Brighton Beach

Neighborhood · Brooklyn

On Brooklyn's Atlantic shore, Brighton Beach lies between Coney Island at Ocean Parkway and Manhattan Beach at Corbin Place, with its beach and boardwalk to the south and the Belt Parkway to the north.

  • 0.49 square miles
  • 33,568 residents, 2020 Census
  • 170 street corners
  • 2 subway stations
  • 8 bus routes

Henry C. Murphy and a group of businessmen named the resort in 1878 after the English seaside city of Brighton. Once the Brighton Line began running as a subway in 1920, thirty apartment buildings rose between 1921 and 1929 and the area became a densely built residential neighborhood. From the mid-1970s tens of thousands of Jewish emigres from the Soviet Union settled here, earning it the nickname Little Odessa.

Sources: Brighton Beach (Wikipedia); Brighton Beach (Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative).

Map

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Brighton Beach borders three areas, and Brighton Beach Avenue and Ocean View Avenue hold more of its corners than any other street, 20 each of 170.

Street map of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, outlined among Coney Island-Sea Gate, Sheepshead Bay-Manhattan Beach-Gerritsen Beach and Gravesend (South), with its two subway stations and Coney Island Beach & Boardwalk.Gravesend (South)Sheepshead Bay-Manhattan Beach-Gerritsen BeachConey Island-Sea Gate
  • Brighton Beach
  • 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

  • Brighton Beach lines B Q
  • Ocean Pkwy lines Q

Getting around

Two subway stations and buses on eight routes stop in or at the edge of Brighton Beach.

  • 2 subway stations
  • 7 local bus routes
  • 1 express bus route

Local bus routes

  • B1
  • B4
  • B36
  • B49
  • B68
  • B102
  • T464

Express bus route

  • BM3

Safety record

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

  • 984 police-reported crashes at its corners
  • 5.8 a corner, on average
  • 10.5 the average Brooklyn corner
  • 51 corners with a clean record

Signal or safety changes on City record, at 19 of its corners

Leading pedestrian intervals
16
Accessible pedestrian signals
6
Turn calming
6
Safety Improvement Projects
1

Camera tickets

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

  • 3,398 red-light camera tickets at one corner
  • 21,826 school-zone speed camera tickets at two corners
  • 0 bus-lane camera tickets
Most red-light tickets
Shore Parkway & Ocean Parkway, 3,398
Most speed tickets
Shore Parkway & Ocean Parkway, 21,696

People and homes

The 2020 Census counted 33,568 residents in Brighton Beach, about 68,500 per square mile.

  • 14,854 homes, 2020 Census
  • 668 homes added since April 2010, net, by City Planning's count

Half of its 1,610 residential lots hold buildings from 1930 or earlier, and 74% of them date from before 1940, by the City's tax lot records.

Parks

Parkland
23.1 acres of NYC Parks property
The largest pieces
Coney Island Beach & Boardwalk (18.2 acres), Grady Playground (3.4 acres) and Brighton Playground (1.2 acres)

Streets and trees

Trees
1,458 in NYC Parks' records, most often thornless honeylocust, London planetree and Japanese zelkova
Street with the most corners
Brighton Beach Avenue, with 20 of the area's 170
Height above sea level
From 5 feet at Brighton 1st Street & Brighton 1st Court to 13 feet at Seacoast Terrace & Brightwater Avenue
Honorary street names
7 at its corners, enacted by local law

Schools and libraries

The City lists nine schools and one library in Brighton Beach.

Public schools
5
Charter and private schools
4
Library
Brighton Beach Library

Public safety

How complaints are counted

In 2025 the NYPD recorded 228 major felonies at places in Brighton Beach.

Recorded by the NYPD at places in Brighton Beach

  • 219 major felonies in 2024
  • 912 other felonies, misdemeanors and violations in 2025

In 2025, on the streets along the edge of Brighton Beach, the NYPD recorded another 74 major felonies. Counting the streets along its edge, in 2025 the NYPD recorded 9.0 major felonies for every thousand residents the 2020 Census counted in Brighton Beach.

Police precincts
60th (most of the area), 61st
Major felonies recorded at places in Brighton Beach, 2021 to 2025

From January to June 2026 the NYPD recorded 128 major felonies at places in Brighton Beach, against 91 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.