Written by David Roberts
Reviewed by Lucas Walter
Updated
The top NYC influencers in 2026 are Marques Brownlee, Jesha Ann Stevens, Doctor Mike, Rob Martinez, and Karissa Dumbacher. This list ranks 23 NYC influencers by median views across their recent videos, not by follower count. Each one was found by searching across hundreds of thousands of top-performing posts from New York City.
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All 23 are listed in rank order. Select a row to jump to the write-up.
| Rank | Creator | Followers | Median views | Engagement | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marques Brownlee @mkbhd | 21M | 6.2M | 2% | Phone and gadget reviews |
| 2 | Jesha Ann Stevens @jeshastevens | 3.4M | 4.6M | 6.7% | Sourdough and pastry |
| 3 | Doctor Mike @DoctorMike | 15M | 2.1M | 1.8% | A doctor reacts |
| 4 | Rob Martinez @EatingWithRobert | 942K | 1.9M | 6.1% | Family restaurants and their stories |
| 5 | Karissa Dumbacher @karissadumbacher | 1.6M | 1.8M | 4.9% | Eating challenges and food tours |
| 6 | Joe Mele @mmmjoemele | 33M | 1.8M | 10% | Pranks on Dad |
| 7 | Jack’s Dining Room @jacksdiningroom | 3.1M | 1.5M | 4% | Restaurant reviews at the table |
| 8 | FutureCanoe @FutureCanoe | 4.9M | 1.5M | 5.4% | Viral recipes, put to the test |
| 9 | Kareem Rahma @subwaytakes | 2.4M | 1.4M | 4.4% | Subway Takes, the subway debate show |
| 10 | Sidetalk @sidetalknyc | 2M | 851K | 5.6% | One-minute street episodes |
| 11 | Remi Bader @remibader | 953K | 548K | 1.9% | Comedy try-on hauls |
| 12 | Romina Gafur @rominagafur | 22M | 526K | 6.1% | Phone settings and unboxings |
| 13 | Chris Stocks @chris.stocks | 1.8M | 478K | 6.1% | Street trivia and quizzes |
| 14 | Brigette McHale @acquired.style | 1.1M | 463K | 2.4% | Outfit picks and a personal label |
| 15 | Suleyman Dolaev @suleymandolaev | 1.3M | 427K | 4.1% | What New Yorkers spend |
| 16 | Caleb Simpson @calebwsimpson | 8.7M | 412K | 10.2% | Strangers’ apartment tours |
| 17 | Michelle Choi @michellechoii | 2.4M | 411K | 2.2% | Homebody vlogs from a New York apartment |
| 18 | The Dogist @thedogist | 7.5M | 379K | 6.6% | Street portraits of dogs |
| 19 | Daniel Simmons @imdanielsimmons | 1.3M | 375K | 2.8% | Menswear fits and a personal label |
| 20 | Dr. Rod @DrRodPT | 810K | 353K | 1.3% | One-move fixes for pain |
| 21 | Abby Baffoe @abbybaffoe | 555K | 331K | 3.5% | Hair, outfits, and a dachshund |
| 22 | Dr. Shereene Idriss @shereeneidriss | 1.6M | 313K | – | A dermatologist explains |
| 23 | Erica Ha @ericaa.haa | 2.9M | 312K | 14.2% | Sister vlogs and city days |
The best influencers in NYC aren’t simply the accounts with the most followers. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube all show videos to people based on how the video performs individually, not just based on who follows the creator. As a result, a small or midsized account can reach more people than one several times its size.
That’s why we rank NYC influencers by median views of their videos (the average number of people a typical video reaches). As of October 2026, the five most watched are Marques Brownlee, Jesha Ann Stevens, Doctor Mike, Rob Martinez, and Karissa Dumbacher.
Grouped by what they make, from street shows to doctors. The number beside each name is the creator’s overall rank.
Strangers stopped on sidewalks, subway platforms, and park paths, with a famous guest now and then.
Subway Takes: a rider, often a famous one, gives one opinion on a subway platform, and the host argues it out in a two-shot. A few episodes this month were filmed in Toronto.
3 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in candy, pet food, and TV.
One-minute episodes on Manhattan streets: the host trades jokes with strangers until someone lands a catchphrase. Loud, fast cuts behind a title card.
No sponsored posts found in the last 90 days.
Stops people in Manhattan parks and on sidewalks with trivia, quote quizzes, and quick challenges. Famous guests and Formula 1 drivers turn up between the strangers.
13 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in energy drinks, streaming, meal kits, and audiobooks.
Asks people on the street what they spend in a month and how they afford life in New York. Some videos are longer sit-downs with models and founders.
3 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in smart glasses, kitchen appliances, and recruitment.
Stops strangers on the street and asks to see inside their apartments. Also films a numbered pizza-review series with famous guests.
1 sponsored post in the last 90 days, in home rentals.
Portraits of strangers’ dogs met on New York streets, with the owner’s words in the caption. A longer series walks dogs with famous guests.
