Flatbush

Neighborhood · Brooklyn

South of Prospect Park in central Brooklyn, Flatbush has East Flatbush to the east and Midwood to the south, and it shares the Brooklyn College campus with Midwood.

  • 0.86 square miles
  • 66,503 residents, 2020 Census
  • 150 street corners
  • 5 subway stations
  • 18 bus routes

Dutch colonists settled the town in the 1630s, calling it Midwout, or middle wood, and Vlachte Bos, or wooded plain; it received a township patent by 1652, and the City of Brooklyn annexed it in 1894. At its historic center stands the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church, begun in 1793 as the third church on the site since 1655. Brooklyn College, the city's first public coeducational liberal arts college, was founded in 1930 and broke ground for its Georgian campus in 1935.

Sources: Flatbush, Brooklyn (Wikipedia); Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church (LP-0170) (NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission); Our History (Brooklyn College).

Map

Open the map full size

Flatbush borders seven areas, and Flatbush Avenue holds more of its corners than any other street, 29 of 150.

Street map of Flatbush, Brooklyn, outlined among Flatbush (West)-Ditmas Park-Parkville, East Flatbush-Erasmus, East Flatbush-Farragut and Midwood, with its five subway stations.East Flatbush-ErasmusProspect Lefferts Gardens-WingateEast Flatbush-FarragutFlatlandsMidwoodFlatbush (West)-Ditmas Park-ParkvilleProspect Park
  • Flatbush
  • 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

  • Parkside Av lines Q
  • Church Av lines B Q accessible
  • Beverley Rd lines Q
  • Cortelyou Rd lines Q
  • Flatbush Av-Brooklyn College lines 2 5 accessible

Getting around

Five subway stations and buses on 18 routes stop in or at the edge of Flatbush.

  • 5 subway stations
  • 2 of them listed by the MTA as fully accessible
  • 14 local bus routes
  • 4 express bus routes

Local bus routes

  • B6
  • B8
  • B11
  • B12
  • B16
  • B35
  • B41
  • B44
  • B44-SBS
  • B49
  • B96
  • B103
  • Q35
  • T464

Express bus routes

  • BM1
  • BM2
  • BM3
  • BM4

Safety record

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

  • 1,925 police-reported crashes at its corners
  • 12.8 a corner, on average
  • 10.5 the average Brooklyn corner
  • 3 corners with a clean record

Signal or safety changes on City record, at 64 of its corners

Leading pedestrian intervals
45
Accessible pedestrian signals
29
Turn calming
18
Barnes Dance all-way crossings
8
Safety Improvement Projects
3
Enhanced crossings
2

Camera tickets

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

  • 7,946 red-light camera tickets at one corner
  • 5,852 school-zone speed camera tickets at nine corners
  • 699 bus-lane camera tickets at one corner
Most red-light tickets
Flatbush Avenue & Glenwood Road, 7,946
Most speed tickets
Flatbush Avenue & East 28th Street, 1,997
Most bus-lane tickets
Nostrand Avenue & Glenwood Road, 699

People and homes

The 2020 Census counted 66,503 residents in Flatbush, about 77,300 per square mile.

  • 26,383 homes, 2020 Census
  • 3,488 homes added since April 2010, net, by City Planning's count

Half of its 2,437 residential lots hold buildings from 1920 or earlier, and 91% of them date from before 1940, by the City's tax lot records.

Landmarks

Designated landmarks
The Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church Parsonage, the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church, the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church House and the Sears Roebuck & Company Department Store
Historic district
Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces Historic District, wholly or partly within Flatbush

Streets and trees

Trees
3,023 in NYC Parks' records, most often thornless honeylocust, pin oak and London planetree
Street with the most corners
Flatbush Avenue, with 29 of the area's 150
Height above sea level
From 19 feet at Flatbush Avenue & Glenwood Road to 59 feet at Parkside Avenue & Parade Place
Honorary street names
7 at its corners, enacted by local law

Schools and libraries

The City lists ten schools and two libraries in Flatbush.

Public schools
5
Charter and private schools
5
Libraries
Flatbush Learning Center and Flatbush Library

Bike share

By the station list of October 3, 2026, 13 bike-share stations stand in Flatbush.

  • 13 bike-share stations

Public safety

How complaints are counted

In 2025 the NYPD recorded 508 major felonies at places in Flatbush.

Recorded by the NYPD at places in Flatbush

  • 502 major felonies in 2024
  • 2,528 other felonies, misdemeanors and violations in 2025

In 2025, on the streets along the edge of Flatbush, the NYPD recorded another 279 major felonies. Counting the streets along its edge, in 2025 the NYPD recorded 11.8 major felonies for every thousand residents the 2020 Census counted in Flatbush.

Police precinct
70th
Major felonies recorded at places in Flatbush, 2021 to 2025

From January to June 2026 the NYPD recorded 202 major felonies at places in Flatbush, against 255 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.