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Queens is a
borough of New York City New York City is composed of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York State, making New York City the largest U.S. municipality situated in ...
, coextensive with Queens County, in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
at the western tip of Long Island to its west, and Nassau County to its east. Queens also shares water borders with the boroughs of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, and Staten Island (via the Rockaways). With a population of 2,405,464 as of the 2020 census, Queens is the second most populous county in the State of New York, behind Kings County (Brooklyn), and is therefore also the second most populous of the five New York City boroughs. If Queens became a city, it would rank as the fifth most-populous in the U.S. after
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, and
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
. Approximately 47% of the residents of Queens are foreign-born. Queens is the most linguistically diverse place on Earth and is one of the most
ethnically diverse The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...
counties in the United States. Queens was established in 1683 as one of the original 12 counties of the
Province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the U ...
. The settlement was named after the English Queen and Portuguese royal princess
Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...
(1638–1705). From 1683 to 1899, the County of Queens included what is now Nassau County. Queens became a borough during the consolidation of New York City in 1898, combining the separate towns of Long Island City, Newtown,
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
,
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, and western Hempstead. With the exception of Hempstead, all are today considered neighborhoods of Queens. Queens has the most diversified economy of the five boroughs of New York City. It is home to two of New York City's airports:
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
and LaGuardia. Landmarks in Queens which support its economy include Flushing Meadows–Corona Park;
Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City, United States. It opened in 2009 and is the home field of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. The stadium was built as a replacement for the adjacent ...
, home to the New York Mets baseball team; the
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is a stadium complex within Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. It has been the home of the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament, played every year in August ...
, site of the U.S. Open tennis tournament; Kaufman Astoria Studios;
Silvercup Studios Silvercup Studios is one of the largest film and television production facilities in New York City. The studio is located in Long Island City, Queens, with another facility in the Port Morris neighborhood of the Bronx. The studio complex has bee ...
; and the Aqueduct Racetrack.
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
is undergoing rapid
gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ec ...
with investment by Chinese transnational entities, while Long Island City is undergoing gentrification secondary to its proximity across the East River from Manhattan. The borough has diverse housing, ranging from high-rise apartment buildings in some areas of western and central Queens, such as
Ozone Park Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens, New York, United States. It is next to the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, a popular spot for Thoroughbred racing and home to the Resorts Wor ...
, Jackson Heights, Flushing, Astoria, and Long Island City, to neighborhoods with many low-rise structures in the eastern part of the borough.


History


Colonial and post-colonial history

The first European settlement in the region were the
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
, who established the colony of New Netherland. The first settlements were established in 1635 followed by further settlement at Maspeth in 1642 (ultimately unsuccessful), and Vlissingen (now
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
) in 1645. Other early settlements included Newtown (now Elmhurst) in 1652 and
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
in 1655. However, these towns were mostly inhabited by English settlers from
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...
via eastern Long Island ( Suffolk County) who were subject to Dutch law. After the capture of the colony by the English and its subsequent renaming as ''New York'' in 1664, the area (and all of Long Island) became known as
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
. The
Flushing Remonstrance The Flushing Remonstrance was a 1657 petition to Director-General of New Netherland Peter Stuyvesant, in which some thirty residents of the small settlement at Flushing requested an exemption to his ban on Quaker worship. It is considered a pre ...
signed by colonists in 1657 is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the
Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pr ...
. The signers protested the Dutch colonial authorities' persecution of
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
in what is today the borough of Queens. Originally, Queens County included the adjacent area now comprising Nassau County. It was an original county of New York State, one of twelve created on November 1, 1683. The county is assumed to have been named after
Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...
, since she was queen of England at the time (she was Portugal's royal princess Catarina, daughter of King
John IV of Portugal John IV ( pt, João, ; 19 March 1604 – 6 November 1656), nicknamed John the Restorer ( pt, João, o Restaurador), was the King of Portugal whose reign, lasting from 1640 until his death, began the Portuguese restoration of independence from H ...
). The county was founded alongside Kings County (
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, which was named after her husband, King Charles II), and
Richmond County Richmond County may refer to places: Australia *Richmond County, New South Wales, a cadastral division Canada *Richmond County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Richmondshire, the original Richmond County in Yorkshire, England United States ...
( Staten Island, named after his illegitimate son, the 1st Duke of Richmond). However, the namesake is disputed. While Catherine's title seems the most likely namesake, no historical evidence of official declaration has been found. On October 7, 1691, all counties in the
Colony of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Unit ...
were redefined. Queens gained North and South Brother Islands as well as Huletts Island (today known as Rikers Island). On December 3, 1768, Queens gained other islands in Long Island Sound that were not already assigned to a county but that did not abut on
Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...
(today's Bronx County). Queens played a minor role in the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, as compared to Brooklyn, where the
Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn, New Yor ...
was largely fought. Queens, like the rest of what became New York City and Long Island, remained under British occupation after the Battle of Long Island in 1776 and was occupied throughout most of the rest of the Revolutionary War. Under the
Quartering Act The Quartering Acts were two or more Acts of British Parliament requiring local governments of Britain's North American colonies to provide the British soldiers with housing and food. Each of the Quartering Acts was an amendment to the Mutiny A ...
, British soldiers used, as barracks, the public inns and uninhabited buildings belonging to Queens residents. Even though many residents opposed unannounced quartering, they supported the British crown. The quartering of soldiers in private homes, except in times of war, was banned by the
Third Amendment to the United States Constitution The Third Amendment (Amendment III) to the United States Constitution places restrictions on the quartering of soldiers in private homes without the owner's consent, forbidding the practice in peacetime. The amendment is a response to the Qua ...
. Nathan Hale was captured by the British on the shore of Flushing Bay and hanged in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. From 1683 until 1784, Queens County consisted of five towns: Flushing, Hempstead,
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, Newtown, and Oyster Bay. On April 6, 1784, a sixth town, the Town of North Hempstead, was formed through secession by the northern portions of the Town of Hempstead. The seat of the county government was located first in Jamaica, but the courthouse was torn down by the British during the American Revolution to use the materials to build barracks. After the war, various buildings in Jamaica temporarily served as courthouse and jail until a new building was erected about 1787 (and later completed) in an area near Mineola (now in Nassau County) known then as Clowesville. The 1850 United States census was the first in which the population of the three western towns exceeded that of the three eastern towns that are now part of Nassau County. Concerns were raised about the condition and distance of the old courthouse, and several sites were in contention for the construction of a new one. In 1870, Long Island City split from the Town of Newtown, incorporating itself as a city, consisting of what had been the village of Astoria and some unincorporated areas within the town of Newtown. Around 1874, the seat of county government was moved to Long Island City from Mineola. On March 1, 1860, the eastern border between Queens County (later Nassau County) and Suffolk County was redefined with no discernible change. On June 8, 1881, North Brother Island was transferred to New York County. On May 8, 1884, Rikers Island was transferred to New York County. In 1886, Lloyd's Neck, which was then part of the town of Oyster Bay and had earlier been known as Queens Village, was set off and separated from Queens County and annexed to the town of Huntington in Suffolk County. On April 16, 1964, South Brother Island was transferred to Bronx County.


Incorporation as borough

The New York City borough of Queens was authorized on May 4, 1897, by a vote of the
New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...
after an 1894 referendum on consolidation. The eastern of Queens that became Nassau County was partitioned on January 1, 1899. Queens Borough was established on January 1, 1898. "The city of Long Island City, the towns of Newtown,
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
and
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, and that part of the town of Hempstead, in the county of Queens, which is westerly of a straight line drawn through the middle of the channel between Rockaway Beach and Shelter Island, in the county of Queens, to the Atlantic Ocean" was annexed to New York City, dissolving all former municipal governments ( Long Island City, the county government, all towns, and all villages) within the new borough. The areas of Queens County that were not part of the consolidation plan, consisting of the towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay, and the major remaining portion of the Town of Hempstead, remained part of Queens County until they seceded to form the new Nassau County on January 1, 1899. At this point, the boundaries of Queens County and the Borough of Queens became coterminous. With consolidation, Jamaica once again became the county seat, though county offices now extend to nearby Kew Gardens also. In 1899, New York City conducted a land survey to determine the exact border of Queens between the Rockaways and
Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...
. This proved difficult because the border was defined as "middle of the channel between Rockaway Beach and Shelter Island" (now called Long Beach Island), and that particular channel had closed up by 1899. The surveyors had to determine where the channel had been when the consolidation law was written in 1894. The surveyors did so in part by speaking with local fishermen and oystermen who knew the area well. From 1905 to 1908 the Long Island Rail Road in Queens became electrified. Transportation to and from
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, previously by ferry or via bridges in Brooklyn, opened up with the Queensboro Bridge finished in 1909, and with railway tunnels under the East River in 1910. From 1915 onward, much of Queens was connected to the New York City Subway system. With the 1915 construction of the Steinway Tunnel carrying the
IRT Flushing Line The IRT Flushing Line is a rapid transit route of the New York City Subway system, named for its eastern terminal in Flushing, Queens. It is operated as part of the A Division. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), a private operator, ...
between Queens and Manhattan, and the robust expansion of the use of the
automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...
, the population of Queens more than doubled in the 1920s, from 469,042 in 1920 to 1,079,129 in 1930. In later years, Queens was the site of the 1939 New York World's Fair and the 1964 New York World's Fair.
LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...
, in northern Queens, opened in 1939. Idlewild Airport, in southern Queens and now called
JFK Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New ...
, opened in 1948. In one of several notable incidents,
TWA Flight 800 Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 8:31pm. EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy Internationa ...
took off from the airport on July 17, 1996. In another, American Airlines Flight 587 took off from the latter airport on November 12, 2001, but ended up crashing in Queens' Belle Harbor area, killing 265 people. In late October 2012, much of Queens' Breezy Point area was destroyed by a massive six-alarm fire caused by
Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
.


