Queens Taxi Zones Ranked: Pickups, Drop-offs & Pay

Q: Which Queens taxi zone has the most pickups?

LaGuardia Airport, with 6,102,397 pickups from September 2025 to August 2026, then JFK Airport with 5,817,376. They are also the two busiest pickup zones in the whole city. Outside the airports, Astoria led with 2,563,119.

Q: How much of Queens is airport trips?

JFK and LaGuardia made 19.9% of all Queens pickups, but 73.3% of Queens yellow taxi pickups. Away from the airports, yellow taxis made only 2.3% of pickups and apps made 97.5%.

Q: Where in Queens do green cabs pick up the most?

Forest Hills (25,149 green cab pickups), Elmhurst (18,940) and Jamaica (15,502). Green cabs made 122,093 pickups in Queens outside the airports, about 0.25% of pickups there.

Q: Which Queens zones send the most app riders to the airports?

Zones near JFK. In Baisley Park, 11.5% of app pickups went to an airport; in South Ozone Park 10.9%; in Springfield Gardens North and South 10.4% each; and in Kew Gardens 10.0%.

On this page (9)

The numbers at a glance
Every Queens zone, ranked
Airports vs the rest of Queens
The busiest neighborhoods, and the quietest
Where app riders head to the airports
Data caveats
What the data can't tell you
FAQ
Sources

In short: Queens had 59.8 million pickups in its 69 taxi zones over the 12 months to August 2026, about 20.1% of the city's total. The two airports lead: LaGuardia (6.10 million) and JFK (5.82 million) are the busiest pickup zones in all of NYC. Away from the airports, Queens is almost all app trips: Uber and Lyft made 97.5% of pickups. The biggest non-airport zones were Astoria, Long Island City/Hunters Point, Jamaica, Jackson Heights and Elmhurst, each with more than 2 million pickups.

The numbers at a glance

Pickups by Queens taxi zone

Yellow, green and app pickups, September 2025 – August 2026. JFK (132) and LaGuardia (138) are outlined. Darker = more pickups.

Highlighted: JFK Airport · 5,817,376 trips LaGuardia Airport · 6,102,397 trips

Pickups (all sectors)
764 – <239K
239K – <477K
477K – <669K
669K – <1.2M
1.2M – 6.1M
No data

Show data table (69 zones)

Zone	Borough	Pickups (all sectors)

Source: NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 · Data as of Oct 12, 2026. Aggregated by TLC Help from TLC trip records, Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 (pickup date; TLC publishes trip files about two months after the month ends and may revise them). 'App' = high-volume for-hire services (Uber, Lyft). Taxi records with a negative fare (reversals) are excluded. Averages, medians and rates use 'clean' trips only: 1 minute to 4 hours, more than 0 and under 150 miles, fare above $0 and under $1,000. 'Fare' is the metered fare_amount for taxis and base_passenger_fare for app trips — before tolls, tips, taxes and surcharges — so it is not what the passenger paid in total. App driver_pay is TLC's 'total driver pay (not including tolls or tips and net of commission, surcharges, or taxes)'. Tips are separate. 'Per engaged hour' divides pay by passenger time only (pickup to drop-off). It leaves out time driving to pickups and waiting for requests, so real hourly earnings are lower; it is not the TLC minimum-pay formula. Medians/rates need ≥250 trips (else null). labels are LocationIDs as strings; zones[] has names, boroughs, service_zone (from taxi_zone_lookup.csv), suggested slugs and neighbouring zone ids (shared boundary, from taxi_zones.zip).

Zone boundaries: NYC TLC taxi zones (LocationID 1–263).

Every Queens zone, ranked

Every Queens taxi zone: pickups, drop-offs and who picks up

Sorted by pickups. Yellow, green and app columns are each sector's share of the zone's pickups. App median pay = median Uber/Lyft driver pay per trip starting in the zone, before tips and tolls. A dash means too few trips to report.

