Queens is an enormous coastal borough (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of New York. With a population of 2,253,858 people and 669 constituent neighborhoods, Queens is the second largest community in New York.
Queens home prices are not only among the most expensive in New York, but Queens real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Unlike some boroughs where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Queens is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Queens is a borough of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Queens who work in office and administrative support (12.05%), sales jobs (9.27%), and management occupations (8.12%).
Also of interest is that Queens has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
One thing noticeable about Queens, is that it has a large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. That’s because Queens is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Queens a great place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun. In fact, Queens is one of the top larger cities in America for educated single professionals to flock.
Queens is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities.
In Queens, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 41.62 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit. In addition, the borough is also quite pedestrian-friendly, because many neighborhoods are very dense and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot.
One of the benefits of being a big city like Queens is having a public transportation system, but in Queens the transit system is the mode of choice for lots of people getting to and from work every day. You will find many people using the subway for their daily commute, even though other transportation options exist. If you ask these commuters, many will tell you that not having to drive in the snarl of big city traffic is one of main reasons for leaving the car at home, or even not owning a car at all. With so many people taking the subway Queens benefits from a reduction in air pollution and traffic.
The overall education level of Queens citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 32.17% of adults in Queens have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 21.84%.
The per capita income in Queens in 2018 was $31,930, which is middle income relative to New York, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $127,720 for a family of four. However, Queens contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Queens is an extremely ethnically-diverse borough. The people who call Queens home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Queens, accounting for 28.04% of the borough’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Queens residents report their race to be Asian, followed by White. Important ancestries of people in Queens include Italian, Irish, Guyanese, Jamaican, and Polish.
Foreign born people are also an important part of Queens's cultural character, accounting for 47.24% of the borough’s population.
The most common language spoken in Queens is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.