Other than the large number of people
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A lot of different answers to this questions...sorry it's so long...
You've hit on the main reason. When large numbers of people (and large amounts of business activity) are in one area, land gets expensive, so more needs to be done with each bit of land. That means taller buildings.
Another reason is business activity. NYC is a port city, and the nearby islands have given shelter for merchant ships for 200+ years now. That activity attracts people, industries, and business. Chicago is also a port city: large ships can travel through the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes to carry cargo to Chicago. And through smaller rivers, Chicago is connected to the Mississippi River, making transportation easier over long distances.
With Chicago and New York being key ports for shipping to and from Europe to the US and Canada, they also have become major financial centers. Many corporations have their major offices there, in order to be close to their company's business issues. And from there, many financial markets (like the NY Stock Exchange, and the Chicago Board of Exchange) have grown over 100+ years to invest money, borrow money, and loan money in businesses. All this activity generates income, which, in turn, gets invested in buildings.
But you might be asking a different question: so just in case, I'll mention the geology of NYC, specifically Manhattan Island (which is the 'center' of the city). That island is basically a chunk of solid granite - one of the hardest, most solid rocks on Earth. It provides an excellent foundation for large numbers of tall heavy buildings. There are few places on earth that could hold so many big buildings in such a small area.
I don't know much about Chicago's geology, but living near Los Angeles, I am quite certain that even with our tall buildings, our relatively soft sedimentary rock (because of erosion and earthquakes) makes it much more difficult to build as many tall buildings as on the East Coast.
You've hit on the main reason. When large numbers of people (and large amounts of business activity) are in one area, land gets expensive, so more needs to be done with each bit of land. That means taller buildings.
Another reason is business activity. NYC is a port city, and the nearby islands have given shelter for merchant ships for 200+ years now. That activity attracts people, industries, and business. Chicago is also a port city: large ships can travel through the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes to carry cargo to Chicago. And through smaller rivers, Chicago is connected to the Mississippi River, making transportation easier over long distances.
With Chicago and New York being key ports for shipping to and from Europe to the US and Canada, they also have become major financial centers. Many corporations have their major offices there, in order to be close to their company's business issues. And from there, many financial markets (like the NY Stock Exchange, and the Chicago Board of Exchange) have grown over 100+ years to invest money, borrow money, and loan money in businesses. All this activity generates income, which, in turn, gets invested in buildings.
But you might be asking a different question: so just in case, I'll mention the geology of NYC, specifically Manhattan Island (which is the 'center' of the city). That island is basically a chunk of solid granite - one of the hardest, most solid rocks on Earth. It provides an excellent foundation for large numbers of tall heavy buildings. There are few places on earth that could hold so many big buildings in such a small area.
I don't know much about Chicago's geology, but living near Los Angeles, I am quite certain that even with our tall buildings, our relatively soft sedimentary rock (because of erosion and earthquakes) makes it much more difficult to build as many tall buildings as on the East Coast.
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Chicago is not a large port city at all, while there is a port, the shipping is much less than that of New York. Anyway Chicago is on a large lake, not an ocean. Chicago's economy comes from manufacturing, shipping through trains and planes, trading and tourism. Chicago has always attracted development and architects which is why there are the skyscrapers.