The victim was pulled from the fire on the top floor of a Fifth Avenue apartment building just before 6:30 a.m.
She was rushed to New York Methodist Hospital in cardiac arrest.
The victim, in her 60s, lives alone and has a home care attendant during the day.
She died later at the hospital.
Other residents were forced to flee the building, and waited on the sidewalk.
Firefighters quickly brought the fire under control.
The cause is under investigation.