Queens has 66 zip codes, is home to both LaGuardia and JFK airports, and holds the largest public pool in New York City in Astoria Park. It’s also where Scrabble was invented, where Louis Armstrong chose to live out his life instead of a Manhattan penthouse, and where a 25,000-seat, fully electric MLS stadium is rising in Willets Point for a 2027 opening. Queens is the largest of the five boroughs by land area and one of the most ethnically diverse places on earth, and most people who live here still only know half of what’s in it.
By Claudia Looi | August 21, 2026
I’ve walked a lot of these blocks over the years, and Queens still surprises me. Here are 15 things about this borough that go beyond the headlines, grouped by what they actually tell you about living here.
Queens County has 66 zip codes, more than most entire counties in the US, and each one represents a genuinely different neighborhood, lifestyle, and market. From 11101 in Long Island City to 11697 in the Rockaways, the zip code alone tells you a lot about what kind of street you’re standing on.
That range shows up on your plate, too. Queens is often called the food capital of the world, and it earns it: steaming Tibetan momos in Jackson Heights, Korean barbecue in Flushing, Peruvian ceviche in Corona, and doubles in Ozone Park, all within a few subway stops of each other. Every dish is somebody’s family history served on a plate.
History hiding in plain sight
European settlement in Queens didn’t start in Manhattan’s shadow. It started in Maspeth, back in 1642, when Reverend Francis Doughty and a small group of settlers tried to build the borough’s first village under a Dutch land grant. It didn’t last, but Maspeth Memorial Square still marks the spot nearly 400 years later.
Closer to the present, Jackson Heights turns out to be the birthplace of Scrabble. Architect Alfred Mosher Butts invented the game in his apartment in the 1930s and tested it on neighbors in a church basement on 35th Avenue. A street sign shaped like Scrabble tiles marks the corner today.
And in Corona, the brick rowhouse where Louis Armstrong lived with his wife Lucille from 1943 until his death in 1971 is now a museum. He could have chosen a Manhattan penthouse. He chose to sit on his stoop and play music for the neighborhood kids instead, which tells you something about what people who’ve made it still value about living in Queens.
For something you can actually taste, Eddie’s Sweet Shop in Forest Hills has been making ice cream in-house since 1925. Marble counter, wooden booths, cash only, and still worth the line.
Where Queens is growing next
If you want to see where the borough is headed, look at Willets Point. Right next to Citi Field and Arthur Ashe Stadium, a 25,000-seat stadium is under construction for New York City FC, the city’s first soccer-specific stadium and MLS’s first fully electric one, opening in 2027. It’s turning a stretch of auto shops and warehouses into housing, retail, and parks.
Long Island City tells a version of that same story a decade further along. Twenty years ago it was warehouses and factories. Today it has some of the tallest residential towers outside Manhattan, alongside MoMA PS1 and the Noguchi Museum, proof that a neighborhood can go from industrial to residential to cultural without losing its edge.
If you’re specifically weighing a move to the Long Island City waterfront, I recently broke down which buildings there actually allow co-op purchases. Worth a read before you fall for the skyline. And if you’re trying to map out Queens neighborhood by neighborhood before deciding where to plant roots, my full neighborhoods guide goes deeper than any single video can.
Sports fans get more than they expect, too
Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, sits in Flushing steps from Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the US Open Tennis Center, and a quick ride on the 7 train into Manhattan. Living nearby means that kind of entertainment is just part of your everyday backyard. Next door, Arthur Ashe Stadium hosts the US Open, and most people don’t realize you don’t need a ticket to feel the energy: every August, the tournament kicks off with Fan Week, a free series of events where you can watch top players practice, catch concerts, and take in the atmosphere before the matches even start. It’s one of the better-kept secrets in the borough, and it’s the kind of neighborhood amenity that never shows up on a listing sheet but genuinely affects quality of life.
From working-class roots to ultra-luxury
Astoria Park holds the largest public pool in New York City, built for the 1936 Olympic trials, with the Hell Gate and Triborough bridges framing the view. A few miles south, Forest Hills Stadium, built in 1923 for tennis, has hosted the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the US Open, and it’s back to hosting concerts today.
Then there’s Malba, tucked near Whitestone, where waterfront homes sell for $3 million to $10 million. Quiet, private, and about as far from the “outer borough” stereotype as Queens gets. And running underneath all of it: two of New York City’s three major airports, JFK and LaGuardia, both sitting inside the same borough where you might be house-hunting.
That range, from a 1925 ice cream shop to a $10 million waterfront estate, from 66 zip codes to two international airports, is exactly why pricing a Queens home well takes someone who actually knows the specific neighborhood and building, not just the borough. A one-bedroom co-op in Rego Park and a single-family house in Malba aren’t the same market, even though they’re both technically “Queens.”
If you’re thinking about buying or selling anywhere in this borough, whether that’s a co-op in a pre-war building or a waterfront single-family home, book a one-on-one consultation and I’ll walk you through what your specific neighborhood is actually doing right now.
About Claudia Looi
Claudia Looi is a licensed real estate salesperson with Keller Williams Landmark II, helping long-term homeowners and buyers across Queens, Long Island, and Brooklyn. Licensed since 2018, she has closed more than 100 transactions and earned more than 100 five-star reviews from clients along the way, working with buyers and sellers in both English and Mandarin. Reach her at Cell: 347-612-2964 or email at clooi@kw.com.
This post is for informational and educational purposes only and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Please consult a qualified professional about your own circumstances. Claudia Looi is a licensed real estate salesperson in New York State with Keller Williams Landmark II. Equal Housing Opportunity.