Fresh Meadows-Utopia

Neighborhood · Queens

Fresh Meadows-Utopia lies between St. John's University and Cunningham Park, south of the Horace Harding Expressway.

  • 1.19 square miles
  • 23,434 residents, 2020 Census
  • 179 street corners
  • 21 bus routes

Fresh Meadows is named for spring-fed wetlands, and a golf course that opened there in 1922 hosted the 1930 PGA Championship and the 1932 U.S. Open. An insurance company bought the course in 1946, and its Fresh Meadows housing development welcomed its first residents in September 1947. Utopia recalls a cooperative community planned in the early 1900s for Jewish families from the Lower East Side; the plan was abandoned, but Utopia Parkway kept the name, and the area is now mostly detached one-family houses.

Sources: Fresh Meadows, Queens (Wikipedia); Utopia Playground History (NYC Parks); Utopia (Queens Community Board 8); Fresh Meadows (Queens Community Board 8).

Map

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Fresh Meadows-Utopia borders five areas, and 69th Avenue holds more of its corners than any other street, 28 of 179.

Street map of Fresh Meadows-Utopia, Queens, outlined among Pomonok-Electchester-Hillcrest, Cunningham Park, Auburndale and Jamaica Estates-Holliswood, with Kissena Corridor Park.AuburndaleCunningham ParkJamaica Estates-HolliswoodPomonok-Electchester-HillcrestQueensboro Hill
  • Fresh Meadows-Utopia
  • A neighboring area
  • Park

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

Neighboring areas

Getting around

Buses on 21 routes stop in or at the edge of Fresh Meadows-Utopia.

  • 11 local bus routes
  • 10 express bus routes

Local bus routes

  • Q17
  • Q30
  • Q31
  • Q45
  • Q46
  • Q48
  • Q65
  • Q74
  • Q75
  • Q76
  • Q88

Express bus routes

  • QM1
  • QM4
  • QM5
  • QM6
  • QM7
  • QM8
  • QM31
  • QM35
  • QM36
  • QM44

Safety record

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

  • 674 police-reported crashes at its corners
  • 3.8 a corner, on average
  • 5.2 the average Queens corner
  • 42 corners with a clean record

Signal or safety changes on City record, at 22 of its corners

Accessible pedestrian signals
14
Leading pedestrian intervals
11
Turn calming
1
Barnes Dance all-way crossings
1
Enhanced crossings
1

Camera tickets

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

  • 13,447 red-light camera tickets at two corners
  • 8,596 school-zone speed camera tickets at 11 corners
  • 0 bus-lane camera tickets
Most red-light tickets
Horace Harding Expressway & 173rd Street, 8,603
Most speed tickets
69th Avenue & 199th Street, 3,107

People and homes

The 2020 Census counted 23,434 residents in Fresh Meadows-Utopia, about 19,700 per square mile.

  • 8,415 homes, 2020 Census
  • 115 homes added since April 2010, net, by City Planning's count

Half of its 3,608 residential lots hold buildings from 1950 or earlier, and 9% of them date from before 1940, by the City's tax lot records.

Parks

Parkland
31.4 acres of NYC Parks property
The largest pieces
Kissena Corridor Park (19.4 acres), Farm Playground (3.9 acres) and Utopia Playground (3.1 acres)

Streets and trees

Trees
4,072 in NYC Parks' records, most often London planetree, pin oak and Norway maple
Street with the most corners
69th Avenue, with 28 of the area's 179
Height above sea level
From 30 feet at Utopia Parkway & 65th Avenue to 85 feet at Francis Lewis Boulevard & Union Turnpike
Honorary street names
6 at its corners, enacted by local law

Schools and libraries

The City lists six schools and two libraries in Fresh Meadows-Utopia.

Public schools
4
Charter and private schools
2
Libraries
Fresh Meadows Library and Hillcrest Library

Public safety

How complaints are counted

In 2025 the NYPD recorded 294 major felonies at places in Fresh Meadows-Utopia.

Recorded by the NYPD at places in Fresh Meadows-Utopia

  • 293 major felonies in 2024
  • 601 other felonies, misdemeanors and violations in 2025

In 2025, on the streets along the edge of Fresh Meadows-Utopia, the NYPD recorded another 31 major felonies. Counting the streets along its edge, in 2025 the NYPD recorded 13.9 major felonies for every thousand residents the 2020 Census counted in Fresh Meadows-Utopia.

Police precinct
107th
Major felonies recorded at places in Fresh Meadows-Utopia, 2021 to 2025

From January to June 2026 the NYPD recorded 129 major felonies at places in Fresh Meadows-Utopia, against 133 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.