Zoning in Flushing, Queens

What is Flushing zoned?

Flushing has two very different zoning profiles. Of 7,375 tax lots in the 2020 Flushing-Willets Point and East Flushing NTAs, R6 is the single largest district at 16%, but R3X (15%), R2A (15%), R4-1 (13%) and R2 (9%) together cover over half the lots with one- and two-family house districts (PLUTO 26v2). R6 allows FAR 2.20 to 3.00, while R2A and R3X allow 0.75 (ZR 23-21, 23-22). Check any Flushing address free on Zohgo.

Flushing pairs one of the densest commercial cores in Queens with some of its lowest-density house districts, a few blocks apart.

Tax lots

7,375PLUTO 26v2

Most common

R616% of lots

Commercial overlay

475lots (6%)

Median lot

3,500 sq ftlot area

Residence districts are the main district on 6,522 of the 7,375 lots (88%). Commercial districts cover 504 lots, mostly C4-2 and C4-3, and manufacturing districts 316 (M1-1 and M2-1 lead). PLUTO shows 29 main districts. The house districts R2, R2A, R3A, R3X, R3-2 and R4-1 together cover 4,573 lots (62%); the apartment-scale districts R6, R5B and R7-1 cover 1,510 (20%).

Zoning districts in Flushing by tax lot

Zoning district (zonedist1)	Tax lots	Share	Standard residential FAR	Max building height (standard)
R6	1,176	15.9%	2.20 (3.00 near wide st.)	55 ft (75 ft near wide st.)
R3X	1,120	15.2%	0.75	35 ft ridge (25 ft walls)
R2A	1,094	14.8%	0.75	35 ft ridge (25 ft walls)
R4-1	991	13.4%	1.00	35 ft ridge (25 ft walls)
R2	634	8.6%	0.75	35 ft ridge (25 ft walls)
R3A	436	5.9%	0.75	35 ft ridge (25 ft walls)
R3-2	298	4.0%	0.75	35 ft
R5B	217	2.9%	1.50	35 ft
C4-2	198	2.7%	commercial or manufacturing district
C4-3	192	2.6%	commercial or manufacturing district
All other districts (19)	1,019	13.8%
Total	7,375	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: R4A, M1-1, M2-1, R7-1, C4-4, R5D, R3-1, R7B, R6A, R4, M1-2, PARK, C2-6A, M3-1, (none), C4-5X, R7A, M1-2/R7-1, R5.

What the main districts allow

R6 (16%). FAR 2.20, or 3.00 within 100 feet of a wide street, and 3.90 for qualifying affordable or senior housing (ZR 23-22). Maximum height 55 feet on narrow streets and 75 feet near wide streets; 85 and 95 feet for qualifying affordable or senior housing (ZR 23-432).
R3X (15%). FAR 0.75, or 1.00 on a qualifying residential site (ZR 23-21). One- or two-family detached houses only on standard lots (ZR 22-122). Pitched-roof envelope: 25-foot perimeter walls, 35-foot ridge (ZR 23-421).
R2A (15%) and R2 (9%). FAR 0.75 (ZR 23-21). Single-family detached houses only, except on qualifying residential sites (ZR 22-122). Same 25 and 35 foot pitched-roof envelope (ZR 23-421).
R4-1 (13%). FAR 1.00, or 1.50 on a qualifying residential site (ZR 23-21). One- or two-family detached, semi-detached or zero lot line houses (ZR 22-122).
R3A (6%) and R3-2 (4%). FAR 0.75. R3A allows one- or two-family detached and zero lot line houses; R3-2 has no house-type limit and a 35-foot cap for buildings outside the pitched-roof envelope (ZR 22-122, 23-422).
C4-2, C4-3, M1-1, M2-1. See our C4, M1 and M2 and M3 guides.

One more R1 to R3 rule matters on Flushing's larger house lots: on standard zoning lots of 4,000 sq ft or more, the floor area tied to any single dwelling unit cannot exceed an FAR of 0.60 (ZR 23-21, note 1).

Is your Flushing lot in the core or a house district?

