Zoning in Astoria, Queens

What is Astoria zoned?

Astoria is mostly low- to mid-rise residence districts: of 17,229 tax lots in the four 2020 Astoria NTAs, R5 covers 32%, R5B 23%, R4 12% and R6B 11% (PLUTO 26v2). R5 and R5B allow a standard residential FAR of 1.50, or 2.00 on qualifying residential sites (ZR 23-21). Check any Astoria address free on Zohgo.

Astoria is the largest neighborhood on our list by lot count, and its zoning is a patchwork of R4, R5 and contextual R6 districts with a dense web of local commercial overlays.

Tax lots

17,229PLUTO 26v2

Most common

R532% of lots

Commercial overlay

1,713lots (10%)

Median lot

2,442 sq ftlot area

Residence districts are the main district on 15,674 of Astoria's 17,229 lots (91%). Commercial districts cover 920 lots (C4-2A and C4-3 lead), manufacturing districts 540 (mostly M1-1), and paired mixed use districts 44. PLUTO shows 34 different main districts here. The four largest, R5, R5B, R4 and R6B, account for 13,423 lots (78%).

Zoning districts in Astoria by tax lot

Zoning district (zonedist1)	Tax lots	Share	Standard residential FAR	Max building height (standard)
R5	5,503	31.9%	1.50	45 ft (35 ft base)
R5B	3,955	23.0%	1.50	35 ft
R4	1,990	11.6%	1.00	35 ft
R6B	1,975	11.5%	2.00	55 ft
R6A	942	5.5%	3.00	75 ft
R5D	846	4.9%	2.00	45 ft
C4-2A	610	3.5%	commercial or manufacturing district
M1-1	495	2.9%	commercial or manufacturing district
C4-3	246	1.4%	commercial or manufacturing district
R4-1	142	0.8%	1.00	35 ft ridge (25 ft walls)
All other districts (24)	525	3.0%
Total	17,229	100%

Source: PLUTO 26v2, field zonedist1, lots inside the 2020 NTA boundary. "Standard" FAR and height are the ZR 23-21 / 23-22 and 23-42x limits for standard residences; affordable, senior and qualifying sites can go higher. Other districts: R6, R7A, R7X, (none), R4B, M1-5, R7B, C4-4A, C8-1, PARK, M3-1, M1-4/R6A, C4-4, R7-3, M1-4/R9, M1-4/R7-3, M1-4/R7A, C4-5X, M1-5/R9-1, C4-5, C4-4D, M1-4/R7X, R7D, M1-2.

What the main districts allow

R5 (32%). Standard FAR 1.50, or 2.00 on a qualifying residential site (ZR 23-21). Maximum base height 35 feet and building height 45 feet, with a setback above the base (ZR 23-422). R5 without a suffix has no one- or two-family limit, so small apartment buildings are allowed (ZR 22-122).
R5B (23%). Same FAR, 1.50 or 2.00 (ZR 23-21), but a lower cap: 35 feet (ZR 23-422).
R4 (12%). FAR 1.00, or 1.50 on a qualifying residential site (ZR 23-21). 35 feet for buildings not using the pitched-roof envelope; one- and two-family detached or semi-detached houses use the pitched-roof envelope of ZR 23-421 (25-foot walls, 35-foot ridge).
R6B (11%). FAR 2.00, or 2.40 for qualifying affordable or senior housing (ZR 23-22). Maximum height 55 feet, or 65 feet (ZR 23-432).
R6A (5%) and R5D (5%). R6A: FAR 3.00 or 3.90, maximum height 75 feet. R5D: FAR 2.00 in both columns, maximum height 45 feet (ZR 23-21, 23-22, 23-422, 23-432).
C4-2A, C4-3 and M1-1. See our C4 and M1 guides.

What does your Astoria lot allow?

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Worked example: an R5 lot, standard vs qualifying residential site

Step	Calculation	Result
Typical lot	25 ft x 100 ft (median R5 lot in PLUTO: 2,490 sq ft, 25 ft wide)	2,500 sq ft
Standard floor area	2,500 x 1.50 (ZR 23-21)	3,750 sq ft
Units	3,750 / 680 = 5.51 (ZR 23-52)	5 units
Height	35 ft base, 45 ft max (ZR 23-422)
Larger lot, standard	5,000 sq ft x 1.50	7,500 sq ft, 11 units
Same lot as a qualifying residential site	5,000 x 2.00 (ZR 23-21); 10,000 / 680 = 14.71	10,000 sq ft, 14 units

A 2,500 sq ft lot is too small for the main qualifying residential site test, which requires at least 5,000 sq ft of lot area, a location in the Greater Transit Zone and frontage on a wide street or the short end of a block, among other options (ZR 12-10). Qualifying sites have their own height rules in ZR 23-424, not covered here.

