It followed a one-year hiatus after the 2012 event was canceled due to Hurricane Sandy. Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya won the men's division with a time of 2:08:24, his second consecutive win in New York. Priscah Jeptoo, also from Kenya, won the women's division with a time of 2:25:07. The two winners each received $100,000 in prize money, with Jeptoo capturing the World Marathon Majors title for $500,000.

In the women's wheelchair division, Tatyana McFadden of the United States completed a historic sweep of the Boston, London, Chicago, and New York marathons in the same year, winning in 1:59:13. She became the first person to win four major marathons in a single calendar year. Switzerland's Marcel Hug won the men's wheelchair division in 1:40:14.

Jimmy Jenson became the first person with Down syndrome to run the entire New York City Marathon, and Joy Johnson became the oldest woman to do so at age 86.