South Ozone Park
South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. Adjacent neighborhoods include Ozone Park to the west; Richmond Hill to the north; Jamaica, South Jamaica, and Springfield Gardens to the east; and Howard Beach and Old Howard Beach to the southwest.
Rockaway Boulevard is South Ozone Park’s main business strip. There is also a high concentration of small businesses along Liberty Avenue, which is also one of South Ozone Park’s main source of revenue.
South Ozone Park is located in Queens Community District 10 and its ZIP Code is 11420. It is patrolled by the New York City Police Department’s 106th Precinct. Politically, South Ozone Park is represented by the New York City Council’s 28th and 32nd Districts.
Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of South Ozone Park was 75,878, a change of -3,028 (-4%) from the 78,906 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 1,878.12 acres (760.05 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 40.4 inhabitants per acre (25,900/sq mi; 10,000/km2).
The North Side’s area called “Sunnyside Gardens” is a historic gem, and offers the only other private park in NYC besides Gramercy Park. It makes the townhomes in that area very desirable and hence pricier than the rest of the neighborhood.
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 6.9% (5,213) White, 25.7% (19,477) African American, 1.4% (1,064) Native American, 23.3% (17,691) Asian, 0.2% (152) Pacific Islander, 10.5% (7,999) from other races, and 11% (8,337) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21% (15,945) of the population.
The entirety of Community Board 10, which comprises Howard Beach, southern Ozone Park, and South Ozone Park, had 125,603 inhabitants as of NYC Health’s 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 81.7 years. This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 22% are between the ages of between 0–17, 28% between 25–44, and 28% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 9% and 13% respectively.
As of 2017, the median household income in Community Board 10 was $73,891. In 2018, an estimated 19% of South Ozone Park and Howard Beach residents lived in poverty, compared to 19% in all of Queens and 20% in all of New York City. One in ten residents (10%) were unemployed, compared to 8% in Queens and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 56% in Howard Beach and South Ozone Park, higher than the boroughwide and citywide rates of 53% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018, South Ozone Park and Howard Beach are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.
South Ozone Park has many Indians, Pakistani, Indo-Caribbean Americans (mostly Indo-Guyanese and Indo-Trinidadians), and African Americans living in the area, in addition to the area’s longtime Italian-American population.