Geography

Queens is located on the far western portion of geographic Long Island and includes a few smaller islands, most of which are in Jamaica Bay, forming part of the
Gateway National Recreation Area Gateway National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bir ...
, which in turn is one of the National Parks of New York Harbor. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...
, Queens County has a total area of , of which is land and (39%) is water.
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, the only other New York City borough on geographic Long Island, lies just south and west of Queens, with Newtown Creek, an
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
that flows into the East River, forming part of the border. To the west and north is the East River, across which is
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
to the west and
The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
to the north. Nassau County is east of Queens on Long Island. Staten Island is southwest of Brooklyn, and shares only a three-mile-long water border (in the Outer Bay) with Queens. North of Queens are Flushing Bay and the Flushing River, connecting to the East River. The East River opens into Long Island Sound. The midsection of Queens is crossed by the Long Island straddling terminal moraine created by the
Wisconsin Glacier The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cord ...
. The
Rockaway Peninsula The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of the ...
, the southernmost part of all of Queens, sits between Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, featuring of beaches.


Climate

Under the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
, using the coldest month (January) isotherm, Queens and the rest of New York City have a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(Dfa) bordering humid subtropical climate (Cfa) with partial shielding from the
Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...
and moderating influences from the Atlantic Ocean. Queens receives precipitation throughout the year, with an average of per year. In an average year, there will be 44 days with either moderate or heavy rain. An average winter will have 22 days with some snowfall, of which nine days have at least of snowfall. Summer is typically hot, humid, and wet. An average year will have 17 days with a high temperature of or warmer.Climatological Report (Annual): LaGuardia NY
. ''National Weather Service''. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
In an average year, there are 14 days on which the temperature does not go above all day. Spring and autumn can vary from chilly to very warm. The highest temperature ever recorded at
LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...
was on July 3, 1966. The highest temperature ever recorded at
John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...
was , also on July 3, 1966.Climatological Report (Annual): LaGuardia NY
. ''National Weather Service''. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
LaGuardia Airport's record-low temperature was on February 15, 1943, the effect of which was exacerbated by a shortage of heating oil and
coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...
. John F. Kennedy International Airport's record-low temperature was , on February 8, 1963, and January 21, 1985. On January 24, 2016, of snow fell, which is the record in Queens. Tornadoes are generally rare; the most recent tornado, an EF0, touched down in College Point on August 3, 2018, causing minor damage. Before that, there was a tornado in Breezy Point on September 8, 2012, which damaged the roofs of some homes,< and an EF1 tornado in
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
on September 26, 2010.


Neighborhoods

Four United States Postal Service postal zones serve Queens, based roughly on those serving the towns in existence at the consolidation of the five boroughs into New York City: Long Island City ( ZIP codes starting with 111), Jamaica (114), Flushing (113), and
Far Rockaway Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...
(116). Also, the
Floral Park Floral Park is an Administrative divisions of New York State#Village, incorporated village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York, United States, on Long Island. The population as of the US Census of 2010 is 15,863. ...
post office (110), based in Nassau County, serves a small part of northeastern Queens. Each of these main post offices has neighborhood stations with individual ZIP codes, and unlike the other boroughs, these station names are often used in addressing letters. These ZIP codes do not always reflect traditional neighborhood names and boundaries; " East Elmhurst", for example, was largely coined by the USPS and is not an official community. Most neighborhoods have no solid boundaries. The Forest Hills and Rego Park neighborhoods, for instance, overlap. Residents of Queens often closely identify with their neighborhood rather than with the borough or city. The borough is a patchwork of dozens of unique neighborhoods, each with its own distinct identity:
  1. Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
    , one of the largest neighborhoods in Queens, has a large and growing Asian community. The community consists of Chinese, Koreans, and South Asians. Asians have now expanded eastward along the Northern Boulevard axis through Murray Hill, Whitestone, Bayside, Douglaston–Little Neck, and eventually into adjacent Nassau County. These neighborhoods historically contained Italian Americans and Greeks, as well as Latino Americans. The busy intersection of Main Street, Kissena Boulevard, and 41st Avenue defines the center of Downtown Flushing and the Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), known as the "Chinese
    Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
    " or the "Chinese
    Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
    ". The segment of Main Street between Kissena Boulevard and
    Roosevelt Avenue Roosevelt Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue are main thoroughfares in the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. Roosevelt Avenue begins at 48th Street and Queens Boulevard in the neighborhood of Sunnyside. West of Queens Boulevard, the ro ...
    , punctuated by the Long Island Rail Road trestle overpass, represents the cultural heart of the Flushing Chinatown. Housing over 25,000 individuals born in China alone,
    Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
    has become home to one of the largest Chinatowns, representing the largest Chinese population of any U.S. municipality other than New York City in total.
  2. Howard Beach, Whitestone, and Middle Village are home to large Italian American populations.
  3. Ozone Park Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens, New York, United States. It is next to the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, a popular spot for Thoroughbred racing and home to the Resorts Wor ...
    and
    South Ozone Park South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. Adja ...
    have large Italian,
    Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
    , and Guyanese populations.
  4. Rockaway Beach has a large Irish American population.
  5. Astoria, in the northwest, is traditionally home to one of the largest
    Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
    populations outside Greece. It also has large
    Spanish American Spanish Americans ( es, españoles estadounidenses, ''hispanoestadounidenses'', or ''hispanonorteamericanos'') are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. They are the longest-established European American group in th ...
    and Italian American communities, and is home to a growing population of immigrants from the Middle East, South Asia, the
    Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
    as well as young professionals from Manhattan. Nearby Long Island City is a major commercial center and the home to Queensbridge, the largest housing project in North America.
  6. Maspeth and Ridgewood are home to many Eastern European immigrants such as Romanian, Polish, Serbian, Albanian, and other Slavic populations. Ridgewood also has a large Hispanic population.
  7. Jackson Heights and Elmhurst make up a conglomeration of
    Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
    , Asian, Tibetan, and South Asian communities. Jackson Heights is also known as "Little Colombia" thanks to the gastronomical and demographic impact of Colombian people.
  8. Woodside is home to a large
    Filipino American Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New ...
    community and has a "
    Little Manila A Little Manila ( fil, Munting Maynila or ), also known as a Manilatown ( fil, Bayang Maynila) or Filipinotown ( fil, Bayang Pilipino), is a community with a large Filipino immigrant and descendant population. Little Manilas are enclaves of Overs ...
    " as well a large Irish American population. Many Filipino Americans live in Hollis and Queens Village.
  9. Richmond Hill, in the south, is often thought of as "Little Guyana" for its large Guyanese community, as well as Punjab Avenue (ਪੰਜਾਬ ਐਵੇਨਿਊ), or Little Punjab, for its high concentration of Punjabi people.
  10. Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, and
    Kew Gardens Hills Kew Gardens Hills is a neighborhood in the middle of the New York City borough of Queens. The borders are Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to the west, the Long Island Expressway to the north, Union Turnpike to the south, and Parsons Boulevard to t ...
    have traditionally large Jewish populations (historically from Germany and Eastern Europe; though more recent immigrants are from Israel, Iran, and the former
    Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
    ). These neighborhoods are also known for large and growing Asian communities, mainly immigrants from China.
  11. Jamaica Estates,
    Jamaica Hills Jamaica Hills is a small middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is surrounded by Hillcrest (at the Grand Central Parkway to the north), Jamaica Estates (at Homelawn Street, a continuation of Utopia Pa ...
    , Hillcrest,
    Fresh Meadows Fresh Meadows is a neighborhood in the northeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. Fresh Meadows used to be part of the broader town of Flushing and is bordered to the north by the Horace Harding Expressway; to the west by Po ...
    , and
    Hollis Hills Queens Village is a mostly residential middle class neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Queens. It is bound by Hollis, Queens, Hollis to the west, Cambria Heights, Queens, Cambria Heights to the ...
    are also populated with many people of Jewish background. Many Asian families reside in parts of Fresh Meadows as well.
  12. Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
    is home to large
    African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
    , Caribbean, and
    Central American Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Cen ...
    populations. There are also middle-class African American and Caribbean neighborhoods such as Saint Albans, Queens Village,
    Cambria Heights Cambria Heights is a residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Springfield Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, the Elmont, Nassau County border on the east, Qu ...
    , Springfield Gardens, Rosedale, Laurelton, and Briarwood along east and southeast Queens.
  13. Bellerose and
    Floral Park Floral Park is an Administrative divisions of New York State#Village, incorporated village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York, United States, on Long Island. The population as of the US Census of 2010 is 15,863. ...
    , originally home to many Irish Americans, is home to a growing South Asian population, predominantly Indian Americans.
  14. Corona and Corona Heights, once considered the "Little Italy" of Queens, was a predominantly Italian community with a strong African American community in the northern portion of Corona and adjacent East Elmhurst. From the 1920s through the 1960s, Corona remained a close-knit neighborhood. Corona today has the highest concentration of Latinos of any Queens neighborhood, with an increasing Chinese American population, located between Elmhurst and Flushing.


Demographics

At the 2020 census, 2,405,464 people lived in Queens. In 2018's American Community Survey, the population of Queens was estimated by the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...
to have increased to 2,278,906, a rise of 2.2%. Queens' estimated population represented 27.1% of New York City's population of 8,398,748; 29.6% of Long Island's population of 7,701,172; and 11.7% of New York State's population of 19,542,209. The 2019 estimates reported a decline to 2,253,858. In 2018, there were 865,878 housing units, and 777,904 households, 2.97 persons per household, and a median value of $481,300. There was an owner-occupancy rate of 44.5. In the
2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servi ...
, Queens recorded a population of 2,230,722. There were 780,117 households enumerated, with an average of 2.82 persons per household. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...
was 20,465.3 inhabitants per square mile (7,966.9/km2). There were 835,127 housing units at an average density of 7,661.7 per square mile (2,982.6/km2). The racial makeup of the county in 2010 was 39.7%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, 19.1%
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
or
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.7% Native American, 22.9% Asian, 0.1%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 12.9% from
other races Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 4.5% from two or more races. A total of 27.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latin American of any race. The non-Hispanic white population was 27.6%. In 2019, non-Hispanic whites made up an estimated 24.4% of the population, and Blacks or African Americans were 17.3%. The largest minority groups for the borough were Hispanic and Latin Americans (28.2%), and Asians (26.0%). In Queens, residents consisted of 6.2% under 5, 13.9% 6–18, 64.2% 19–64, and 15.7% over 65. Females made up 51.5% of the population. An estimated 47.5% of residents are foreign-born in 2018. The per capita income was $28,814, and the median household income was $62,008. In 2018, 12.2% of residents lived below the poverty line. The New York City Department of City Planning was alarmed by the negligible reported increase in population between 2000 and 2010. Areas with high proportions of immigrants and undocumented aliens are traditionally undercounted for a variety of reasons, often based on a mistrust of government officials or an unwillingness to be identified. In many cases, counts of vacant apartment units did not match data from local surveys and reports from property owners.


