Brooklyn neighborhoods: a guide to the borough

Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough — roughly 2.7 million people spread across dozens of distinct neighborhoods, each with its own main street, food scene and character. There is no single "Brooklyn"; a coffee shop in Greenpoint and a bakery in Bay Ridge belong to completely different worlds. This guide breaks the borough into its major regions, then lets you jump straight into the local businesses in each of the 16 neighborhoods we cover.

North Brooklyn

Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick

Warehouse blocks turned into coffee roasters, record shops, breweries and design studios. Nightlife and independent retail run late here, and the L and G trains keep it busy seven days a week.

Brownstone Brooklyn

Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens

Tree-lined residential streets with tight commercial strips along Fifth Avenue, Smith Street and Myrtle Avenue. Expect family-run restaurants, bookstores, bakeries and long-standing service businesses.

Downtown & the Waterfront

Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights

The borough's civic and business core, plus the cobblestone blocks under the bridges. Offices, studios, galleries and hotels sit next to the Promenade and Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Central Brooklyn

Crown Heights, Bed-Stuy, Prospect Heights, Flatbush

Some of the borough's deepest cultural roots — Caribbean kitchens, barbershops, churches, jazz rooms and a fast-growing set of independent shops around Franklin and Nostrand Avenues.

South Brooklyn

Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Coney Island

Brooklyn's most international commercial corridors: Eighth Avenue's Chinatown, Fifth Avenue's Latin American businesses, Middle Eastern bakeries along Bay Ridge and the boardwalk at Coney Island.

Browse by neighborhood

16 Brooklyn neighborhoods covered.

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