The Queensborough Bridge is one of many ways Queens residents are linked to Manhattan. Tribune Photo By Ira Cohen

The following information was compiled by the Queens Chamber of Commerce, and is the most up-to-date information available.

AREA:
Queens’ land area is 112.1 square miles (71,780 acres), 34.8 percent of the city’s area. It is the largest borough of New York City.

ASSESSED VALUATION:
2000-2001 assessed valuation was $14.4 billion for ordinary (commercial, residential and industrial) properties and $1.6 billion for utility and special franchise properties.

AVIATION:
John F. Kennedy International Airport (4,930 acres) and LaGuardia Airport (680 acres) provide over 270,000 direct and indirect jobs and contribute $28.1 billion in economic activity, making aviation one of the borough’s top industries. In 2000, 32.9 million passengers used JFK, 25.3 million passengers used LaGuardia and 1.9 million short tons of cargo were handled at both airports.

BANKS:
328 separate banking offices; deposits total $28.2 billion.

BRIDGES:
Throgs Neck and Bronx-Whitestone bridges connect with the Bronx; Hell Gate Bridge carries New York Connecting Railroad to the Bronx via Wards and Randalls Islands; Triborough Bridge connects with Bronx and Manhattan; Roosevelt Island Bridge connects Long Island City and Roosevelt Island; Queensboro Bridge to 59th Street, Manhattan; Greenpoint Avenue, Kosciusko, Meeker Avenue and Pulaski bridges connect Long Island City and Brooklyn; Grand Avenue Bridge from Maspeth to Brooklyn; Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge links the Rockaways with Brooklyn; Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge connects the Rockaways with Broad Channel; Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge connects Howard Beach to Broad Channel; Hook Creek Bridge to Nassau County.

BUILDINGS:
Plans for 1,222 new buildings in Queens were filed with the city in 2000.

EDUCATION:
There are 250 public schools with 264,220 pupils enrolled; 94 Catholic schools with an enrollment of 43,980; 35 private non-religious schools; 35 schools of other Christian denominations; and 30 Jewish schools. Also, there are eight colleges and universities with campuses in Queens, with total enrollment of more than 63,637 students.

ELECTRICITY:
Con Edison provides electricity to residential and commercial customers through 717,689 meters in all areas of Queens except for the Rockaways, where 23,718 meters are served by the Long Island Power Authority.

FACTORIES:
Over 1,795 plants employ 47,921 workers.

GAS:
Con Edison provides gas through 808 miles of mains and 100,174 meters in northern sections of Queens. In other areas, including the Rockaways, KeySpan Energy Delivery furnishes gas to 362,653 meters through 1,442 miles of mains.

HIGHWAYS:
34.6 miles of parkways include Grand Central, Jackie Robinson (formerly Interboro) and Belt Parkways (comprised of Cross Island, Laurelton, Shore and Southern Parkways). 41.1 miles of interstate highways include Brooklyn-Queens, Clearview, Long Island, Nassau, Van Wyck and Whitestone Expressways.

HOMES:
Queens is the city’s “home owner borough,” with 212,160 single-family and 140,896 two-family dwellings.

HOSPITALS:
Twenty-six medical and four psychiatric hospitals.

LIBRARIES:
The Queens Borough Public Library, with a central library in Jamaica and 63 branches, holds over 8,800,000 items and serves over 862,920 cardholders. Between July 1999 and June 2000, the library circulated approximately 17,200,000 items, a new record.

PARKS:
City parks total 7,168 acres, with 258 playgrounds. State parks (Bayswater State Park and new Gantry Plaza State Park) total 14.5 acres, and the Gateway National Recreation Area covers 10,214 acres.

POPULATION:
Estimated population in 2000 was 2,229,379. In 2000, Queens was the third most populous county in the U.S., as well as the most ethnically diverse county in the nation.

RAILROADS:
168.77 miles of Long Island Rail Road main-line trackage, 160.92 miles of side tracks and 26 stations in Queens. New York Connecting Railroad freight and passenger branches, via Hell Gate Bridge. Sunnyside Yards provides storage for Amtrak, Conrail and New Jersey Transit.

RELIGION:
About 551 Protestant churches, 120 synagogues, 101 Roman Catholic churches, 26 Orthodox churches, and at least 12 Hindu temples, five mosques and four Buddhist temples.

STREETS:
Over 2,443 miles of streets.

TAX RATE:
At the start of fiscal year 2003-2004, rate was $11.936 per $100 of assessed valuation of one-, two- and three-family residential properties, $10.564 per $100 of assessed valuation for multiple-family properties, $10.607 per $100 of assessed valuation for utility and franchise properties, and $9.776 per $100 of assessed valuation for commercial properties.

TELEPHONES:
1,147,000 telephones are in service, and an average of 10 million calls are placed from phones in Queens daily. Verizon Communications has 3,337 miles of above-ground cable and 2,887 miles below ground.

TRANSIT:
42 route miles of rapid transit lines, 297 route miles of city bus lines, about 248 route miles, plus express runs, of four privately-operated bus lines, plus 26 miles of bus lines operated by Long Island Bus to Nassau County.

TUNNELS:
Queens-Midtown Tunnel connects to 38th Street, Manhattan. Also linking Queens to Manhattan are four Long Island Rail Road tunnels to 34th Street (Penn Station) and subway tunnels to 42nd Street, 53rd Street, 60th Street and 63rd Street.

WATER SUPPLY:
New York City’s water supply comes from reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains. A number of city-owned wells supplement the supply in southeast Queens.

WHOLESALE & RETAIL SERVICES:
2,925 wholesale establishments with 27,345 employees; 8,018 retail stores employ 71,403 people.

WATERFRONT:
196 miles of waterfront on Little Neck Bay, East River, Flushing Bay, Newtown Creek, Jamaica Bay, Head of Bay Basin, Hook Creek and the Atlantic Ocean. Nearly 10 miles of beaches in the Rockaways.