Ethnic groups

According to a 2001 Claritas study, Queens was the most diverse county in the United States among counties of 100,000+ population. A 2014 analysis by ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' found Queens County to be the third most racially diverse county-equivalent in the United States—behind
Aleutians West Census Area Aleutians West Census Area (russian: Западные Алеутские острова) is a census area located in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,232, down from 5,561 in 2010. It is part of the Unorg ...
and Aleutians East Borough in Alaska—as well as the most diverse county in New York. Meanwhile, a 2017 study by
Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...
found that, although numerous smaller counties in the United States had higher rates of diversity, Queens was the United States' most diverse populous county. In Queens, approximately 48.5% of the population was foreign born as of 2010. Within the foreign born population, 49.5% were born in
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, 33.5% in Asia, 14.8% in Europe, 1.8% in Africa, and 0.4% in North America. Roughly 2.1% of the population was born in
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
, a U.S. territory, or abroad to American parents. In addition, 51.2% of the population was born in the United States. Approximately 44.2% of the population over 5 years of age speak English at home; 23.8% speak Spanish at home. Also, 16.8% of the populace speak other
Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
at home. Another 13.5% speak a non-Indo-European Asian language or language of the Pacific Islands at home. Among the Asian population in 2010, people of Chinese ethnicity made up the largest ethnic group at 10.2% of Queens' population, with about 237,484 people; the other East and Southeast Asian groups are: Koreans (2.9%),
Filipinos Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or othe ...
(1.7%),
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
(0.3%), Thais (0.2%),
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...
(0.2%), and Indonesians and Burmese both make up 0.1% of the population. People of South Asian descent made up 7.8% of Queens' population: Indians (5.3%), Bangladeshi (1.5%), Pakistanis (0.7%), and Nepali (0.2%). In 2019, Chinese Americans remained the largest Asian ethnicity (10.9%) followed by Asian Indians (5.7%). Asian Indians had estimated population of 144,896 in 2014 (6.24% of the 2014 borough population), as well as Pakistani Americans, who numbered at 15,604. Queens has the second largest Sikh population in the nation after
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. Among the Hispanic or Latin American population, Puerto Ricans made up the largest ethnic group at 4.6%, next to Mexicans, who made up 4.2% of the population, and Dominicans at 3.9%.
Central American Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Cen ...
s made up 2.4% and are mostly Salvadorans.
South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
s constitute 9.6% of Queens's population, mainly of
Ecuadorian Ecuadorians ( es, ecuatorianos) are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are colle ...
(4.4%) and Colombian descent (4.2%). The 2019 American Community Survey estimated Mexicans and Puerto Ricans were equally the largest groups (4.5% each) in Queens, and Cuban Americans were the third largest single group. Other Hispanic and Latinos collectively made up 18.9% of the population. The Hispanic or Latino population increased by 61% to 597,773 between 1990 and 2006 and now accounts for over 26.5% of the borough's population. Queens has the largest Colombian population in the city, accounting for over 35.6% of the city's total Colombian population, for a total of 145,956 in 2019; it also has the largest
Ecuadorian Ecuadorians ( es, ecuatorianos) are people identified with the South American country of Ecuador. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Ecuadorians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are colle ...
population in the city, accounting for 62.2% of the city's total Ecuadorian population, for a total of 101,339. Queens has the largest
Peruvian Peruvians ( es, peruanos) are the citizens of Peru. There were Andean and coastal ancient civilizations like Caral, which inhabited what is now Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish conquest of Peru, Spanish conquest in th ...
population in the city, accounting for 69.9% of the city's total Peruvian population, for a total of 30,825. Queens has the largest Salvadoran population in the city, accounting for 50.7% of the city for a total population of 25,235. The Mexican population in Queens has increased 45.7% since 2011 to 71,283, the second-highest in the city, after Brooklyn. Queens is also home to 49.6% of the city's Asian population. Among the five boroughs, Queens has the largest population of Chinese, Indian,
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...
,
Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
, Bangladeshi and Pakistani Americans. Queens has the largest Asian American population by county outside the
Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...
; according to the 2006 American Community Survey, Queens ranks fifth among US counties with 477,772 (21.18%) Asian Americans, behind Los Angeles County, California, Honolulu County, Hawaii,
Santa Clara County, California Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together ...
, and Orange County, California. Some main European ancestries in Queens as of 2000 include:
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
(8.4%),
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
(5.5%), German (3.5%), Polish (2.7%),
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
(2.3%), and
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
(2.0%). Of the European American population, Queens has the third largest Bosnian population in the United States behind only
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
and
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, numbering more than 15,000. Queens is home to some 50,000
Armenian Americans Armenian Americans ( hy, ամերիկահայեր, ''amerikahayer'') are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians ...
. The ''Jewish Community Study of New York 2011'', sponsored by the UJA-Federation of New York, found that about 9% of Queens residents were Jews. In 2011, there were about 198,000 Jews in Queens, making it home to about 13% of all people in Jewish households in the eight-county area consisting of the Five Boroughs and Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk counties. Russian-speaking Jews make up 28% of the Jewish population in Queens, the largest in any of the eight counties. In Queens, the Black and African American population earns more than non-Hispanic whites on average. Many of these Blacks and African Americans live in quiet, middle-class suburban neighborhoods near the Nassau County border, such as Laurelton and
Cambria Heights Cambria Heights is a residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Springfield Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, the Elmont, Nassau County border on the east, Qu ...
which have large black populations whose family income is higher than average. The migration of European Americans from parts of Queens has been long ongoing with departures from Ozone Park, Woodhaven, Bellerose, Floral Park, and Flushing (most of the outgoing population has been replaced with Asian Americans). Neighborhoods such as Whitestone, College Point, North Flushing, Auburndale, Bayside, Middle Village, and Douglaston–Little Neck have not had a substantial exodus of white residents, but have seen an increase of Asian population, mostly Chinese and Korean. Queens has experienced a
real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
boom making most of its neighborhoods desirable for people who want to reside near Manhattan but in a less urban setting.


Languages

According to the office of the New York State Comptroller in 2000, 138 languages are spoken in the borough. Another survey, in 2010, by the Modern Language Association, found that – of those over the age of five residing in Queens – 56.16% spoke a language other than English in the home. ! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! 13 !! 14 !! 15 !! 16 !! 17 !! 18 !! 19 !! 20 !! 21 !! 22 !! 23 !! 24 !! 25 !! 26 !! 27 !! 28 !! 29 !! 30 !! , - ! English !! Spanish !! Chinese !! Various, Indic !! Korean !! Russian !! Italian !! Tagalog !! Greek !! French Creole !! Polish !!
Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
!!
Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Asian !! Other, Indo-European !! French !!
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
!!
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...
!!
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
!! Various, African !!
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
!!
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
!! Gujarati !! German !! Japanese !! Other, Slavic !! Other,
Pacific Island Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...
!! Hungarian !! Thai !!
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...
!! All, non-English , -style="text-align:right" , 905,890 , , 493,462 , , 166,570 , , 71,054 , , 56,701 , , 34,596 , , 32,268 , , 31,922 , , 31,651 , , 27,345 , , 24,118 , , 19,868 , , 19,262 , , 18,931 , , 16,435 , , 14,685 , , 12,505 , , 10,008 , , 9,410 , , 8,787 , , 7,364 , , 7,308 , , 6,942 , , 6,927 , , 6,723 , , 4,884 , , 4,667 , , 3,053 , , 2,830 , , 2,636 , , 1,160,483 , -style="text-align:right" , 43.84 , , 23.88 , , 8.06 , , 3.44 , , 2.74 , , 1.67 , , 1.56 , , 1.54 , , 1.53 , , 1.32 , , 1.17 , , 0.96 , , 0.93 , , 0.92 , , 0.80 , , 0.71 , , 0.61 , , 0.48 , , 0.46 , , 0.43 , , 0.36 , , 0.35 , , 0.34 , , 0.34 , , 0.33 , , 0.24 , , 0.23 , , 0.15 , , 0.14 , , 0.13 , , 56.16 , - , colspan=31 ,


Religion

In 2010 statistics, the largest religious group in Queens was the Diocese of Brooklyn, with 677,520 Roman Catholics worshiping at 100 parishes, followed by an estimated 81,456
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
with 57 congregations, 80,000 Orthodox Jews with 110 congregations, 33,325 non-denominational Christian adherents with 129 congregations, 28,085 AME Methodists with 14 congregations, 24,250
Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...
with 6 congregations, 16,775 Hindus with 18 congregations, 13,989 AoG Pentecostals with 64 congregations, 13,507 Seventh-day Adventists with 45 congregations, and 12,957 Mahayana Buddhists with 26 congregations. Altogether, 49.4% of the population was claimed as members by religious congregations, although members of historically African American denominations were underrepresented due to incomplete information. In 2014, Queens had 738 religious organizations, the thirteenth most out of all U.S. counties.