Filter rows69 rows


LaGuardia Airport	6,102,397	5,729,391	19.3%	0%	80.7%	$38.65
JFK Airport	5,817,376	5,304,804	31.4%	0%	68.6%	$54.41
Astoria	2,563,119	2,554,463	3.7%	0.2%	96.1%	$13.23
Long Island City/Hunters Point	2,362,774	2,331,465	4.2%	0%	95.7%	$16.33
Jamaica	2,135,006	2,124,672	1.8%	0.7%	97.5%	$14.20
Jackson Heights	2,112,423	1,959,313	2.3%	0.4%	97.4%	$12.34
Elmhurst	2,013,559	1,954,531	1.3%	0.9%	97.8%	$12.50
Forest Hills	1,898,581	1,965,211	1.3%	1.3%	97.4%	$14.32
Sunnyside	1,694,315	1,702,990	4.7%	0.1%	95.2%	$14.50
South Ozone Park	1,680,455	1,537,978	2%	0%	98%	$11.41
Ridgewood	1,677,281	1,750,348	1.2%	0%	98.8%	$14.78
Flushing	1,451,961	1,427,454	1%	0.3%	98.7%	$14.90
Steinway	1,319,560	1,416,208	2.5%	0.3%	97.2%	$13.08
Woodside	1,223,031	1,210,469	2.3%	0.4%	97.3%	$11.99
Richmond Hill	1,179,192	1,109,244	2%	0.1%	98%	$12.19
Saint Albans	1,116,521	984,075	1.2%	0%	98.7%	$12.40
Old Astoria	962,575	1,016,389	3.8%	0.2%	96.1%	$14.46
Maspeth	885,304	871,513	2.1%	0.2%	97.6%	$14.12
Baisley Park	877,751	778,572	2.4%	0%	97.6%	$12.93
Woodhaven	846,870	788,628	1.2%	0%	98.7%	$14.38
Corona	846,799	786,339	1.3%	0.1%	98.6%	$13.19
South Jamaica	822,644	709,830	1.8%	0.1%	98.1%	$11.12
Queens Village	799,919	656,688	1.3%	0.1%	98.6%	$14.09
East Elmhurst	738,617	587,303	14.1%	0.1%	85.9%	$13.75
Rego Park	708,091	669,472	1.5%	0.2%	98.3%	$14.31

Source: TLC Trip Record Data, Sep 2025 – Aug 2026, counted by TLC Help (trips-zone-index)

The airports have no zone pages of their own; their rows link to the JFK and LaGuardia pages, which cover the taxi lines, app lots and Port Authority rules.

Airports vs the rest of Queens

Queens pickups: airports vs the rest of the borough

Pickups by sector, September 2025 – August 2026. Yellow cabs are a real part of airport pickups but almost absent elsewhere in Queens.

Trips

Yellow taxi
Green cab
App (Uber, Lyft)

Show data table

Label	Yellow taxi	Green cab	App (Uber, Lyft)
JFK + LaGuardia	3,004,319	451	8,915,003
Rest of Queens (67 zones)	1,096,843	122,093	46,705,315

Source: TLC Trip Record Data, Sep 2025 – Aug 2026 (trips-zone-index)

Yellow taxis made 31.4% of pickups at JFK and 19.3% at LaGuardia. In the other 67 Queens zones they made 2.3%. The highest non-airport yellow share was East Elmhurst (14.1%), the zone that borders LaGuardia on the TLC map. Among the other zones with at least 100,000 pickups, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park came next (8.2%), then Long Island City/Queens Plaza and Queensbridge/Ravenswood (6.6% each).

The airports also had the most pickups beyond drop-offs: JFK had 512,572 more pickups than drop-offs and LaGuardia 373,006 more. Airport app trips also paid more per trip than any other Queens zone: a median of $54.41 from JFK and $38.65 from LaGuardia. For miles, time and fees on those trips, see airport trip economics.

The busiest neighborhoods, and the quietest

After the airports, the top five were Astoria (2,563,119), Long Island City/Hunters Point (2,362,774), Jamaica (2,135,006), Jackson Heights (2,112,423) and Elmhurst (2,013,559). Green cabs, which can take street hails anywhere in Queens except the airports, were busiest in Forest Hills (25,149 pickups), Elmhurst (18,940) and Jamaica (15,502).

