The Borough That Never Sleeps: Nightlife Jobs and Wages Are Rising in Queens

The Havana Cuba All Stars Perform at the Ralph & Ricky Lauren Theater at The Lexington Center. Photo courtesy of the Queens Economic Development Corporation.

By Victoria Merlino

The party won’t stop in Queens — in fact, it just keeps growing.

The borough’s nightlife scene is booming, prompting increases in jobs and wages that outpace the other boroughs, according to a new report from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. The nightlife industry includes bars, restaurants, music venues, clubs, movie theaters and art galleries.

The number of entertainment and music venues in Queens increased by 10 percent between 2011 and 2016, the most recent year for which data was available. The number of restaurants grew at an annual rate of 3 percent. Food service venues represent the largest portion of nightlife venues in Queens, numbering 4,200 in 2016, the report found.

“The diversity in Queens helps make the restaurants and nightlife scene so unique. The flavors and music in the borough represent so many cultures,” Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance told the Eagle by email.

Overall, Queens had about 4,800 nightlife establishments employing about 24,900 people in 2016. Nightlife jobs increased at yearly rate of 7 percent and wages grew by a yearly rate of 9 percent, faster than rates in Brooklyn and Manhattan, which have more nightlife establishments than Queens.

The industry generated roughly $622 million in wages for employees at nightlife establishments in Queens, the report found. The total pales in comparison to Manhattan, which generates roughly $4.8 billion in wages for nightlife workers, but exceeded the total in Brooklyn, which generates about $608 million. The Bronx nightlife industry generates about $129 million in wages while Staten Island generates about $64 million.

Queens also features the largest share of sports and recreation-related nightlife jobs and wages in the city. Queens is home to 44 percent of the jobs and 50 percent of the wages in that category citywide, the report found. The jobs include work at bowling alleys, billiards halls and Citi Field.

The report found that nightlife establishments are heavily concentrated in trendy Hunter’s Point and Astoria.