Culture

Queens has been the center of the punk rock movement, particularly in New York; Ramones originated out of Forest Hills, it has also been the home of such notable artists as
Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...
, Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Simon, and Robert Mapplethorpe. Queens Poet Laureates (generally, 3-year appointments): * 1997–2001: Stephen Stepanchev (inaugural Poet Laureate) * 2001–2004: Hal Sirowitz (born 1949) * 2004–2007: Ishle Yi Park * 2007–2010: Julio Marzan * 2010–2014: Paolo Javier * 2015–2019: Maria Lisella Queens has notably fostered African American culture, with establishments such as The Afrikan Poetry Theatre and the Black Spectrum Theater Company catering specifically to African Americans in Queens. In the 1940s, Queens was an important center of
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
; such jazz luminaries as Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, and
Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...
took up residence in Queens, seeking refuge from the segregation they found elsewhere in New York. Additionally, many notable hip-hop acts hail from Queens, including Nas, Run-D.M.C.,
Kool G Rap Nathaniel Thomas Wilson (born July 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Kool G Rap (or simply G Rap), is an American rapper from Queens, New York City. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and a ...
, A Tribe Called Quest, LL Cool J,
MC Shan Shawn Moltke (born September 6, 1965) better known by his stage name MC Shan, is an American hip hop and R&B recording artist. He is best known for his song "The Bridge" produced by Marley Marl, and for collaborating with Snow on " Informe ...
, Mobb Deep, 50 Cent, Nicki Minaj, Tony Yayo,
Tragedy Khadafi Percy Lee Chapman (born August 13, 1971), known by his stage name Tragedy Khadafi (formerly Intelligent Hoodlum), is an American rapper and record producer. Chapman hails from the Queensbridge Housing Projects in Queens, New York City,Brown, Mar ...
, N.O.R.E.,
Capone (rapper) Kiam Akasi Holley (born February 8, 1976), better known by his stage name Capone, is an American rapper known as one half of the East Coast hip hop duo Capone-N-Noreaga (C-N-N), alongside friend and fellow rapper N.O.R.E.. Career Holley spen ...
,
Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with '' Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single " Holla Holla". Dur ...
,
Heems Himanshu Kumar Suri (born July 6, 1985), better known by his stage name Heems, is an American rapper from Queens in New York City. Best known for being part of the alternative hip hop group Das Racist, Suri is also the founder of Greedhead Musi ...
of
Das Racist Das Racist was an American alternative hip hop group based in Brooklyn, composed of MCs Heems and Kool A.D. and hype man Ashok Kondabolu (a.k.a. Dapwell or Dap). Known for their use of humor, academic references, foreign allusions, and unconven ...
and
Action Bronson Ariyan Arslani (born December 2, 1983), professionally known as Action Bronson, is an American rapper, songwriter, chef, wrestler, exotic olive oil taster, and television presenter. Born and raised in Queens, New York, he embarked on his musical ...
. Queens hosts various museums and cultural institutions that serve its diverse communities. They range from the historical (such as the John Bowne House) to the scientific (such as the
New York Hall of Science The New York Hall of Science, also known as NYSCI, is a science museum located in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the New York City borough of Queens, in the section of the park that is in Corona. It occupies one of the few remaining structures fr ...
), from conventional art galleries (such as the
Noguchi Museum The Noguchi Museum, chartered as The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, is a museum and sculpture garden in the Long Island City section of Queens, New York City, designed and created by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. ...
) to unique graffiti exhibits (such as
5 Pointz 5 Pointz: The Institute of Higher Burnin' or 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center, Inc., mainly referred to as simply 5 Pointz or 5Pointz, was an American mural space at 45–46 Davis Street in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. When the building o ...
). Queens's cultural institutions include, but are not limited to: The travel magazine ''
Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarke ...
'' also named Queens the top destination in the country for 2015 for its cultural and culinary diversity. Stating that Queens is "quickly becoming its hippest" but that "most travelers haven't clued in... yet," the ''Lonely Planet'' stated that "nowhere is the image of New York as the global melting pot truer than Queens."


Food

The cuisine available in Queens reflects its vast cultural diversity. The cuisine of a particular neighborhood often represents its demographics; for example, Astoria hosts many Greek restaurants, in keeping with its traditionally Greek population. Jackson Heights is known for its prominent
Indian cuisine Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to India. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally available spices, he ...
and also many Latin American eateries. The Queens Night Market in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, operating on Sundays from April to October starting in 2015, contains samples of food from dozens of countries.


Economy

Queens has the second-largest economy of New York City's five boroughs, following Manhattan. In 2004, Queens had 15.2% (440,310) of all private-sector jobs in New York City and 8.8% of private-sector wages. In 2012, private-sector employment increased to 486,160. Queens has the most diversified economy of the five boroughs, with occupations spread relatively evenly across the health care, retail trade, manufacturing, construction, transportation, and film and television production sectors, such that no single sector is overwhelmingly dominant. The diversification in Queens' economy is reflected in a large amount of employment in the export-oriented portions of its economy—such as transportation, manufacturing, and business services—that serve customers outside the region. This accounts for more than 27% of all Queens jobs and offers an average salary of $43,727, 14% greater than that of jobs in the locally oriented sector. The borough's largest employment sector—trade, transportation, and utilities—accounted for nearly 30% of all jobs in 2004; in 2012, its largest employment sector became health care and social services. Queens is home to two of the three major New York City area airports, JFK International Airport and
LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...
. These airports are among the busiest in the world, leading the airspace above Queens to be the most congested in the country. This airline industry is particularly important to the economy of Queens, providing almost one-quarter of the sector's employment and more than 30% of the sector's wages. Education and health services were the next largest sector in Queens and comprised almost 24% of the borough's jobs in 2004; in 2012, transportation and warehousing, and retail were the second largest at 12% each. The manufacturing and construction industries in Queens are among the largest of the city and accounted for nearly 17% of the borough's private sector jobs in 2004. Comprising almost 17% of the jobs in Queens is the information, financial activities, and business and professional services sectors in 2004. , Queens had almost 40,000 business establishments. Small businesses act as an important part of the borough's economic vitality with two-thirds of all businesses employing between one and four people. Several large companies have their headquarters in Queens, including watchmaker
Bulova Bulova is an American timepiece manufacturing company that was founded in 1875 and has been owned by Japanese multinational conglomerate Citizen Watch Co. since 2008. The company makes watches, clocks and accessories, and it is based in New York ...
, based in East Elmhurst; internationally renowned piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons in Astoria;
Glacéau Energy Brands, also doing business as Glacéau, is a privately owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company based in Whitestone, Queens, New York, that manufactures and distributes various lines of drinks marketed as enhanced water. Founded in May 1 ...
, the makers of Vitamin Water, headquartered in Whitestone; and
JetBlue Airways JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...
, an airline based in Long Island City. Long Island City is a major manufacturing and back-office center. Whitestone, Queens, Flushing is a major commercial hub for Chinese American and Korean American businesses, while
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
is the major civic and transportation hub for the borough.


Sports

Queens is home of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball. Founded in 1962 as an expansion team, the Mets has won 2 World Series championships and 5 National League pennants.
Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City, United States. It opened in 2009 and is the home field of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. The stadium was built as a replacement for the adjacent ...
is a 41,922-seat stadium opened in April 2009 in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park that is the home ballpark of the Mets. Shea Stadium, the former home of the Mets and the New York Jets of the National Football League, as well as the temporary home of the New York Yankees and the New York Giants, New York Giants Football Team stood where Citi Field's parking lot is now located, operating from 1964 to 2008. Queens will be the future home of the New York City FC stadium, new stadium for New York City FC of Major League Soccer, which is expected to be completed in 2027. The US Open (tennis), U.S. Open tennis tournament has been played since 1978 at the
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is a stadium complex within Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. It has been the home of the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament, played every year in August ...
, located just south of Citi Field. With a capacity of 23,771, Arthur Ashe Stadium is List of tennis stadiums by capacity, the biggest tennis stadium in the world. The U.S. .Open was formerly played at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills.
South Ozone Park South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. Adja ...
is the home of Aqueduct Racetrack, operated by the New York Racing Association and offers Thoroughbred horse-racing from late October/early November through April. Belmont Park Racetrack is mostly in Nassau County; however, a section of the property, including the Belmont Park station on the Long Island Rail Road, is in Queens.


Government

Since New York City's consolidation in 1898, Queens has been governed by the New York City Charter that provides for a strong mayor–council government, mayor–council system. The centralized New York City government is responsible for New York City Department of Education, public education, correctional institutions, public safety, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply, and welfare services in Queens. The Queens Library is governed by a 19-member Board of Trustees, appointed by the Mayor of New York City and the Borough President of Queens. Since 1990 the Borough President has acted as an advocate for the borough at the mayoral agencies, the City Council, the New York state government, and corporations. Queens' Borough President is Donovan Richards, elected in November 2020 as a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat. Queens Borough Hall is the seat of government and is located in Kew Gardens. The Democratic Party holds most public offices. Sixty-three percent of registered Queens voters are Democrats. Local party platforms center on affordable housing, education, and economic development. Controversial political issues in Queens include development, noise, and the cost of housing. Each of the city's five counties has its criminal court system and District Attorney, the chief public prosecutor who is directly elected by popular vote. Richard Brown (lawyer), Richard A. Brown, who ran on both the Republican and Democratic Party tickets, was the Queens County District Attorney (New York), District Attorney of Queens County from 1991 to 2018. The new DA as of January 2020 is Melinda Katz. Queens has 12 seats on the New York City Council, the second-largest number among the five boroughs. It is divided into 14 community districts, each served by a local Community Boards of Queens, Community Board. Community Boards are representative bodies that field complaints and serve as advocates for residents. Although Queens is heavily Democratic, it is considered a swing county in New York politics. Republican Party (United States), Republican political candidates who do well in Queens usually win citywide or statewide elections. Republicans such as former Mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg won majorities in Queens. Republican State Senator Serphin Maltese represented a district in central and southern Queens for twenty years until his defeat in 2008 by Democratic City Councilman Joseph Addabbo, Jr. In 2002, Queens voted against incumbent Republican Governor of New York George Pataki in favor of his Democratic opponent, Carl McCall by a slim margin. On the national level, Queens has not voted for a Republican candidate in a presidential election since 1972, when Queens voters chose Richard Nixon over George McGovern. Since the 1996 United States presidential election, 1996 presidential election, Democratic presidential candidates have received over 70% of the popular vote in Queens. Since the election of Donald Trump, Queens has become known in the United States for its surge in progressivism, progressive politics and grassroots campaigning.