1 sponsored post in the last 90 days, in fashion accessories.
Restaurant reviewers, a recipe tester, and a sourdough baker, from Chinatown counters to stadium seats.
Overhead, hands-only baking videos, one recipe each: sourdough, bagels, croissants. Each opens with a spoken suggestion of what to bake next.
3 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in drinks, supplements, and protein bars.
Short documentaries about family-run restaurants: interviews with owners and cooks, then the dish and its history told in voiceover. Each Short opens on how long the place has been cooking.
No sponsored videos found in the last 90 days.
Food reviews, eating challenges, and mukbangs, from New York takeout to street food in Tokyo. Quick cuts, with the food held up to the camera.
No sponsored posts found in the last 90 days.
Restaurant and street-food reviews filmed at the table, with each dish and price called out to the camera. The host also runs the Yes Chef food festival.
3 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in soft drinks, cars, and motorsport.
Cooks viral recipes, celebrity recipes, and kitchen hacks at home to see which ones hold up. Fast, dense edits with each recipe’s instructions on screen.
5 sponsored videos in the last 90 days, in kitchen appliances, meal kits, mattresses, and cookware.
Try-on hauls, fit checks, and apartment vlogs. Most also run a label, a brand, or a show.
Try-on hauls in the apartment, each piece undercut with a one-line joke, plus talk to camera about dating and body image. Brand hauls run as a series.
9 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in retail, lingerie, snacks, and fashion.
Quick outfit Reels that ask which look to wear, plus wedding and travel diaries. Behind-the-scenes posts from Phephe, the clothing label the creator co-founded.
22 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in hair care, skincare, online retail, and snacks.
Long “Homebody in New York” vlogs filmed in the apartment: cooking, errands, and talk to camera about mental health and life in a person’s twenties. Shorts show home products and outfits from the same rooms.
11 sponsored videos in the last 90 days, in online therapy, home gym equipment, retail, and cars.
Mirror and tripod outfit Reels that ask followers whether they would wear a look, plus styling how-tos. A running series on building the clothing label behind the account.
4 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in fragrance, fashion retail, and wearable tech.
Chatty vlogs with hair tutorials, try-ons, and seasonal set pieces, usually with a dachshund in the frame. Weekends away appear between the New York posts.
8 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in hair care, makeup, footwear, and insurance.
Day-in-the-life clips at home and around the city, with two sisters as the regular cast. Live-show and podcast news between the vlogs.
3 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in body care, skincare, and handbags.
A family doctor, a physical therapist, and a dermatologist, each answering one health question at a time.
A practicing family doctor reacts to medical clips, films, games, and viral health advice. Filmed on a studio set, often with guests.
8 sponsored videos in the last 90 days, in healthcare booking, banking apps, security software, and job sites.
A licensed physical therapist demonstrates one stretch or exercise for a named pain: the neck, the lower back, or a hunched posture. Short videos filmed in a treatment room.
3 sponsored videos in the last 90 days, in massage guns, back-support belts, and pillows.
A board-certified dermatologist answers one skin question per Reel, from eyelid twitches to perimenopause skin. One long take to camera, with captions on screen.
1 sponsored post in the last 90 days, in beauty devices.
New devices reviewed the week they launch, one from a studio and one from a desk.
Studio reviews of new phones, laptops, cameras, and electric cars, each ending on a verdict. Shot to camera, with close footage of the device.
5 sponsored videos in the last 90 days, in phone accessories and electronics retail.
Unboxings, camera comparisons, and hidden settings for new phones, filmed close on the device and the hands. Each launch gets a quick verdict.
5 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in cameras, tablets, smartphones, 3D printers, and earplugs.
One family’s pranks and dares, filmed at home with Dad as the usual target.
Pranks, guessing games, and food dares at home, with Dad as the usual target. One fixed camera in the kitchen, the driveway, or the car.
4 sponsored posts in the last 90 days, in sports betting, smartphones, frozen pizza, and fragrance.
We analyzed the 325 posts these 23 creators published on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube in the last 30 days. Of those, 32 beat their creator’s usual views by 3× or more.
Here is how this month’s breakouts open, read from what each video says in its first seconds, or from its caption when nobody speaks.
“How a Spoon Helps With a Migraine”
Ten breakouts have no speech at all, and half of them come from one account: a physical therapist whose Shorts show one stretch to music, with the pain named in the title. The channel’s everyday Shorts look the same (music and a single move), so only the title sets these apart.
Dr. Rod 7.9M views · 22.2× their usualThe other five come from a lifestyle creator with a dachshund and a creator who vlogs with two sisters: short clips set to a song or a sound.
“So what’s your take?”
Ten breakouts start in the middle of a scene, most of them with a host’s question to a stranger or a guest. These creators open their usual videos the same way, so the opening is not what changed.
