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Often portrayed as a microcosm of the American melting pot, Jackson Heights is a multicultural middle-class neighborhood in the northwestern section of the borough of Queens in New York City. It was named by the Queensboro Corporation after John C. Jackson, one of the original Queens County families’ descendants and a respected entrepreneur. The word “Heights” may have been added because, although the land was not particularly elevated, it evoked the prestigious neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights or, possibly, Morningside Heights in Manhattan, and indicated that Jackson Heights was intended to be an exclusive neighborhood.

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There are many ethnic enclaves in Jackson Heights and a reported 167 different languages are spoken as more than half of its population are foreign-born. Many of the immigrants have hailed from South America and the South Asian subcontinent and have long since established multiple, vibrant micro-neighborhoods known as Little Bangladesh, Little Colombia, Little India and Little Pakistan. Jackson Heights has also been unofficially referred to as the second capital of the exile Tibetan world, next to Dharamsala, India, due to its large community of Tibetans. Most businesses such as bakeries, bars, beauty salons, legal offices, restaurants, and specialty shops have Asian and Latino owners and constitute the culture they represent. Street foods are made and sold through food carts many of which are from various parts of the world though the Mexican community currently dominates the scene. Diversity Plaza, an iconic public space where people from all walks of life come together, is said to be the intersection of the world and an epicenter of culture and has become a proud symbol of Queens as the most international borough in New York City.

Many theater artists, many of whom were gay, have also made Jackson Heights home due to the accessibility of Times Square via the 7 train and the lack of affordable neighborhoods in Manhattan. Today, Jackson Heights is home to one of New York City’s largest LGBTQ+ communities and the venue of the annual Queens Pride Parade and Multicultural Festival, the second oldest and second largest pride parade in New York City.

Much of the neighborhood’s aesthetic and character can be credited to its conception as a planned community featuring many “garden apartments”, which are apartments built around private parks and were revolutionary for their time. Many of the multi-story apartments were in the Colonial Revival and Neo-Tudor styles with shared garden spaces and ornate exteriors. Over 200 of those apartment buildings are still in existence and are among the many that have been landmarked by the National Register of Historic Places. Many other buildings were designated as a New York City Historic District by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission while the rest of the original neighborhood, which features many pre-war apartment buildings in French Renaissance, Romanesque and Tudor styles, was made a national historic district known as the Jackson Heights Historic District.

Beyond the historic district are a wide variety of row houses and semi-detached homes, many of which have brick, English Tudor-style facades. Condos are rare and there are no big post-war high-rise buildings. Based on Census calculation, as of 2018, Jackson Heights is considered to be high-income compared to the rest of the city and not gentrifying. Much of the neighborhood is unchanged and will not change because of the landmark status.