Representatives in Congress

In 2018, seven Democrats represented Queens in the United States House of Representatives. * Thomas Suozzi (first elected in 2016) represents New York's 3rd congressional district, which covers the northeast Queens neighborhoods of Little Neck, Queens, Little Neck, Whitestone, Glen Oaks, Queens, Glen Oaks, and
Floral Park Floral Park is an Administrative divisions of New York State#Village, incorporated village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York, United States, on Long Island. The population as of the US Census of 2010 is 15,863. ...
. The district also covers the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Nassau County. * Gregory Meeks (first elected in 1998) represents New York's 5th congressional district, which covers the entire
Rockaway Peninsula The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of the ...
as well as the southeast Queens neighborhoods of Broad Channel, Queens, Broad Channel,
Cambria Heights Cambria Heights is a residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Springfield Boulevard and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the west, the Elmont, Nassau County border on the east, Qu ...
, Hollis,
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, Laurelton, Queens Village, Rosedale, Saint Albans, Springfield Gardens, and
South Ozone Park South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. Adja ...
. The district also includes
John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...
. * Grace Meng (first elected in 2012) represents New York's 6th congressional district, which includes the central and eastern Queens neighborhoods of Auburndale, Queens, Auburndale, Bayside, Elmhurst,
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
, Forest Hills, Glendale, Queens, Glendale, Kew Gardens, Maspeth, Middle Village, Murray Hill, and Rego Park. * Nydia Velázquez (first elected in 1992) represents New York's 7th congressional district, which includes the southwest Queens neighborhoods of Maspeth, Ridgewood, and Woodhaven, Queens, Woodhaven. The district also covers central and western
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and the Lower East Side of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. * Hakeem Jeffries (first elected in 2012) represents New York's 8th congressional district, which includes the southwest Queens neighborhoods of
Ozone Park Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens, New York, United States. It is next to the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, a popular spot for Thoroughbred racing and home to the Resorts Wor ...
and Howard Beach. The district also covers central and southern Brooklyn. * Carolyn Maloney (first elected in 1992) represents New York's 12th congressional district, which includes the western Queens neighborhoods of Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Queens, Sunnyside, and Maspeth. The district also covers the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. * Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (first elected in 2018) represents New York's 14th congressional district, which includes the northwest Queens neighborhoods of Astoria, College Point, Corona, Queens, Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Woodside, and Elmhurst. The district also covers the East Bronx.


Education


Elementary and secondary education

Elementary and secondary school education in Queens is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. Non-charter public schools in the borough are managed by the New York City Department of Education, the largest public school system in the United States. Most private schools are affiliated with or identify themselves with the Roman Catholic or Jewish religious communities. Townsend Harris High School is a Queens public magnet high school for the humanities consistently ranked as among the top 100 high schools in the United States. One of the nine Specialized High Schools in New York City is located in Queens. Located in the York College, City University of New York Campus in Jamaica, the Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, which emphasizes both science and mathematics, ranks as one of the best high schools in both the state and the country. It is one of the smallest Specialized High Schools that requires an entrance exam, the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test. The school has a student body of around 400 students.


Postsecondary institutions

* LaGuardia Community College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY), is known as "The World's Community College" for its diverse international student body representing more than 150 countries and speaking over 100 languages. The college has been named a National Institution of Excellence by the Post-secondary educational organizations in the United States#Policy Center on the First Year of College, Policy Center on the First Year of College. In a 2003 benchmark survey, in the Large Community College category (8,000–14,999 students), LaGuardia was one of three community colleges in the United States, community colleges ranked number one, nationally. The college hosts the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives. * Queens College, New York, Queens College is one of the elite colleges in the CUNY system. Established in 1937 to offer a strong liberal arts education to the residents of the borough, Queens College has over 16,000 students including more than 12,000 undergraduates and over 4,000 graduate students. Students from 120 countries speaking 66 different languages are enrolled at the school, which is located in
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
. Queens College is also the host of City University of New York School of Law, CUNY's law school. The Queens College Campus is also the home of Townsend Harris High School and the Queens College School for Math, Science, and Technology (PS/IS 499). * Queensborough Community College, originally part of the State University of New York, is in Bayside and is now part of CUNY. It prepares students to attend senior colleges mainly in the CUNY system. * St. John's University (New York City), St. John's University is a private, coeducational Roman Catholic university founded in 1870 by the Vincentian Family, Vincentian Fathers. With over 19,000 students, St. John's is known for its pharmacy, business and law programs as well as its men's basketball and soccer teams. * Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology is a private, cutting edge, degree-granting institution located across the Grand Central Parkway from LaGuardia Airport. Its presence underscores the importance of aviation to the Queens economy. * York College (New York), York College is one of CUNY's leading general-purpose liberal arts colleges, granting bachelor's degrees in more than 40 fields, as well as a combined BS/MS degree in Occupational Therapy. Noted for its Health Sciences Programs York College is also home to the Northeast Regional Office of the Food and Drug Administration.


Queens Public Library

The Queens Public Library is the public library system for the borough and one of three library systems serving New York City. Dating back to the foundation of the first Queens library in Flushing in 1858, the Queens Public Library is one of the largest public library systems in the United States. Separate from the New York Public Library, it is composed of 63 branches throughout the borough. In the fiscal year 2001, the Library achieved a circulation of 16.8 million. The Library has maintained the highest circulation of any city library in the country since 1985 and the highest circulation of any library in the nation since 1987. The Library maintains collections in many languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Haitian Creole, Polish, and six Indic languages, as well as smaller collections in 19 other languages.


Transportation

According to 2011–2015 American Community Survey, ACS Microdata, 38% of Queens households did not own a car; the citywide rate is 55%.


Vehicles for hire

As of 2019, the city had about 80,000 for-hire vehicles, of which, two-thirds were Ridesharing company, ride-hail – Uber, Lyft, Via Transportation, Via, and Juno (company), Juno. Until the Covid-19 pandemic, the ride-hail car offered a Ridesharing company, ride-share option. There are about 13,500 traditional taxis (yellow cabs with Taxi medallion, medallions) in the city, 7,676 boro taxis, 38,791 black cars, 21,932 livery cars, 288 commuter vans, and 2,206 paratransit vehicles.


Roundtrip car sharing

Zipcar, and others, entered New York City market in 2002 offering Shared transport#Roundtrip Carsharing, roundtrip car sharing from private locations, mostly from parking garages. In 2018, the city partnered with the roundtrip car share companies, led by Zipcar, to launch the nation's larges on-street car-sharing program with the greatest :en:wikt:take-up, take-up in
The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
and in Queens – Jackson Heights,
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, and
Far Rockaway Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...
. In 2020, during beginning throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, Enterprise Holdings#Enterprise CarShare, Enterprise CarShare suspended service in New York City. Among the traditional car rental locations in Queens, both international airports harbor larger fleets, conveniently close to Queens residents.


Micromobility

Citi Bike – a docked-Bicycle-sharing system, bike and e-bike sharing company had, as of July 2019, 169,000 annual subscribers. In 2021, the New York City Department of Transportation, Department of Transportation and Citi Bike announced that, as part of its Phase 3 expansion, it was doubling its service area to 70 square miles and tripling the number of bikes to 40,000. The expansion includes 52 new docking stations in Astoria, as well as new stations in Sunnyside and Woodside. Non-docked e-moped service was launched in the city by Revel Transit, Revel in 2019. Companies such as Bird (transportation company), Bird, Lime (transportation company), Lime, VeoRide introduced non-docked Scooter-sharing system, e-scooter-sharing in 2021.


Airports

Queens has crucial importance in international and interstate air traffic, with two of the New York metropolitan area's three major airports located there. John F. Kennedy International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, served 62.6 million passengers (enplanements + deplanements) – 34.3 million of which were international, ranking it the Busiest airports in the United States by international passenger traffic, busiest airport in the United States by international passenger traffic. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States imposed travel restrictions, first, in January 2020, on travelers from China and, in the following months, on travelers from other countries. 2020 annual passenger traffic at JFK dropped to 16.6 million (−73.4%) – 8.4 million (−73.4%) of which were international, still ranking it the busiest airport in the United States by international passenger traffic. JFK is owned by the City of New York and managed, since 1947, by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The airport's runways and six terminals cover an area of on Jamaica Bay in southeastern Queens. The airport's original official name was New York International Airport, although it was commonly known as Idlewild, with the name changed to Kennedy in December 1963 to honor the assassination of John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963.
LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...
is located in East Elmhurst, in northern Queens, on Flushing Bay. Originally opened in 1939, the airport's two runways and four terminals cover , serving 28.4 million passengers in 2015. In 2014, citing outdated conditions in the airport's terminals, Vice President Joe Biden compared LaGuardia Airport to a "third world country". In 2015, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey began a $4 billion project to renovate LaGuardia Airport's terminals and entryways. The project is expected to be complete by 2021.


Public transportation


Subways

The MTA, New York City's 24-hour subway system, has 472 stations, more than any other metro system in the world – List of New York City Subway stations in Queens, 81 of those stations on seven main lines are in Queens. The subway system has almost twice as many miles of track as any other North American system – (i) revenue length (the opposite of "revenue" track would be non-revenue track or dead mileage), (ii) Network length (transport), total length, and (iii) route length. Queens has miles of route length – underground, elevated, other. The A (New York City Subway service), A train – from 207th Street station, 207th Street in Manhattan to Far Rockaway–Mott Avenue station, Far Rockaway in Queens – is the longest line, more than 31 miles. The subway system transports triple the number of people than the next five largest American systems – Chicago, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, and Philadelphia combined. The A (New York City Subway service), A, G (New York City Subway service), G, J/Z (New York City Subway service), J/Z, and M (New York City Subway service), M routes connect Queens to Brooklyn without going through Manhattan first. The F (New York City Subway service), F, M, N (New York City Subway service), N, and R (New York City Subway service), R trains connect Queens and Brooklyn via Manhattan, while the E (New York City Subway service), E, W (New York City Subway service), W, and 7 (New York City Subway service), 7/<7> trains connect Queens to Manhattan only. Trains on the M service go through Queens twice in the same trip; both of its full-length terminals, in Middle Village–Metropolitan Avenue (BMT Myrtle Avenue Line), Middle Village and Forest Hills–71st Avenue (IND Queens Boulevard Line), Forest Hills, are in Queens.


