Brownsville

Neighborhood · Brooklyn

Set between East Flatbush and East New York in Brooklyn, with Ocean Hill to the north and Canarsie to the south, Brownsville takes its name from Charles S. Brown, who acquired the land in the mid-1860s and divided it into lots.

  • 1.10 square miles
  • 60,470 residents, 2020 Census
  • 200 street corners
  • 8 subway stations
  • 10 bus routes

Tenements followed from 1887, and after the Fulton Street el arrived in 1889 and the Williamsburg Bridge opened in 1903, Brownsville and East New York had the city's largest concentration of Jewish residents in 1925; in 1942 hundreds of stores lined Pitkin Avenue. Its landmarks include the Stone Avenue library, opened in 1914 as the Brownsville Children's Library, and the Betsy Head pool of 1936.

Sources: Betsy Head Play Center (LP-2240) (NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission); Brooklyn Public Library, Stone Avenue Branch (LP-2568) (NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission); Brownsville, Brooklyn (Wikipedia).

Map

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Brownsville borders five areas, and Sutter Avenue holds more of its corners than any other street, 21 of 200.

Street map of Brownsville, Brooklyn, outlined among East Flatbush-Remsen Village, East New York-New Lots, Ocean Hill and East New York (North), with its eight subway stations and Betsy Head Park.Ocean HillEast New York (North)East New York-New LotsEast Flatbush-Remsen VillageCrown Heights (North)
  • Brownsville
  • 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

  • Atlantic Av lines L
  • Sutter Av lines L
  • Sutter Av-Rutland Rd lines 3
  • Livonia Av lines L accessible
  • Junius St lines 3
  • Rockaway Av lines 3
  • Saratoga Av lines 3
  • New Lots Av lines L

Getting around

Eight subway stations and buses on ten routes stop in or at the edge of Brownsville.

  • 8 subway stations
  • 1 of them listed by the MTA as fully accessible
  • 10 local bus routes

Local bus routes

  • B7
  • B8
  • B12
  • B14
  • B15
  • B35
  • B47
  • B60
  • B99
  • T426

Safety record

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

  • 2,774 police-reported crashes at its corners
  • 13.9 a corner, on average
  • 10.5 the average Brooklyn corner
  • 2 corners with a clean record

Signal or safety changes on City record, at 83 of its corners

Leading pedestrian intervals
70
Accessible pedestrian signals
23
Turn calming
8
Barnes Dance all-way crossings
5
Enhanced crossings
4
Safety Improvement Projects
4

Camera tickets

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

  • 2,775 red-light camera tickets at one corner
  • 13,365 school-zone speed camera tickets at 12 corners
  • 0 bus-lane camera tickets
Most red-light tickets
Linden Boulevard & Rockaway Avenue, 2,775
Most speed tickets
Linden Boulevard & Rockaway Avenue, 8,788

People and homes

The 2020 Census counted 60,470 residents in Brownsville, about 55,000 per square mile.

  • 21,765 homes, 2020 Census
  • 4,372 homes added since April 2010, net, by City Planning's count

Half of its 3,569 residential lots hold buildings from 1985 or earlier, and 47% of them date from before 1940, by the City's tax lot records.

NYCHA developments

NYCHA's Brownsville, Garvey (Group A), Glenmore Plaza, Howard, Hughes Apartments, Low Houses, Tilden, Van Dyke I, Van Dyke II and Woodson developments lie wholly or partly within Brownsville.

Parks and landmarks

Parkland
33.8 acres of NYC Parks property
The largest pieces
Betsy Head Park (10.6 acres), Brownsville Playground (3.1 acres) and Floyd Patterson Ballfields (2.4 acres)
Designated landmarks
The Betsy Head Play Center and the Brooklyn Public Library's Stone Avenue Branch

Streets and trees

Trees
4,824 in NYC Parks' records, most often London planetree, thornless honeylocust and pin oak
Street with the most corners
Sutter Avenue, with 21 of the area's 200
Height above sea level
From 14 feet at Linden Boulevard & Mother Gaston Boulevard to 64 feet at East New York Avenue & Powell Street
Honorary street names
5 at its corners, enacted by local law

Schools and libraries

The City lists 33 schools and two libraries in Brownsville.

Public schools
26
Charter and private schools
7
Libraries
Brownsville Library and Stone Avenue Library

Bike share and public art

By the station list of October 3, 2026, 28 bike-share stations stand in Brownsville. The City's public art inventory lists two works in the area: Zion Park War Memorial (1925) and Face to Face (1984).

  • 28 bike-share stations
  • 2 works of public art

Public safety

How complaints are counted

In 2025 the NYPD recorded 1,191 major felonies at places in Brownsville.

Recorded by the NYPD at places in Brownsville

  • 899 major felonies in 2024
  • 4,905 other felonies, misdemeanors and violations in 2025

In 2025, on the streets along the edge of Brownsville, the NYPD recorded another 146 major felonies. Counting the streets along its edge, in 2025 the NYPD recorded 22.1 major felonies for every thousand residents the 2020 Census counted in Brownsville.

Police precinct
73rd
Major felonies recorded at places in Brownsville, 2021 to 2025

From January to June 2026 the NYPD recorded 468 major felonies at places in Brownsville, against 583 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.