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Worked example: a 4,000 sq ft lot downtown vs in a house district

Step	Calculation	Result
R6, narrow street	4,000 x 2.20 = 8,800 sq ft; 8,800 / 680 = 12.94 (ZR 23-52)	13 units, 55 ft
R6, within 100 ft of a wide street	4,000 x 3.00 = 12,000 sq ft; 12,000 / 680 = 17.65	17 units, 75 ft
R6 with qualifying affordable housing	4,000 x 3.90	15,600 sq ft
R3X, standard	4,000 x 0.75 (ZR 23-21)	3,000 sq ft, 1 or 2 family
R3X, cap per dwelling unit	4,000 x 0.60 (ZR 23-21, note 1)	2,400 sq ft per unit

Lot: 40 ft x 100 ft. Flushing's median lot is 3,500 sq ft overall, larger than in the Brooklyn neighborhoods we mapped; the median R6 lot is 2,354 sq ft. A one-family house on the R3X lot could use only 2,400 sq ft; the full 3,000 sq ft needs a second unit.

Commercial overlays

Commercial overlay (overlay1)	Tax lots	Share of all lots
C2-2	322	4.4%
C1-2	93	1.3%
C1-3	38	0.5%
C2-3	22	0.3%
Any overlay	475	6.4%

475 lots (6%) carry a commercial overlay, mostly C2-2 (322 lots). The commercial FAR on an overlay lot depends on the district beneath it: 1.00 in R2, R2A, R3A and R3X, 1.60 in R3-2, and 2.00 in R4 and above (ZR 33-121, column A).

Special districts and inclusionary housing

Special Willets Point District is the main special district on 88 lots. ZR 124-00 describes its aim to transform Willets Point into a diverse community with a retail and entertainment destination that strengthens Flushing's role as a hub.
Special Flushing Waterfront District covers 12 lots; its purposes include broadening housing choices and public access to and along Flushing Creek (ZR 127-00).
Mandatory Inclusionary Housing. 15 lots fall in adopted MIH areas: One Flushing (2016), 135-01 35th Avenue (2017), the Special Flushing Waterfront District (2020) and Whitestone Lanes (2024) (DCP MIH dataset).
UAP. 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). It matters for Flushing's R6 and R7-1 lots; the R2 to R4 districts use the qualifying residential site rules instead.

How we defined Flushing and counted lots

Boundary: the official 2020 Neighborhood Tabulation Areas Flushing-Willets Point (QN0707), East Flushing (QN0705), published by NYC City Planning on NYC Open Data. Real-estate listings often draw Flushing 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, 7,375 lots in total. 11 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. 147 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.

Flushing zoning FAQ

What is the most common zoning district in Flushing?

R6, with 1,176 of the 7,375 tax lots (16%) inside the 2020 Flushing-Willets Point and East Flushing NTAs in PLUTO 26v2. R3X (1,120 lots) and R2A (1,094) are close behind.

Can I build a two-family house in R2A?

Not on a standard lot. ZR 22-122 limits R1 and R2 districts, including R2A, to single-family detached residences, unless the lot is a qualifying residential site.

What is the FAR in R3X?

0.75 for standard zoning lots and 1.00 for qualifying residential sites (ZR 23-21). On lots of 4,000 sq ft or more, any single dwelling unit is capped at the equivalent of 0.60 FAR.

How high can I build in R6 in Flushing?

55 feet on a narrow street beyond 100 feet of a wide street, and 75 feet within 100 feet of a wide street. Qualifying affordable or senior housing can reach 85 and 95 feet (ZR 23-432).

What special districts are in Flushing?

In PLUTO, the Special Willets Point District (88 lots) and the Special Flushing Waterfront District (12 lots) appear inside these NTAs. Their rules are in ZR Article XII, Chapters 4 and 7.

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 23-421: Pitched-roof envelopes (R1-R5): https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-3/23-421
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 22-122: Use Group II limits by residence district: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-2/22-122
ZR 124-00: Special Willets Point District, general purposes: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-xii/chapter-4/124-00
ZR 127-00: Special Flushing Waterfront District, general purposes: https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-xii/chapter-7/127-00
ZR 27-111: Definitions, including "UAP development": https://zr.planning.nyc.gov/article-ii/chapter-7/27-111