Long Island Rail Road

The LIRR, also part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, MTA, operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays – carrying an average of 301,000 customers a day (80 million a year, adjusting downward for weekends) on about 735 scheduled trains. It is the busiest commuter rail hub in the United States. Most of its branches originate or terminate at Penn Station. All but one of its branches (the Port Washington Branch) pass through Jamaica station, Jamaica. The New York City area served by the LIRR is called the City Terminal Zone. Within that zone, Queens has stations in Long Island City station, Long Island City, Hunterspoint Avenue station (LIRR), Hunterspoint Avenue (in Long Island City), Bayside station (LIRR), Bayside, Forest Hills station (LIRR), Forest Hills, Flushing–Main Street station (LIRR), Flushing, Woodside station (LIRR), Woodside, and Kew Gardens – 22 Queens stations, in all. There are also several stations where LIRR passengers can transfer to the subway. Sunnyside Yard is used to store Amtrak intercity and NJ Transit commuter trains from Penn Station in Manhattan. The US$11.1 billion East Side Access project, which will bring LIRR trains to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, is under construction and is scheduled to open in 2022; this project will create a new train tunnel beneath the East River, connecting Long Island City in Queens with the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan.


JFK AirTrain

The elevated AirTrain JFK, AirTrain people mover system connects JFK International Airport to the New York City Subway and the Long Island Rail Road along the Van Wyck Expressway; a separate AirTrain system is planned alongside the Grand Central Parkway to connect LaGuardia Airport to these transit systems. Plans were announced in July 2015 to entirely rebuild LaGuardia Airport itself in a multibillion-dollar project to replace its aging facilities, and this project would accommodate the new AirTrain connection.


MTA buses

2019 bus ridership, citywide, on the MTA system, was 2.2 million per average weekday – about 678 million for the year. In Queens, the Q58 (New York City bus), Q58 and Q20 and Q44 buses#Q44, Q44 Select Bus Service were the seventh and tenth, respectively, citywide, busiest local lines in 2019. In addition to regular bus lines serving
LaGuardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia ...
, the MTA offers two Select Bus Services, regular fare, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The M60 (New York City bus), M60 – terminals Marine Air Terminal, A, LaGuardia Airport#Terminal B, B, LaGuardia Airport#Terminal C, C, LaGuardia Airport#Terminal D, D – to and from
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
via Grand Central Parkway and the Triborough Bridge – in Harlem, along 125th Street (Manhattan), 125th Street (with a stop at the Harlem–125th Street station, 125th Street Metro-North station), ending in Morningside Heights on the Upper West Side, a few blocks south of Columbia University. The Q70 (New York City bus), Q70 – terminals LaGuardia Airport#Terminal B, B, LaGuardia Airport#Terminal C, C, LaGuardia Airport#Terminal D, D – through Queens, ending in Woodside at 61st Street and Greenpoint and Roosevelt Avenues, Roosevelt Avenue. Overall, about List of bus routes in Queens, 100 local bus routes operate within Queens, and another List of express bus routes in New York City, 20 express routes shuttle commuters between Queens and Manhattan, under the MTA Regional Bus Operations, MTA New York City Bus and MTA Bus brands.


Proposed streetcar

A streetcar line Brooklyn Queens Connector, connecting Queens with Brooklyn was proposed by the city in February 2016. The planned timeline calls for service to begin around 2024.


Water transit

New York Water Taxi operates service across the East River from Hunters Point, Queens, Hunters Point in Long Island City to Manhattan at 34th Street (Manhattan), 34th Street and south to Pier 11 at Wall Street. In 2007, limited weekday service was begun between Breezy Point, the westernmost point in the Rockaways, to Pier 11 via the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Summertime weekend service provides service from Lower Manhattan and southwest Brooklyn to the peninsula's Gateway National Recreation Area, Gateway beaches. In the Effects of Hurricane Sandy in New York, aftermath of
Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
on October 29, 2012, ferry operator SeaStreak began running a city-subsidized ferry service between a makeshift ferry slip at Beach 108th Street and Beach Channel Drive in Rockaway Park, Queens, Rockaway Park and piers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The service was extended multiple times. finally ending on October 31, 2014. In February 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city government would begin a citywide ferry service called NYC Ferry to extend ferry transportation to communities in the city that have been traditionally underserved by public transit. The ferry opened in May 2017, with the Queens neighborhoods of Rockaway and Astoria served by their eponymous routes. A third route, the East River Ferry, serves Hunter's Point South.


Roads


Highways

Queens is traversed by three trunk east–west highways. The Long Island Expressway (Interstate 495 (New York), Interstate 495) runs from the Queens Midtown Tunnel on the west through the borough to Nassau County on the east. The Grand Central Parkway, whose western terminus is the Triborough Bridge, extends east to the Queens/Nassau border, where the roadway continues as the Northern State Parkway. The Belt Parkway begins at the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn, and extends east into Queens, past Aqueduct Racetrack and JFK Airport. On its eastern end at the Queens/Nassau border, it splits into the Southern State Parkway which continues east, and the Cross Island Parkway which turns north. There are also several major north–south highways in Queens, including the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Interstate 278), the Van Wyck Expressway (Interstate 678), the Clearview Expressway (Interstate 295 (New York), Interstate 295), and the Cross Island Parkway. Queens has six state highways that run west–east largely on surface roads. From north to south, they are New York State Route 25A (Northern Boulevard), New York State Route 25B (Hillside Avenue), New York State Route 25 (Queens Boulevard, Hillside Avenue, and Braddock Avenue), New York State Route 24 (Hempstead Avenue), and New York State Route 27 (Conduit Avenue). The only state highway that primarily uses an expressway is New York State Route 878, which uses the Nassau Expressway in southern Queens.


Streets

The streets of Queens are laid out in a semi-grid plan, grid system, with a numerical system of street names (similar to Manhattan and the Bronx). Nearly all roadways oriented north–south are "Streets", while east–west roadways are "Avenues", beginning with the number 1 in the west for Streets and the north for Avenues. In some parts of the borough, several consecutive streets may share numbers (for instance, 72nd Street followed by 72nd Place and 72nd Lane, or 52nd Avenue followed by 52nd Road, 52nd Drive, and 52nd Court), often confusing non-residents. Also, incongruous alignments of street grids, unusual street paths due to geography, or other circumstances often lead to the skipping of numbers (for instance, on Ditmars Boulevard, 70th Street is followed by Hazen Street which is followed by 49th Street). Numbered roads tend to be residential, although numbered commercial streets are not rare. A fair number of streets that were country roads in the 18th and 19th centuries (especially major thoroughfares such as New York State Route 25A, Northern Boulevard, Queens Boulevard, Hillside Avenue (Queens), Hillside Avenue, and Jamaica Avenue (Queens), Jamaica Avenue) carry names rather than numbers, typically though not uniformly called "Boulevards" or "Parkways". Queens house numbering was designed to provide convenience in locating the address itself; the first half of a number in a Queens address refers to the nearest cross street, the second half refers to the house or lot number from where the street begins from that cross street, followed by the name of the street itself. For example, to find an address in Queens, 14-01 120th Street, one could ascertain from the address structure itself that the listed address is at the intersection of 14th Avenue and 120th Street and that the address must be closest to 14th Avenue rather than 15th Avenue, as it is the first lot on the block. This pattern does not stop when a street is named, assuming that there is an existing numbered cross-street. For example, Queens College is situated at 65–30 Kissena Boulevard, and is so named because the cross-street closest to the entrance is 65th Avenue. Many of the village street grids of Queens had only worded names, some were numbered according to local numbering schemes, and some had a mix of words and numbers. In the early 1920s, a "Philadelphia Plan" was instituted to overlay one numbered system upon the whole borough. The Topographical Bureau, Borough of Queens, worked out the details. Subway stations were only partly renamed, and some, including those along the
IRT Flushing Line The IRT Flushing Line is a rapid transit route of the New York City Subway system, named for its eastern terminal in Flushing, Queens. It is operated as part of the A Division. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT), a private operator, ...
(), now share dual names after the original street names. In 2012, some numbered streets in the Douglaston Hill Historic District were renamed to their original names, with 43rd Avenue becoming Pine Street. The Rockaway Peninsula does not follow the same system as the rest of the borough and has its own numbering system. Streets are numbered in ascending order heading west from near the Nassau County border, and are prefixed with the word "Beach." Streets at the easternmost end, however, are nearly all named. Bayswater, Queens, Bayswater, which is on Jamaica Bay, has its numbered streets prefixed with the word "Bay" rather than "Beach". Another deviation from the norm is Broad Channel, Queens, Broad Channel; it maintains the north–south numbering progression but uses only the suffix "Road," as well as the prefixes "West" and "East," depending on location relative to Cross Bay Boulevard (Queens), Cross Bay Boulevard, the neighborhood's major through street. Broad Channel's streets were a continuation of the mainland Queens grid in the 1950s; formerly the highest-numbered avenue in Queens was 208th Avenue rather than today's 165th Avenue in Howard Beach & Hamilton Beach. The other exception is the neighborhood of Ridgewood, which for the most part shares a grid and house numbering system with the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn, Bushwick. The grid runs east–west from the LIRR Bay Ridge Branch right-of-way (transportation), right-of-way to Flushing Avenue; and north–south from Forest Avenue in Ridgewood to Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn before adjusting to meet up with the Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bedford-Stuyvesant grid at Broadway. All streets on the grid have names.


Bridges and tunnels

Queens is connected to the Bronx by the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge, the Triborough Bridge (also known as the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge), and the Hell Gate Bridge. Queens is connected to Manhattan Island by the Triborough Bridge, the Queensboro Bridge, and the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, as well as to Roosevelt Island by the Roosevelt Island Bridge. While most of the Queens/Brooklyn border is on land, the Kosciuszko Bridge crosses the Newtown Creek connecting Maspeth to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The Pulaski Bridge connects McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint to 11th Street, Jackson Avenue, and Hunters Point Avenue in Long Island City. The J. J. Byrne Memorial Bridge (a.k.a. Greenpoint Avenue Bridge) connects the sections of Greenpoint Avenue in Greenpoint and Long Island City. A lesser bridge connects Grand Street and Grand Avenue, Grand Avenue in Queens to Grand Street in Brooklyn. The Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge, built in 1939, traverses Jamaica Bay to connect the Rockaway Peninsula to Broad Channel, Queens, Broad Channel and the rest of Queens. Constructed in 1937, the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge links Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn's longest thoroughfare, with Jacob Riis Park and the western end of the Peninsula. Both crossings were built and continue to be operated by what is now known as MTA Bridges and Tunnels. The IND Rockaway Line parallels the Cross Bay, has a mid-bay station at Broad Channel (IND Rockaway Line), Broad Channel which is just a short walk from the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, now part of
Gateway National Recreation Area Gateway National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area in New York City and Monmouth County, New Jersey. It provides recreational opportunities that are not commonly found in a dense urban environment, including ocean swimming, bir ...
and a major stop on the Atlantic Flyway.