Kareem Rahma 5.8M views · 4.2× their usualWhat changed is who answered. Six of the ten had a famous name in them: LL Cool J and Matthew McConaughey on the subway show, Sarah Paulson meeting street dogs, a Formula 1 driver taking a street quiz, and a doctor as the guest on a hot-wings interview show.
“We’re going to have the perfect suburban shopping mall day.”
Two breakouts, one each from two creators, open with the plan for the day, and both days were outside the city: an afternoon at a New Jersey mall, paid for by the mall, and a wedding in Florida.
Brigette McHale 2.1M views · 4.4× their usualUsual posts open with a plan as well, so the opening is not what changed. What these two share is the destination: each was a day out of town.
Joe Mele: “BEST. PRANK. YET. 😭” reached 25M views, 14.3× their usual.
Romina Gafur: “If you just got the new iPhone 18 Pro and think the camera is just gonna be insane straight out of the box” reached 5.6M views, 10.6× their usual.
Remi Bader: “First of all, the floral dress, the flannel” reached 4M views, 7.4× their usual.
This table shows what the NYC influencers on this list do at each size on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Use it to judge whether a creator’s numbers are strong for their tier.
| Tier | Followers | Median views | Engagement | Posts a week | Sponsored posts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macro | 500K to 2M | 445K | 3.5% | 2.8 | 18% |
| Mega | Over 2M | 1.4M | 5.6% | 2.1 | 15% |
The figures are medians across these 23 accounts, from each account’s recent videos. “Sponsored posts” is the share of posts in the 90 days to Oct 28, 2026, that carry a paid-partnership or paid-promotion label or a stated sponsor, or are part of a brand campaign.
If you run a New York business or a brand that needs creators in the city, start with where each one films, and then look at the numbers.
Several of the biggest New York accounts film in a studio, a kitchen, or a clinic, and their videos rarely show the city. Street-interview and walk-and-talk creators put the block, the storefront, or the subway platform in the frame. If the point of the post is that people can find you, book the second kind.
A skyline in a video does not mean the creator lives here. Some well-known “NYC” accounts are based in Los Angeles or Pennsylvania and come in to film, and others live on Long Island or in New Jersey. If you need someone who can drop by on a weekday or come back for a second visit, ask where they live before you plan the shoot.
Some accounts on this list ran a sponsored post in most of their uploads over 90 days, and others ran none. A feed full of ads can still perform, but your post will sit between other brands’ posts.
On YouTube, a sponsored video has to carry a paid-promotion label. Look for it, and for “#ad” or “paid partnership” on TikTok and Instagram, to see who has been paid recently.
The street shows’ biggest videos this month had celebrities in them, and their episodes with strangers drew their usual numbers. Price a booking on the median views on the card, not on the episode with a star in it.
If you invite a creator in rather than paying for a post, agree in writing whether a post is expected, on which platform, and by when, and whether it will be labeled as an ad.
We identified and ranked these creators by searching hundreds of thousands of top-performing posts on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube from New York City with Klint.
We rank by median views across each creator’s recent videos, so one viral post can’t lift an account up the list. Creators qualify if they live in one of New York City’s five boroughs or a town next to the city now, by their own account or the press, and post on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok.
To get this list or a similar one for yourself, describe the creators you’re looking for in the Klint web app, or paste this prompt into any AI agent connected to Klint:
Find the top 23 creators who live in or next to New York City now, on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, ranked by median views across their last 30 videos or their last 90 days, whichever is lower. Show followers, engagement, and sponsored posts.
Klint is trusted by 1,000+ marketers for AI-native influencer marketing.
As of October 2026 the top five NYC influencers by median views are Marques Brownlee, Jesha Ann Stevens, Doctor Mike, Rob Martinez, and Karissa Dumbacher.
Every creator on this list lives in New York City or a town next to it, by their own account or the press. Joe Mele has the biggest following, 32.6 million followers on TikTok, and Marques Brownlee draws the biggest typical audience, 6.2 million views a video on YouTube.
The list covers Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. Each creator is counted once, on whichever of the three brings the biggest typical audience: 10 on Instagram, 7 on TikTok, and 6 on YouTube. Many have accounts on all three.
The list includes only creators who live in New York City or next to it now and post regularly. Alix Earle’s recent posts are from Los Angeles, with work trips to New York. Casey Neistat posted 2 YouTube videos in the last 90 days, and Humans of New York posted 5, under the 6 the list requires.
Start with the accounts that already post from your street or from places like yours, and check that their bio or their own videos say they live in the city. Or describe to Klint the creator you need, such as “NYC street-interview creators on TikTok,” and compare the median views it shows for each one.
Rates depend on the platform, the size of the account, the number of posts, and whether the creator also comes to your place. Accounts that run sponsored posts regularly tend to have a set rate for each post; for a visit to a restaurant or a shop, many creators will consider a hosted meal or product in place of a fee.
Yes. Any creator can ask to be taken off Klint’s lists, and the request applies to every page they would otherwise appear on.
Are you on this list and would you rather not be? Write to privacy@tryklint.ai and Klint will take you off.
