Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

It is adjacent to the neighborhoods of Dyker Heights to the northwest, Borough Park and Mapleton to the northeast, Bath Beach to the southwest, and Gravesend to the southeast.

[4] Bensonhurst today is home to Brooklyn's second Chinatown and has the largest population of residents born in China and Hong Kong of any neighborhood in New York City.

[8] Bensonhurst derives its name from Egbert Benson (1789–1866), whose children and grandchildren sold his lands to James D. Lynch, a New York real estate developer.

Lynch bought the old farmlands from the Benson family in the mid-1880s, and by 1888, began selling private lots in an area dubbed as Bensonhurst-by-the-Sea, now Bath Beach.

[9] The first sale of lands in "The New Seaside Resort" area was advertised in the July 24, 1888, issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

[11] By the early 2000s, condominiums were being built in Bensonhurst, and it had turned into a diverse community of Italian, Chinese, Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Russian residents.

[17] In 2018, an estimated 23% of Bensonhurst residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City.

Based on this calculation, as of 2018[update], Bensonhurst is considered to be low-income and not gentrifying relative to the rest of the city.

Bensonhurst is home to many ethnic Polish, Ukrainian, Russian, Albanian, Georgian, Uzbek, Tajik, Arab, Egyptian, Pakistani, Mexican, and Guatemalan Americans.

[12] In 1994, The New York Times cited the growing influx of Russian-speaking, Asian, and Hispanic populations in the area.

The Italian-speaking community, though, is becoming "increasingly elderly and isolated, with the small, tight-knit enclave in the city slowly disappearing as they give way to demographic changes.

Its main thoroughfare, 18th Avenue (also known as Cristoforo Colombo Boulevard) between roughly 60th Street and Shore Parkway, is lined with predominantly small, Italian family-owned businesses—many of which have remained in the same family for several generations.

86th Street is another popular local thoroughfare, located under the elevated BMT West End Line.

"The Feast" is presented by Bensonhurst resident and marketer Franco Corrado, as well as by the Santa Rosalia Society, on 18th Avenue.

Born in Rome in 1955, Corrado has been an active social member of the Italian-American community for the past 20 years.

[41] In 2011, the New York Daily News reported that Manhattan's Chinatown Chinese population dropped from 34,554 to 28,681 from 2000 to 2010, and that it is continuing to decline due to the gentrification going on in Lower Manhattan, which has spurred the increasing growth of newer Chinatowns in Brooklyn including in Queens.

The Asian population in the Dyker Heights/Bensonhurst/Gravesend/Bath Beach area all together approximately made up around roughly 102,700 residents more or less and remain primarily Chinese speaking.

[18][19][50] There is a small significant amount of Vietnamese Chinese residents integrated into the community, particularly west of Bay Parkway going towards Dyker Heights.

Bensonhurst and the nearby neighborhood of Bath Beach collectively have the largest concentration of Hong Kong immigrants in New York City.

After rezoning in the 2000s, many short single-family homes were torn down[55] and replaced by three-story brick apartment buildings and multi-family condominiums.

[56] From 2002 to 2005, 1,200 new housing units in Bensonhurst were approved to accommodate the growing population, which includes many foreign-born residents.

[14]: 14 The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Bensonhurst is 0.007 milligrams per cubic metre (7.0×10−9 oz/cu ft), lower than the citywide and boroughwide averages.

[14]: 12 Ninety percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is slightly higher than the city's average of 87%.

[69] Bensonhurst generally has a lower ratio of college-educated residents than the rest of the city as of 2018[update].

[73] Bensonhurst's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City.

[20] This provides convenient commutes into Manhattan's Chinatown for the growing Bensonhurst Chinese population.

[81] The Sea Beach Line has a station at Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn's Sunset Park Chinatown.

The IND Culver Line along McDonald Avenue, carrying the F and ​ trains, runs through the most northeastern end of Bensonhurst between the Bay Parkway and Kings Highway stations.

[82] Bensonhurst has been portrayed frequently in film, art, and literature: Notable current and former residents of Bensonhurst include: A number of high-profile organized crime figures hail from Bensonhurst, including Frankie Yale, Anthony Casso, Paul Castellano, Mikey DiLeonardo, Anthony Gaggi, Dominick Montiglio, Carlo Gambino, John Gambino, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Gregory Scarpa, and Carmine Sessa.