grids "Top 20 Urban Planning Websites", and again made the list in 2017, ranked fourth.
Alice O'Connor, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has written that City Journal is "hardly a model of ideological moderation", and that its contributors are "enmeshed in 1960s- and 1970s-era urbanology".
Notable contributors
- Brian C. Anderson, editor of City Journal
- Steven Malanga, senior fellow and senior editor
- Claire Berlinski, contributor
- Coleman Hughes, contributing editor
- Theodore Dalrymple, contributing editor
- Edward Glaeser, senior fellow and contributing editor to City Journal
- Victor Davis Hanson, contributing editor
- Howard Husock, contributor
- Kay Hymowitz, senior fellow and contributing editor to City Journal
- Andrew Klavan, contributing editor
- Joel Kotkin, contributor
- John Leo, contributor
- Heather Mac Donald, senior fellow and contributing editor
- Myron Magnet, editor-at-large
- John O. McGinnis, contributor
- Judith Miller, adjunct fellow and contributing editor
- Lance Morrow, contributor
- Ian Penman, contributor
- Fred Siegel, senior fellow and contributing editor to City Journal
- Guy Sorman, contributing editor
- Harry Stein, contributing editor
- Sol Stern, adjunct fellow and contributing editor
- John Tierney, contributing editor
- Michael J. Totten, contributor
- John Stossel, video contributor
See also
- Economics Does Not Lie