Bensonhurst

Neighborhood · Brooklyn

Bensonhurst is bordered roughly by 14th Avenue, 60th Street, Bay Parkway and 86th Street.

  • 1.74 square miles
  • 104,934 residents, 2020 Census
  • 282 street corners
  • 9 subway stations
  • 6 bus routes

It takes its name from the Benson family, whose old farms developer James D. Lynch bought in the 1880s and was selling as lots by 1888 under the name Bensonhurst-by-the-Sea. The land was once part of the colonial town of New Utrecht, whose Reformed Dutch congregation, founded in 1677, still has its 1828 church on 18th Avenue next to a liberty pole first raised in 1783, and 18th Avenue, also known as Cristoforo Colombo Boulevard, is lined with small Italian family businesses and hosts the Feast of Santa Rosalia each late summer.

Sources: Bensonhurst, Brooklyn (Wikipedia); New Utrecht Reformed Dutch Church, Expanded Landmark Site, and Parish House (NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission); Bensonhurst Park History (NYC Parks).

Map

Open the map full size

Bensonhurst borders five areas, and Bay Parkway holds more of its corners than any other street, 27 of 282.

Street map of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, outlined among Gravesend (West), Bath Beach, Mapleton-Midwood (West) and Dyker Heights, with its nine subway stations and Seth Low Playground/ Bealin Square.Borough ParkMapleton-Midwood (West)Gravesend (West)Bath BeachDyker Heights
  • Bensonhurst
  • A neighboring area
  • Park
  • A station in the list
  • Another station

Neighborhood areas and streets: NYC Department of City Planning. Parks: NYC Parks. Stations: MTA.

Neighboring areas

Subway stations

  • 62 St / New Utrecht Av lines D N accessible
  • 18 Av lines N
  • 71 St lines D
  • 20 Av lines N
  • 79 St lines D
  • Bay Pkwy lines N
  • 18 Av lines D
  • 20 Av lines D
  • Bay Pkwy lines D accessible

Getting around

Nine subway stations and buses on six routes stop in or at the edge of Bensonhurst.

  • 9 subway stations
  • 2 of them listed by the MTA as fully accessible
  • 6 local bus routes

Local bus routes

  • B1
  • B4
  • B6
  • B8
  • B82
  • B82-SBS

Safety record

Between 2021 and 2025, its corners averaged fewer police-reported crashes than the average Brooklyn corner.

  • 2,399 police-reported crashes at its corners
  • 8.5 a corner, on average
  • 10.5 the average Brooklyn corner
  • 4 corners with a clean record

Signal or safety changes on City record, at 85 of its corners

Leading pedestrian intervals
69
Accessible pedestrian signals
28
Turn calming
12
Barnes Dance all-way crossings
4
Safety Improvement Projects
1

Camera tickets

In 2025 its corners had more school-zone speed camera tickets than red-light or bus-lane tickets.

  • 2,708 red-light camera tickets at one corner
  • 25,017 school-zone speed camera tickets at 20 corners
  • 0 bus-lane camera tickets
Most red-light tickets
65th Street & Bay Parkway, 2,708
Most speed tickets
65th Street & 16th Avenue, 7,635

People and homes

The 2020 Census counted 104,934 residents in Bensonhurst, about 60,300 per square mile.

  • 36,889 homes, 2020 Census
  • 725 homes added since April 2010, net, by City Planning's count

Half of its 10,633 residential lots hold buildings from 1930 or earlier, and 85% of them date from before 1940, by the City's tax lot records.

Parks and landmarks

Parkland
6.8 acres of NYC Parks property
The largest pieces
Seth Low Playground/ Bealin Square (4.9 acres), Lt. Joseph Petrosino Park (0.9 acre) and Milestone Park (0.5 acre)
Designated landmarks
The New Utrecht Reformed Dutch Parish House, the New Utrecht Reformed Dutch Church and the Magen David Synagogue

Streets and trees

Trees
5,343 in NYC Parks' records, most often London planetree, thornless honeylocust and pin oak
Street with the most corners
Bay Parkway, with 27 of the area's 282
Height above sea level
From 15 feet at 85th Street & Bay Parkway to 48 feet at 15th Avenue & New Utrecht Avenue
Honorary street names
14 at its corners, enacted by local law

Schools

The City lists 31 schools in Bensonhurst.

Public schools
12
Charter and private schools
19

Public safety

How complaints are counted

In 2025 the NYPD recorded 584 major felonies at places in Bensonhurst.

Recorded by the NYPD at places in Bensonhurst

  • 589 major felonies in 2024
  • 2,359 other felonies, misdemeanors and violations in 2025

In 2025, on the streets along the edge of Bensonhurst, the NYPD recorded another 82 major felonies. Counting the streets along its edge, in 2025 the NYPD recorded 6.3 major felonies for every thousand residents the 2020 Census counted in Bensonhurst.

Map of Bensonhurst: 16 shaded patches of its streets, each numbered with the major felonies the NYPD recorded at public places there in 2025; unshaded areas are not counted on this map.
Major felonies recorded at public places in Bensonhurst, 2025
  • 5 to 9
  • 10 to 19
  • 20 to 49
  • 50 to 99
  • 100 or more
  • Not shaded: fewer than 5, held back under the rules in How complaints are counted, parks and public-housing grounds, and land in no patch
Each shaded patch is a set of whole street blocks and corners of Bensonhurst, most about 1,500 feet across, and its number counts the major felonies the NYPD recorded at public places on those streets and corners in 2025. The streets along or across the edge of Bensonhurst are not shaded. Homes, shelters, schools, child care, health care, houses of worship, hotels, mailboxes inside buildings, private parking lots and garages, buses and taxis, parks and cemeteries, highways, bridges, tunnels, the tramway and places the NYPD did not name count in the figure above for Bensonhurst and stay off the map. How complaints are counted gives every rule.
Police precinct
62nd
Major felonies recorded at places in Bensonhurst, 2021 to 2025

From January to June 2026 the NYPD recorded 276 major felonies at places in Bensonhurst, against 270 in the same months of 2025.

Sources: the NYPD's Complaint Data Historic, updated April 28, 2026, and Complaint Data Current (Year To Date), updated July 27, 2026, on NYC Open Data. Figures to June 30, 2026.

Street corners

How the figures above are measured: Methodology.