List of Bronx neighborhoods

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This article features a list of neighborhoods in the Bronx, one of five boroughs of New York City.

When using this article, note that names of many (but not all) neighborhoods in the Bronx have somewhat low "currency", that is, are not invoked very commonly when referring to the neighborhood they name. This is in contrast to many neighborhood names in Brooklyn which tend to have higher currency, or in Queens, where neighborhoods are often previous political entities. However, this is not true for all neighborhoods in the Bronx; while someone living at East 213th Street & White Plains Road might prefer to describe their location simply as "Gun Hill Road" (a nearby thoroughfare) rather than "Williamsbridge", Riverdale, Throgs Neck, and others have much higher currency levels. A Department of City Planning map of the city’s neighborhoods names 49 Bronx neighborhoods.

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[edit] Regions of the Bronx

Generally speaking, there are two major systems of dividing the Bronx into regions which often conflict with one another. The older of the two systems (used below), which is arguably a more accurate reflection of the area's history, divides the Bronx into two major sections:

  • West Bronx: all parts of the Bronx west of the Bronx River (NOT Jerome Avenue - this street is simply the "east-west" divider for designating numbered streets as "east" or "west." As the Bronx's numbered streets merely continue from Manhattan, on which the street numbering system is obviously based, Jerome Avenue actually represents a longitudinal halfway point for Manhattan, not the Bronx.)
  • East Bronx: all parts of the Bronx east of the Bronx River (NOT Jerome Avenue)

The Bronx River divides the borough roughly in half, putting the earlier-settled, denser, and hillier sections in the western lobe and the later developed, lower density sections in the eastern lobe. It is an accurate reflection on the Bronx's history considering that the towns that existed in the area prior to annexation to the City of New York generally did not straddle the Bronx River. In addition, what is today the Bronx was annexed to New York City in two stages: areas west of the Bronx River were annexed in 1874, while areas to the east of the river were annexed in 1895.

During the Bronx's economic decline a second system came into more common usage:

  • South Bronx: south of Fordham Road and west of the Bronx River
  • Everything else: all areas not in the South Bronx (Southwest Bronx) - i.e. remaining areas of the West and East Bronx

The term South Bronx encompassed many neighborhoods. As high poverty rates and urban decay extended into other parts of the borough, the name no longer clearly divided the poorest parts of the borough from the rest; however it is still in use.


* Note: The name "South Bronx" continues to be used in urban lore and the media; it is applied to Black and Hispanic areas with high poverty and crime rates. When first coined, "South Bronx" was applied to the neighborhoods mostly encompassing today's Community Board 1, when it was identified as the poorest congressional district in the United States in the late 1970's.

* In the late 1970's and early 1980's, the exodus of the middle class from more and more neighborhoods north of this congressional district and the growth of poorer neighborhoods led to the "expansion" of the borders of the South Bronx. At one point during the early 1990's, the "South Bronx" was identified as all neighborhoods below the Cross Bronx Expressway, which cuts across the entire borough. As poverty, crime, systematic reductions in city sevices and negative perceptions grew, so did the boundaries of the "South Bronx".

* This term is no longer accepted by most community groups, elected officials, residents, or businesses residing in the Bronx, who have made numerous improvements, both economically and socially, in their respective neighborhoods.


Below is a list of neighborhoods in the Bronx, organized primarily by the older east/west regional classification.

[edit] West Bronx

[edit] South Bronx

[edit] East Bronx

Pelham Parkway

†Large Scale Housing Developments

[edit] See also