Notable people

Many public figures have grown up or lived in Queens. Musicians raised in the borough include Pepa (rapper), Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa, Nas, LL Cool J, The Ramones, Nina Sky, A Tribe Called Quest, Ace Frehley of KISS, Mobb Deep, Onyx (hip hop group), Onyx,
Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with '' Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single " Holla Holla". Dur ...
, 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Run–D.M.C., Nicki Minaj, Lil Tecca, Rich The Kid,
Action Bronson Ariyan Arslani (born December 2, 1983), professionally known as Action Bronson, is an American rapper, songwriter, chef, wrestler, exotic olive oil taster, and television presenter. Born and raised in Queens, New York, he embarked on his musical ...
, Nadia Ali (singer), Nadia Ali, and
Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...
. Jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Norman Mapp both resided in Corona, as well as rock duo Simon & Garfunkel and guitarists Scott Ian and Johnny Ramone. K-pop rapper Mark Lee (singer), Mark Lee from the boy group NCT (band), NCT grew up in Queens before moving to Canada. Madonna, from 1979 to 1980, lived in Corona as a member of the band Breakfast Club. Actors and actresses such as Adrien Brody, Zoe Saldaña, Lucy Liu, John Leguizamo, Susan Sarandon, and Idina Menzel were born or raised in Queens. Actress Mae West also lived in Queens. Writers from Queens include John Guare (''The House of Blue Leaves'') and Laura Z. Hobson (''Gentleman's Agreement (novel), Gentleman's Agreement''). Mafia boss John Gotti lived in Queens for many years. Richard Feynman, a scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, was born in Queens and grew up in
Far Rockaway Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...
. Lee "Q" O'Denat, founder of WorldStarHipHop was from Hollis. Donald Trump, a businessman who became the Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, was born in Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and raised at 81-15 Wareham Place in Jamaica Estates, later moving to Midland Parkway. He was preceded in the White House by former First Lady of the United States, First Ladies Nancy Reagan, who lived in Flushing as a child. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President, lived at Sagamore Hill (house), Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay (town), New York, Oyster Bay from the mid-1880s until he died; the area was considered part of Queens until the formation of neighboring Nassau County in 1899. Queens has also been home to athletes such as professional basketball player Rafer Alston Basketball players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Metta World Peace were both born in Queens, as were Olympic athletes Bob Beamon and Dalilah Muhammad. Tennis star John McEnroe was born in Douglaston, Queens, Douglaston. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Whitey Ford grew up in Astoria. Journalist Marie Colvin was a native of Queens.


In popular culture

Queens has also served as a setting for various fictional characters, one of the more famous being Spider-Man, Peter Parker / Spider-Man from Marvel Comics. He grew up in Forest Hills with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben.


The Cemetery Belt

Several large cemeteries in Queens – St. Michael's Cemetery (New York), St. Michaels, All Faiths Cemetery, Luthern, Calvary Cemetery (Queens), Calvary, Cypress Hills Cemetery, Cypress Hill, Mount Olivet Cemetery (Queens), Mt. Olivet and Mount Zion Cemetery (New York City), Mt. Zion – together with several in Brooklyn are collectively known as The Cemetery Belt. Calvary, by itself – with about 3 million burials – has the largest number of interments of any cemetery in the United States.


See also

* List of tallest buildings in Queens * National Register of Historic Places listings in Queens County, New York * Queens directories