At the bottom are parks, beaches, marsh and a cemetery. Jamaica Bay had 764 pickups, Willets Point 11,453, Astoria Park 11,792, Broad Channel 16,944 and Breezy Point/Fort Tilden/Riis Beach 20,159. Saint Michaels Cemetery/Woodside had 51,227. Flushing Meadows-Corona Park had far more drop-offs (346,827) than pickups (210,101), the biggest gap in Queens. The data does not say why.

Where app riders head to the airports

Share of each Queens zone's app trips that go to an airport

Percent of Uber/Lyft pickups in the zone that end at JFK, LaGuardia or Newark. Darker = higher share.

App pickups going to an airport (%)
0.7% – <3.1%
3.1% – <3.8%
3.8% – <4.8%
4.8% – <5.8%
5.8% – 12%
No data

Show data table (69 zones)

Zone	Borough	App pickups going to an airport (%)

Zone boundaries: NYC TLC taxi zones (LocationID 1–263).

The zones near JFK send the biggest share of their app trips to an airport: Baisley Park (11.5%), South Ozone Park (10.9%), Springfield Gardens North and South (10.4% each) and Kew Gardens (10.0%). Across Queens, 36 of the 69 zones have their busiest hour at 8 a.m. on weekdays, and 12 peak at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Outside the airports, the highest median app pay per trip was in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park ($23.82) and Glen Oaks ($18.45). The lowest were Ozone Park ($11.04), South Jamaica ($11.12) and South Ozone Park ($11.41), counting zones with at least 100,000 pickups. Pay per trip is not hourly pay.

Data caveats

Period and source: September 2025 to August 2026 TLC trip records. Files arrive about two months late and TLC can revise them.
Coverage: yellow, green and Uber/Lyft trips only. Non-app black car, livery and limo trips are not included.
Two Corona zones: TLC uses IDs 56 and 57 for "Corona". They are listed separately.
Medians need at least 250 trips; smaller cells show a dash.
App pay is TLC's driver pay field, before tips and tolls and after commission. It is not the minimum pay formula.

What the data can't tell you

It can't show which terminal or street a pickup came from, whether a trip was a legal pickup, how long drivers waited in an airport lot, or cash tips in taxis. Zone borders don't match neighborhood names exactly, so check the zone explorer map.

See also the Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx and Staten Island rankings, all zones in NYC taxi zone data, busiest taxi zones for drop-offs, the Queens location page and the places hub.

Frequently asked questions

Which Queens taxi zone has the most pickups?

LaGuardia Airport, with 6,102,397 pickups from September 2025 to August 2026, then JFK Airport with 5,817,376. They are also the two busiest pickup zones in the whole city. Outside the airports, Astoria led with 2,563,119.

How much of Queens is airport trips?

JFK and LaGuardia made 19.9% of all Queens pickups, but 73.3% of Queens yellow taxi pickups. Away from the airports, yellow taxis made only 2.3% of pickups and apps made 97.5%.

Where in Queens do green cabs pick up the most?

Forest Hills (25,149 green cab pickups), Elmhurst (18,940) and Jamaica (15,502). Green cabs made 122,093 pickups in Queens outside the airports, about 0.25% of pickups there.

Which Queens zones send the most app riders to the airports?

Zones near JFK. In Baisley Park, 11.5% of app pickups went to an airport; in South Ozone Park 10.9%; in Springfield Gardens North and South 10.4% each; and in Kew Gardens 10.0%.

Sources

Last reviewed against the official sources on Oct 12, 2026.

NYC TLC Trip Record Data (yellow, green, high-volume FHV), Sep 2025 – Aug 2026, aggregated by TLC Help nyc.gov
TLC Taxi Zone Lookup Table (LocationID, borough, zone, service_zone) d37ci6vzurychx.cloudfront.net

Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll check it against the official source.

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