South Jamaica

Neighborhood · Queens

Just south of downtown Jamaica, South Jamaica covers residential blocks of southeast Queens in the area broadly bounded by the Van Wyck Expressway and Merrick Boulevard.

  • 1.36 square miles
  • 44,401 residents, 2020 Census
  • 308 street corners
  • 24 bus routes

Farms covered the land through the 19th century, and in the 1920s streets were laid out and houses built as the population soared, with many Black families moving in by the middle of the decade. The South Jamaica Houses, among the first developments built and run by the New York City Housing Authority, welcomed their first residents in July 1940, and a second complex followed in 1954.

Sources: South Jamaica, Queens (Wikipedia); South Jamaica Houses (Wikipedia); Rochdale Village, Chapter 3: The Birth of a Suburb, the Growth of a Ghetto (Peter Eisenstadt) (Cornell University Press).

Map

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South Jamaica borders four areas, and 109th Avenue holds more of its corners than any other street, 33 of 308.

Street map of South Jamaica, Queens, outlined among Jamaica, Baisley Park, St. Albans and South Ozone Park, with Detective Keith L Williams Park.JamaicaSt. AlbansBaisley ParkSouth Ozone Park
  • South Jamaica
  • A neighboring area
  • Park
  • Another station

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

Neighboring areas

Getting around

Buses on 24 routes stop in or at the edge of South Jamaica.

  • 20 local bus routes
  • 4 express bus routes

Local bus routes

  • Q4
  • Q5
  • Q6
  • Q9
  • Q40
  • Q41
  • Q42
  • Q51
  • Q60
  • Q83
  • Q84
  • Q85
  • Q86
  • Q87
  • Q89
  • Q111
  • Q112
  • Q113
  • Q114
  • Q115

Express bus routes

  • QM21
  • QM63
  • QM64
  • QM65

Safety record

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

  • 1,666 police-reported crashes at its corners
  • 5.4 a corner, on average
  • 5.2 the average Queens corner
  • 35 corners with a clean record

Signal or safety changes on City record, at 27 of its corners

Leading pedestrian intervals
22
Accessible pedestrian signals
6
Turn calming
3
Barnes Dance all-way crossings
1
Safety Improvement Projects
1

Camera tickets

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

  • 0 red-light camera tickets
  • 6,940 school-zone speed camera tickets at nine corners
  • 2,473 bus-lane camera tickets at one corner
Most speed tickets
Liberty Avenue & 173rd Street, 2,062
Most bus-lane tickets
Merrick Boulevard & 105th Avenue, 2,473

People and homes

The 2020 Census counted 44,401 residents in South Jamaica, about 32,600 per square mile.

  • 14,301 homes, 2020 Census
  • 462 homes added since April 2010, net, by City Planning's count

Half of its 6,349 residential lots hold buildings from 1930 or earlier, and 64% of them date from before 1940, by the City's tax lot records.

NYCHA developments

NYCHA's South Jamaica I, South Jamaica II, FHA Repossessed Houses (Group V) and FHA Repossessed Houses (Group VI) developments lie wholly or partly within South Jamaica.

South Jamaica I
Within South Jamaica
South Jamaica II
Within South Jamaica
FHA Repossessed Houses (Group V)
Partly within South Jamaica
FHA Repossessed Houses (Group VI)
Partly within South Jamaica

Parks

Parkland
20.7 acres of NYC Parks property
The largest pieces
Detective Keith L Williams Park (7.7 acres), Marconi Park (4.7 acres) and Jamaica Playground (2.5 acres)

Streets and trees

Trees
4,637 in NYC Parks' records, most often thornless honeylocust, London planetree and Japanese zelkova
Street with the most corners
109th Avenue, with 33 of the area's 308
Height above sea level
From 19 feet at 159th Street & Meyer Avenue to 49 feet at Liberty Avenue & 172nd Street
Honorary street names
13 at its corners, enacted by local law

Schools and libraries

The City lists ten schools and one library in South Jamaica.

Public schools
8
Charter and private schools
2
Library
South Jamaica Library

Public safety

How complaints are counted

In 2025 the NYPD recorded 461 major felonies at places in South Jamaica.

Recorded by the NYPD at places in South Jamaica

  • 466 major felonies in 2024
  • 2,031 other felonies, misdemeanors and violations in 2025

In 2025, on the streets along the edge of South Jamaica, the NYPD recorded another 95 major felonies. Counting the streets along its edge, in 2025 the NYPD recorded 12.5 major felonies for every thousand residents the 2020 Census counted in South Jamaica.

Police precincts
103rd (most of the area), 113th
Major felonies recorded at places in South Jamaica, 2021 to 2025

From January to June 2026 the NYPD recorded 211 major felonies at places in South Jamaica, against 230 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.