Jamaica

Neighborhood · Queens

Jamaica, among the oldest settlements in New York City, has long been a commercial and civic center of Queens, built around Jamaica Avenue and Jamaica station, a rail hub linked by AirTrain to Kennedy Airport.

  • 1.68 square miles
  • 60,993 residents, 2020 Census
  • 350 street corners
  • 7 subway stations
  • 43 bus routes

The town was chartered under Dutch rule in 1656 and, after the English takeover of 1664, renamed for the Jameco, its original Native inhabitants; it became the seat of Queens County in 1683 and gained rail service to Brooklyn in 1836. Office buildings rose in the 1920s, and by the mid-1930s at least eight movie theaters stood on or near Jamaica Avenue. King Manor, once home to a Constitution signer, is now a museum.

Sources: La Casina Designation Report (LP-1940, January 30, 1996) (NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission); Jamaica, Queens (Wikipedia); Welcome to King Manor (King Manor Museum).

Map

Open the map full size

Jamaica borders seven areas, and Jamaica Avenue holds more of its corners than any other street, 47 of 350.

Street map of Jamaica, Queens, outlined among South Jamaica, Jamaica Hills-Briarwood, St. Albans and Jamaica Estates-Holliswood, with its seven subway stations and Rufus King Park.Jamaica Estates-HolliswoodHollisSt. AlbansSouth JamaicaSouth Richmond HillRichmond HillJamaica Hills-Briarwood
  • Jamaica
  • 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

  • Jamaica-179 St lines F accessible
  • 169 St lines F
  • Parsons Blvd lines F
  • Sutphin Blvd lines F
  • Jamaica-Van Wyck lines E accessible
  • Jamaica Center-Parsons/Archer lines E J Z accessible
  • Sutphin Blvd-Archer Av-JFK Airport lines E J Z accessible

Getting around

Seven subway stations and buses on 43 routes stop in or at the edge of Jamaica.

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

Local bus routes

  • Q1
  • Q2
  • Q3
  • Q4
  • Q5
  • Q6
  • Q8
  • Q9
  • Q17
  • Q20
  • Q24
  • Q25
  • Q30
  • Q31
  • Q36
  • Q40
  • Q41
  • Q42
  • Q43
  • Q44-SBS
  • Q54
  • Q56
  • Q60
  • Q65
  • Q75
  • Q76
  • Q77
  • Q82
  • Q83
  • Q84
  • Q85
  • Q86
  • Q87
  • Q89
  • Q110
  • Q111
  • Q112
  • Q113
  • Q114
  • Q115
  • T300

Express bus routes

  • QM64
  • QM68

Safety record

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

  • 3,562 police-reported crashes at its corners
  • 10.2 a corner, on average
  • 5.2 the average Queens corner
  • 21 corners with a clean record

Signal or safety changes on City record, at 95 of its corners

Leading pedestrian intervals
63
Accessible pedestrian signals
43
Turn calming
35
Barnes Dance all-way crossings
6
Safety Improvement Projects
4
Enhanced crossings
1

Camera tickets

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

  • 126 red-light camera tickets at two corners
  • 13,537 school-zone speed camera tickets at 15 corners
  • 214,688 bus-lane camera tickets at eight corners
Most red-light tickets
Liberty Avenue & Sutphin Boulevard, 77
Most speed tickets
Jamaica Avenue & 179th Place, 3,625
Most bus-lane tickets
Jamaica Avenue & 149th Street, 91,989

People and homes

The 2020 Census counted 60,993 residents in Jamaica, about 36,300 per square mile.

  • 20,038 homes, 2020 Census
  • 8,625 homes added since April 2010, net, by City Planning's count

Half of its 4,150 residential lots hold buildings from 1920 or earlier, and 83% of them date from before 1940, by the City's tax lot records.

NYCHA developments

NYCHA's Conlon Lihfe Tower, International Tower and Shelton House developments lie wholly or partly within Jamaica.

Parks and landmarks

Parkland
15.4 acres of NYC Parks property
The largest pieces
Rufus King Park (11.4 acres), Howard Von Dohlen Playground (1.4 acres) and Gateway Park (0.9 acre)
Designated landmarks
The Jamaica Savings Bank, the La Casina, the Jamaica High School and the Queens General Court House, among others

Streets and trees

Trees
4,728 in NYC Parks' records, most often thornless honeylocust, London planetree and Callery pear
Street with the most corners
Jamaica Avenue, with 47 of the area's 350
Height above sea level
From 27 feet at 153rd Street & Tuskegee Airmen Way to 139 feet at 85th Drive & 151st Street
Honorary street names
19 at its corners, enacted by local law

Schools and libraries

The City lists 16 schools and one library in Jamaica.

Public schools
11
Charter and private schools
5
Library
Central Library

Public art

The City's public art inventory lists three works in Jamaica: Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1896), Wingdale (1973) and The Wheel of Justice (2002).

  • 3 works of public art

Public safety

How complaints are counted

In 2025 the NYPD recorded 1,271 major felonies at places in Jamaica.

Recorded by the NYPD at places in Jamaica

  • 1,307 major felonies in 2024
  • 5,783 other felonies, misdemeanors and violations in 2025

In 2025, on the streets along the edge of Jamaica, the NYPD recorded another 152 major felonies. Counting the streets along its edge, in 2025 the NYPD recorded 23.3 major felonies for every thousand residents the 2020 Census counted in Jamaica.

Police precincts
103rd (most of the area), 107th
Major felonies recorded at places in Jamaica, 2021 to 2025

From January to June 2026 the NYPD recorded 627 major felonies at places in Jamaica, against 575 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.