New York City's five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx) and Long Island should be able to become one independent state separate from New York State.
The main reason for this is that New York City is vastly different than the rest of New York, so this should be displayed through the separation of New York.
More than 8,000,000 people live in the five boroughs and more than 7,500,000 live in Long Island, which would make it the fifth most populated state with a total of almost 16,000,000 people, even though it would be the second smallest state by area, next to Rhode Island.
New York City should be its own state.