Commercial overlays

Commercial overlay (overlay1)	Tax lots	Share of all lots
C1-3	578	3.4%
C2-3	417	2.4%
C1-2	406	2.4%
C1-4	180	1.0%
C2-4	94	0.5%
C2-2	22	0.1%
C2-1	16	0.1%
Any overlay	1,713	9.9%

1,713 lots (10%) carry a commercial overlay, spread across seven overlay types; C1-3 (578), C2-3 (417) and C1-2 (406) are the most common. In R4, R5, R5D and R6B, an overlay lot used only for commercial use is capped at FAR 2.00 (ZR 33-121), well above the 1.00 to 1.50 residential FAR of the R4 and R5 districts beneath most of them.

Special districts and inclusionary housing

Special Mixed Use District 24 was established in Astoria on November 22, 2022 (ZR 123-90) and is the main special district on 44 lots.
Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. 181 lots fall inside adopted MIH areas. DCP's dataset lists 20 MIH areas touching these NTAs, adopted between 2018 (35-10 Astoria Boulevard South) and 2025 (42-11 30th Avenue; Ikos Senior Living), including the 2022 Hallets North and Innovation Queens rezonings.
UAP applies only in R6 to R12 districts with a qualifying affordable FAR column (ZR 23-22). UAP is the City of Yes program that lets a development or enlargement outside a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing area exceed the standard FAR, but only by the amount of affordable housing it provides (ZR 27-111). Astoria's R6B, R6A and R7A lots can use it; its R4 and R5 lots use the separate qualifying residential site rules instead.

How we defined Astoria and counted lots

Boundary: the official 2020 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas Astoria (North)-Ditmars-Steinway (QN0101), Old Astoria-Hallets Point (QN0102), Astoria (Central) (QN0103), Astoria (East)-Woodside (North) (QN0104), published by NYC City Planning on NYC Open Data. Real-estate listings often draw Astoria differently, so treat the edges as approximate.
Lots: every tax lot in PLUTO version 26v2 (pulled October 26, 2026) whose latitude and longitude fall inside that boundary, 17,229 lots in total. 2 more lots in the same census tracts had no coordinates in PLUTO and are not counted. A cross-check using PLUTO's 2020 census tract field gave almost the same count.
District: PLUTO's "zonedist1", which is the district covering the largest part of each lot. 525 lots are split by a district, overlay or special district boundary (PLUTO "splitzone"); each is counted once, under its main district. Special districts only appear in PLUTO when they cover at least 10% of a lot (PLUTO Data Dictionary).
Lot counts measure how many parcels are in a district, not land area. A large lot and a small one each count as one.

Astoria zoning FAQ

What is the most common zoning in Astoria?

R5. In PLUTO 26v2, 5,503 of the 17,229 tax lots inside the 2020 Astoria NTAs (32%) have R5 as their main district, followed by R5B (3,955 lots) and R4 (1,990).

What FAR does R5 allow?

1.50 for standard zoning lots and 2.00 for qualifying residential sites (ZR 23-21). R5D is higher, at 2.00 for both.

How tall can I build in R5 and R5B?

R5 without a suffix allows a 35-foot base and a 45-foot building, with a setback above the base. R5B is capped at 35 feet (ZR 23-422).

Can I build an apartment building in R5?

Yes. ZR 22-122 limits residences to one- or two-family homes only in certain districts (R1, R2, R3A, R3-1, R3X, R4A, R4-1, R4B, R5A). R5 without a suffix is not on that list.

What is a qualifying residential site?

A ZR 12-10 definition (last amended December 5, 2024) for R1 to R5 lots that meet tests such as at least 5,000 sq ft of lot area in the Greater Transit Zone with frontage on a wide street or the short end of a block. These sites get the higher FAR column in ZR 23-21, 2.00 in R5.

Sources

Lot counts are our own tabulation of PLUTO 26v2 inside the 2020 NTA boundary, pulled October 26, 2026. PLUTO is updated a few times a year, so counts will drift.

NYC Open Data: Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output (PLUTO), version 26v2, queried October 26, 2026: https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/64uk-42ks
NYC Open Data: 2020 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas (NTAs): https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/9nt8-h7nd
NYC DCP: PLUTO Data Dictionary, August 2026 (26v2) (PDF): https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/dcp/assets/files/pdf/data-tools/bytes/pluto_datadictionary.pdf
NYC Open Data: Mandatory Inclusionary Housing areas (DCP): https://data.cityofnewyork.us/d/m79g-k9r4
ZR 23-21: Floor area regulations for R1 through R5 Districts: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-21
ZR 23-22: Floor area regulations for R6 through R12 Districts: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-22
ZR 23-432: Height and setback requirements (R6-R12): https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-432
ZR 23-52: Maximum number of dwelling units: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-52
ZR 33-121: Commercial overlay (C1, C2) floor area ratios: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-iii/chapter-3/33-121
ZR 23-422: Flat-roof envelopes (R3-2, R4, R4B, R5, R5B, R5D): https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-422
ZR 23-421: Pitched-roof envelopes (R1-R5): https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-421
ZR 22-122: Use Group II limits by residence district: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-2/22-122
ZR 12-10: Definitions (qualifying residential site): https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-i/chapter-2/12-10
ZR 123-90: Locations of Special Mixed Use Districts: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-xii/chapter-3/123-90
ZR 27-111: Definitions, including "UAP development": https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-7/27-111