Queens Neighborhoods Among Best For Night Shift Workers: Report

QUEENS, NY -- For most New Yorkers in search of an apartment, a quick, reliable commute to work is a must-have.

With thousands of MTA delays per month costing the city roughly $389 million per year in lost wages and productivity, according to the New York Times, an easy commute is crucial for those whose shift starts at night, when trains are fewer and less frequent.

Night-shift workers can often find their easiest commute to work in Queens, according to a new StreetEasy report.

The report, released Tuesday, found several neighborhoods in the borough offered the easiest transportation to the city's busiest hubs and nighttime employment centers, starting with Times Square.

Times Square-42nd Street is the most trafficked subway station in the city, and its proximity to media offices, restaurants, bars, theaters and nightlife make it a hub for night workers, according to StreetEasy.

For those employees, Sunnyside is the place to be, with just a 20-minute commute into Manhattan and a median rent of $1,985, the report says.

The study also found the John F. Kennedy International airport - another nighttime employment hub known as a public transit nightmare - is best accessed by central Queens neighborhoods.

The closest subway station to the airport is Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue in Jamaica. It hosts the E, J and Z trains and offers transfer to the JFK AirTrain.

Briarwood ranked the No.1 neighborhood for easiest commute to JFK, with just an 11-minute ride on the E train and rent averaging $1,725, according to the study. Jamaica Estates offered the most affordable option on the report, at just $1,697 per month to be a 25-minute ride away from the airport via the Q54 bus route.

StreetEasy analyzed neighborhoods with median rent below $2,000 and average commutes of 40 minutes or less to each station after 10 p.m., then compared that information to MTA delay records to compile the report. The study also factored in NYPD records of late-night crime in each neighborhood.

(Lead photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)