Notes


References

; ; .
; , & (microfilm).
''See article → Life with My Sister Madonna.'' (hardcover), (paperback); ; . .
Of the four categories, (i) Extra-Large Colleges (15,000 or more students), (ii) Large Colleges (8,000–14,999 students), (iii) Medium Colleges (4,500–7,999 students), and (iv) Small Colleges (4,499 or fewer students), LaGuardia Community College was in the top three of Large Colleges.
( was founded in 2012 by Kelly Virella).
"When Queens County was created the courts were transferred from Hempstead to Jamaica Village and a County Court was erected. When the building became too small for its purposes and the stone meeting house had been erected, the courts were held for some years in that edifice. Later a new courthouse was erected and used until the seat of justice was removed to North Hempstead."
; .
:
.
"Just look at the Queens Night Market, which began in the summer of 2015 as a collection of 40 vendors serving authentic international cuisine in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Since then, it's steadily attracted more and more attendees and, last year averaged 10,000 people a night. Those thousands of New Yorkers weren't just hungry for new food, but for new points-of-view. 'When I first started, it was all about how can we attract people with an event that's as affordable and diverse as possible,' says Night Market founder John Wang. 'We've now been able to represent over 85 countries, and I'm constantly hearing examples of people branching out and trying things they've never heard of before."
Greenspan, formerly a commodities analyst, was, for the last ten years of his life, active with Metro New York Genealogy. In the 1980s, he was, among other things, Presidident of the New York Chapter of the Futures Industry Association.
; ; .
"Their house [ Paul Simon's family] was situated on 70th Road [at 137-62] in Kew Garden Hills, only three blocks away from the Art Garfunkel, Garfunkels' home [at 136-58 72nd Avenue in Kew Garden Hills]." (p. 3)
. ; eScholarship (permalink); . (print); (ebook); (PDF); (ebook); (cloth); .
.
  1. ; ; .
"According to recent census estimates, almost 1.4 million households in New York City own a car compared to 3.1 million total households." "Manhattan, where only 22 percent of households own a car, while ownership is highest in Staten Island where cars are owned by 83 percent of all households. Queens (62 percent) is also above the city average, while the Bronx (40 percent) and Brooklyn (44 percent) look more like the city as a whole."
This map shows the boundaries of the former towns and the former city within the present Borough of Queens.
.
; . Astoria: The Mamas Network, Leni Calas ( Elleni K. Calas; born 1979) (founding publisher) ; , .
"Moving the home of the US Open (tennis), US Open in 1978 across the borough of Queens, from the serene surroundings of Forest Hills to the 46.5 cement acres [188,000 m2; 2,030,000 sq ft; 18.8 ha] of Flushing Meadows, further expanded the US Open's ability to deliver world-class tennis and star-studded entertainment to the masses. Indeed, the
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is a stadium complex within Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. It has been the home of the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament, played every year in August ...
(the world's largest public tennis facility when not hosting tournament tennis) and its centerpiece, Arthur Ashe Stadium (the world's largest tennis stadium), have enabled the US Open to become the world's best-attended annual sporting event, with nearly three-quarters of a million fans on-site each year."
  1. ; ; .
Introduction by Russell Shorto. ; , , , ; .
.
"From the final withdrawal of the British in November 1783, until the 1830s, Queens continued as an essentially Long Island area of farms and villages. The location of the county government in Mineola (in present-day Nassau County) underscores the island orientation of that era. The population grew hardly at all, increasing only from 5,791 in 1800 to 7,806 in 1830, suggesting that many younger sons moved away, seeking fortunes where land was not yet so fully taken up for farming."
"Even more crucial to future development was the opening of the Queensboro Bridge in 1909. This span ended the isolation of the borough's road system at precisely the time when mass use of the automobile was getting underway in the United States."
"The most momentous event in the history of Queens occurred in 1909 when the long-planned Queensboro Bridge was finally opened. This ended the century-old isolation of the county and dependence on ferries."
(New Netherland Institute, NNI).
"Johnny Ramone, 55, was born John Cummings and grew up in Forest Hills, N.Y., soaking up rock in the '60s but then moving to an edgier sound."
( at Internet Archive) ( at the University of Toronto Libraries, Scarborough Library).
The Harley J. Spiller collection is composed of some 10,000 items – menus, business cards, restaurant matchbooks, and a variety of objects related to Chinese cookery. The majority of the menus document Chinese cuisine of restaurants in New York State. The collection, however, also includes other menus from the United States, Canada, and elsewhere.
The Queens collection features single sheet and trifold menus – table placement and takeout – for Chinese cuisine, Chinese (Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese, Hong Kong cuisine#Hong Kong-style Western cuisine, Hong Kong American, Hunan cuisine, Hunan, Beijing cuisine, Mandarin, Sichuan cuisine, Szechuan), Filipino cuisine, Filipino, Japanese cuisine, Japanese, Malaysian cuisine, Malaysian, Korean cuisine, Korean, Indonesian cuisine, Indonesian, Nepalese cuisine, Nepalese, Singaporean cuisine, Singaporean, Taiwanese cuisine, Taiwanese, Thai cuisine, Thai, Vietnamese cuisine, Vietnamese, Bangladeshi cuisine, Bangladeshi, Indian cuisine, Indian, Middle Eastern cuisine, Middle Eastern, Mughlai cuisine, Mughlai, Tibetan cuisine, Tibetan, Pakistan cuisine, Pakistan, Turkish cuisine, Turkish, Brazilian cuisine, Brazilian, Colombian cuisine, Colombian, Ecuadorian cuisine, Ecuadorian, Mexican cuisine, Mexican, Peruvian cuisine, Peruvian, Caribbean cuisine, Caribbean, Italian cuisine, Italian, French cuisine, French, Spanish cuisine, Spanish, American cuisine, American, Mediterranean cuisine, Mediterranean, and various Seafood cuisine.
Menus are from (in alphabetical order) Astoria, Bayside (including Oakland Gardens, Queens, Oakland Gardens), College Point, Corona, Queens, Corona, Elmhurst,
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
, Forest Hills,
Fresh Meadows Fresh Meadows is a neighborhood in the northeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. Fresh Meadows used to be part of the broader town of Flushing and is bordered to the north by the Horace Harding Expressway; to the west by Po ...
, Glendale, Queens, Glendale, Jackson Heights,
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, Little Neck, Queens, Little Neck, Long Island City, Maspeth, Middle Village, Rego Park, Ridgewood, Riverdale, Bronx, Riverdale (in
The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
), Rockaway, Queens, Rockaway, Rockaway Park, Queens, Rockaway Park, Sunnyside, Queens, Sunnyside, and Woodside.
    : By digitization date:
  1. "Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk"
  2. "Jacob Riis Beach"
  3. "Fort Tilden Beach"
  4. "Breezy Point, Queens#Geography, Breezy Point Tip"
  5. "Water Taxi Beach, Long Island City"
.
"Previously known to outsiders as Brooklyn's more-diverse, less-hip neighbor, a vast landscape of ethnic eateries, Queens has emerged as the capitol of the nation's progressive movement."
; .
"Adrien Brody, Brody, who grew up in Woodhaven, Queens, Woodhaven and Zarobinski [Thomas R. Zarobinski; born 1971], a native of Rego Park, attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts together, where Brody studied acting and Zarobinski studied drawing."
"The three developers have stressed in public hearings that they are not outsiders to
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
, which is 69% Asian. They’ve been here, they live here, they work here, they've invested here, said Ross Moskowitz, an attorney for the developers at a different public hearing in February Tangram Tower, a luxury mixed-use development built by F&T. Last year, prices for two-bedroom apartments started at $1.15m The influx of transnational capital and rise of luxury developments in Flushing has displaced longtime immigrant residents and small business owners, as well as disrupted its cultural and culinary landscape. These changes follow the familiar script of gentrification, but with a change of actors: it is Chinese American developers and wealthy Chinese immigrants who are gentrifying this working-class neighborhood, which is majority Chinese."
(hardcopy; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream).
"That was the year when the "Old Brig" courthouse was vacated after 90 years of housing lawbreakers. The county court moved from Mineola, Long Island, Mineola to Long Island City."
(
"There is a painting of Mae West, who lived in Woodhaven, Queens, Woodhaven and performed at the Union Course Tavern, tavern, on the door."
:: Access via Newspapers.com
(hardcopy; US Newsstream) → (hardcopy; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (hardcopy; US Newsstream) ( (hardcopy; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream) ( (hardcopy; US Newsstream) ( ( (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream) ( ( ().
"The question of the Greater New-York, which is also to be submitted to the people at this coming election, involves the proposition to unite in one city the following cities, counties, and towns: New York City, Long Island City, in Queens County; the Brooklyn, County of Kings, (Brooklyn;) the Staten Island, County of Richmond, (Staten Island, S.I.;) the towns of
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
, Newtown,
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, in Queens County; the town of Westchester, in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, and all that portion of the towns of Eastchester, Bronx, East Chester and Pelham, New York, Pelham which lies south of a straight line drawn from a point where the northerly line of the City of New-York meets the centre line of the Bronx River, to the middle of the channel between Hunter Island (Bronx), Hunter's and Glen Island Park, Glen Islands, in Long Island Sound, and that part of the town of Hempstead, in Queens County, which is westerly of a straight line drawn from the south-easterly point of the town of Flushing in a straight line to the Atlantic Ocean."
( (). () ().
"The increase in area and population that New-York will acquire if consolidation becomes a fact will become evident by a glance at the following table " "The townships in Queens County that are to be included in the Greater New-York have not been heard from yet "
→ The area included a radius of twenty miles (32 km), with the New York City Hall as a center to circumscribe it. Alternative access → (). ( ( () ( ( ( ( (hardcopy; US Newsstream) ( (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream) (
"Rafer Alston, the junior point guard from South Jamaica, Queens, explained it this way "
(hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream) (
"Neither the outpouring of affection from an adoring public nor the love he finally found after four failed marriages could make up for the neglect and physical abuse he suffered as a child growing up in South Jamaica, Queens."
(hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream) ( (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream) ( (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream) ( (
"Many of them live in Richmond Hill. Just as Chinese-Americans energized downtown
Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in the United Kingdom * Flushing, Queens, New York City ** Flushing Bay, a bay off the north shore of Queens ** Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠), a community in Queens ** Flushin ...
, the Guyanese have revived a once-moribund shopping strip on Liberty Avenue (New York City), Liberty Avenue between the Van Wyck Expressway and Lefferts Boulevard, now known as Little Guyana."
(hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream) ( (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream).
"Born in Jackson Heights, Queens, Lucy Liu, Ms. Liu, the daughter of working-class Chinese immigrants, recalled many an afternoon spent parked in front of a television set."
(hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream); & (online; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream) & (online; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream).
"How, they wondered, could Queens have grown by only one-tenth of 1 percent since 2000? How, even with a surge in foreclosures, could the number of vacant apartments have soared by nearly 60 percent in Queens and by 66 percent in Brooklyn? Often, though, owners of illegally divided houses are reluctant to disclose the number of tenants, who tend to include people who are in the country illegally and are leery of providing any information to the government."
(hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream).
"Mr. Biden said that if he blindfolded someone and took him to LaGuardia Airport, La Guardia, the person would think he was in 'some third world country."
(online; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream).
"Zausner said the stadium, the largest in tennis, will maintain its seating capacity of 23,771, though some seats in the highest rows were removed to accommodate two video boards. Seats were added in lower levels to replace those lost, he said."
(hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream).
"The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport in northern Queens, estimates the overhaul will cost about $4 billion, most of which will go toward tearing down the LaGuardia Airport#Terminal B, Central Terminal Building, rebuilding it in place and augmenting it with a grand entry way."
(hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream). (online; US Newsstream). (hardcopy; US Newsstream); (online; US Newsstream). ( ; ; .
"1874 – Queens County Courthouse and seat of county government moved from Mineola, Long Island, Mineola (in present-day Nassau County) to Long Island City."
(
"Fifty years ago on Tuesday, one of the most commonly used words in New York suddenly began to disappear. The word was 'Idlewild,' and it was the name of New York's international airport. On December 24, 1963, the airport's name was changed to John F. Kennedy International Airport, commemorating a young president who had been assassinated just a month earlier."
, . (re: January 2016 United States blizzard). (online; US Newsstream). Elections:
Elections:
; .
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Constitution of New York, The 1777 New York State Constitution, Article XXXVI, confirmed land grants and municipal charters granted by the English Crown prior to October 14, 1775. Chapter 64 of the Laws of 1788 organized the state into towns and cities." "The basic composition of the counties was set in 1788 when the State Legislature divided all of the counties then existing into towns. Towns, of course, were of earlier origin, but in that year they acquired a new legal status as components of the counties."
(US Newsstream database).
;
OCLC Classify 70698782
. ''Jewish Community Study.'' p. 227. .
(US Newsstream database). . , , .
"The Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge was opened by the Marine Parkway Authority in 1937 to provide access to the
Rockaway Peninsula The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of the ...
, which previously could be reached only by ferry or by a circuitous route around the eastern end of Jamaica Bay."
"In 1939 the New York City Parkway Authority built the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge, Cross Bay Bridge and Parkway, along with beach improvements in the Rockaways."
"Born in Libya to Pakistani parents, Nadia Ali (singer), Nadia Ali grew up in Queens, New York"
(see article SeaStreak.


Further reading

* ; , (publication); (article); (article). * Journal → , ; Article → ; ; (Research Library database); . * ; , , .
* ; .
* ; .
* ; .
Items extracted from newspapers and other sources, arranged chronologically, 1639–1832.
* ; , .
* → also accessible via (Library of Congress). ; .
* ; .
* (1st ed.; 2007); (2007); , ; .
* . * .
* (covers the 1870s to the 1930s). ; .
"Based on the work of the Community History Program at Fiorello H. LaGuardia Community College."
* (hardback), (ebook); (paperback), (ebook); .
* ; ; . * {{cite book , ref={{SfnRef, Kadinsky,, 2015, p= , last1=Kadinsky , first1=Sergey , date=March 14, 2016 , title=Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs , location=Woodstock, Vermont , publisher=The Countryman Press (the author, among other things, has been a contributor to Forgotten NY). {{LCCN, 2015041163; {{ISBN, 978-1-5815-7355-8, 1-5815-7355-3; {{OCLC, 929863403, show=all.
    1. {{hanging indent , text={{cite book , ref={{SfnRef, Kadinsky (books),, 2015, p= , title=''Book – via Google Books'' , url={{GBurl, Czw1CgAAQBAJ, p=PP1 , type=limited preview , page=96
    2. {{hanging indent , text={{cite book , ref={{SfnRef, Kadinsky (blog) , title=''Author's blog – "Hidden Waters"'' , url=https://hiddenwatersblog.wordpress.com/author/sergeykadinskygmailcom/ {{OCLC, 1187187978.
* {{cite book , ref={{SfnRef, Walsh,, 2013, p= , last1=Walsh , first1=Kevin S. , author-link1= , last2=and the Greater Astoria Historical Society (authors) , date=2013 , title=Forgotten Queens , language=en-US , location=Charleston, South Carolina , publisher=Arcadia Publishing {{LCCN, 2013940008; {{ISBN, 1-4671-2065-0, 978-1-4671-2065-4; {{OCLC, 855044557.
    1. {{cite book , ref={{SfnRef, Walsh, Google Books,, 2013, p= , title=''Via Google Books'' , url={{GBurl, YJAbAgAAQBAJ, p=3
{{refend


External links

{{Commons category, Queens, New York City {{Wikivoyage, Queens
Official History Page of the Queens Borough President's Office

La Guardia and Wagner Archives/Queens Local History Collection
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422195423/http://www.laguardiawagnerarchive.lagcc.cuny.edu/COLLECTIONS.aspx?ViwType=1&ColID=3 , date=April 22, 2012 * {{cite news , ref={{SfnRef, ''Queens Tribune'', July 29,, 2010, p= , date=August 4, 2010 , title=They Came from Queens , url=https://issuu.com/queenstribune/docs/tribune_epaper_072910 , work=Queens Tribune , volume=40 , issue=30, via=ISSUU
Queens Buzz
{{Geographic location , Centre = Queens County, New York , North = The Bronx, Bronx County
(The Bronx) , Northeast = Long Island Sound , East = Nassau County , South = Atlantic Ocean , Southwest = Brooklyn, Kings County
(Brooklyn) , West = Brooklyn, Kings County
(Brooklyn) , Northwest = Manhattan, New York County
(Manhattan) , Southeast = Nassau County {{navboxes, list= {{Queens {{New York City {{New York metropolitan area {{Long Island region {{New York {{authority control Queens, New York, Boroughs of New York City Populated coastal places in New York (state) 1683 establishments in the Province of New York Populated places established in 1683 Majority-minority counties in New York