All the passengers and the crew of at least four were rescued from the sinking plane, the US Federal Aviation Administration confirmed.
The US Airways Airbus A320 crashed just after taking off from LaGuardia Airport heading for Charlotte, North Carolina. [break]
US Airways said 150 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots were on board the jetliner, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
Officials believe the plane may have collided with a flock of birds.
"There is no indication that the incident is security-related," a homeland security official told the BBC.
Rescue boats plucked passengers, who could be seen wearing life jackets, from the wings of the plane.
The plane was drifting rapidly down the Hudson as the rescue was carried out.
US Airways said it was confirming passenger and crew names from Flight 1549 and would issue them as soon as possible. It also gave an emergency number for people who believe they may have had relatives on the flight: 1-800-679-8215.
Flight 1549 departed LaGuardia at 1503 local time (0148 NST, 2003 GMT), after a delay of 18 minutes, the airline said.
It is believed the plane had been in the air for three minutes after take-off when it crashed, said a spokeswoman for the US Federal Aviation Authority, Laura Brown.
Kevin Johns, a former aircraft engineer in the US military, told the BBC he had seen the plane shortly before it crashed into the water.
"When I saw it so low I thought right away of 9/11," he said.
"I saw the flames and I knew it was in trouble and that´s why I called 911 right away to let them know it was in trouble. I thought it was trying to head for Newark or something."
Another, unnamed man who witnessed the crash told the BBC that the crash had seemed like a scene from a film.
"It looked crazy, it looked like a movie, it looked like a movie, it was incredible," he said.
"It made a pretty big splash when it landed on the water."
The FAA said eyewitnesses had reported that the plane "may have flown into a flock of birds".
"Right now we don´t have any indication this was anything other than an accident," FAA spokeswoman Brown said.
Related story
US dollar selling at Rs 137.91, euro at Rs 155.96
