Students and young professionals are moving en masse to Queens to enjoy its ethnic vibrancy, diverse higher education opportunities, convenient commute to Manhattan, and new residential development in several evolving neighborhoods.

The largest of all five boroughs and the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world, Queens stands out as a patchwork of tight-knit ethnic communities housing residents from over 100 foreign countries and speaking over 138 different languages.

Keep reading to explore how intersecting international cultures and surging modern development are reinvigorating every neighborhood in Queens!

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Queens is host to fifteen academic institutions, with a population of over 76,000 students concentrated most heavily around Flushing, Long Island City, Jamaica, and Bayside. Universities and colleges in Queens are internationally recognized for the diversity of their student bodies and are well-invested in the livelihood of their surrounding neighborhoods - CUNY's School of Law in Flushing operates a pro-bono law firm to serve nearby working-class communities.

Popular CUNY senior colleges in Queens include York College and Queens College, while private St. John's University occupies a sprawling 105-acre campus in Jamaica. Vaughn College of Aeronautics, which specializes in engineering, technology, and aviation, is also located adjacent to LaGuardia Airport in Flushing.

Check out a complete list of Queens' colleges and universities.

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The diverse population of Queens has created several thriving communities, defined by their own uniqueness. While some mimic Long Island suburbs, others remain densely-populated with an incredible supply of retail districts, centers of industry, and higher education opportunities.

Jackson Heights hosts Queens' most striking patchwork of ethnic cultures. Its "Little India" district is lined with shops offering gold jewelry and authentic music and clothing, a Bollywood movie theatre, and some of the City's most authentic South Asian cuisine.

Buzzing with university students and faculty, Flushing is the heart of Queens and the center of its Korean and Chinese culture. Packed with authentic ethnic restaurants and prosperous small businesses, its Main Street is Queens' busiest shopping district, rivaled only by Jamaica Avenue - both draw shoppers from across the region.

On its western waterfront, rapid residential development, a quick commute, and a flourishing arts culture has already transformed historically Greek Astoria into a haven for young transplanted Manhattanites. Similarly, neighboring Long Island City is also attracting hoards of new residents and large-scale development and is rapidly transforming its formerly industrial waterfront and core.

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Well-traversed by all modes of public transportation and several major highways, Queens is connected to Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Long Island via bridges, tunnels, and ferries as well as to the rest of the world via NYC's two airports: JFK International and LaGuardia. Both provide connections to Citywide public transit for arriving passengers.

Twelve subway lines stop in Queens, offering direct connections to Manhattan & Brooklyn (7, E, J, Z, G, R, V, F, W, M, N, A). The Long Island Railroad operates twenty stations in Queens, delivering commuters to Manhattan, Brooklyn, & Long Island.

Major highways also carve up the borough, extending eastward to Long Island's Nassau County and westward to connect to East River bridges and tunnels. Ferries also transport commuters to Midtown and Lower Manhattan as well as take baseball fans from Manhattan to Shea Stadium, or the new CitiField opening in 2009.

Major public transit hubs in Queens include:

• Jamaica Station (E, J, Z, LIRR, buses)
• Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Ave (E, F, G, R, V, 7, bus to LaGuardia)
• Queens Plaza (E, R, V, G, buses)

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One of NYC's flagship parks, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park spans 1,225 acres and houses both the Mets Shea Stadium and the USTA National Tennis Center where the US Open is played each year. The park also offers opportunities or outdoor recreation including two lakes, playing fields, trails, a mini golf course, and an ice skating rink. Having hosted two World's Fairs in the early twentieth century, the Park is ripe with history and several of its finest features are relics of that era: The Queens Zoo; Queens Art Museum, which features an impressive scale model of NYC; and the New York Hall of Science, the City's only hands-on science and technology center. The Unisphere, a 140 foot high stainless steel globe, is the second Worlds Fair's most iconic legacy and has become not only the Park's most popular gathering place, but a timeless symbol of the borough's own tremendous diversity. Also located in Flushing, the Queens Botanical Garden is a tranquil oasis whose recently completed Visitor's Center is NYC's most innovative and advanced green building.

For arts and cultural opportunities, head to Long Island City, where a burgeoning arts community supports innovative sculpture parks, local exhibitions, and world-renowned museums, including the Fisher Landau Center for Art, the Noguchi Museum and the Museum of the Moving Image, where you can learn about the history and technology of film and television in America. Check out the profile of Long Island City for more arts destinations.

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Borough-wide, large-scale development projects are planned or underway, promising to transform dormant, industrial neighborhoods; catalyze area commerce; and reinvigorate public open spaces.

Exciting redevelopment projects are planned for Flushing, where a $500 million project is creating new residential and recreation space, Downtown Jamaica, and Willets Point, a neighborhood primed for comprehensive redevelopment & slated to become one of NYC's most exciting, sustainable new communities.

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