Is Flushing a bad neighborhood to find an apartment? How long would the commute be to New York City?
If you manage to find an apartment near the Main Street #7 subway station, it takes about 40 minutes to get to Manhattan on the #7 if there is no congestion.
Flushing is a pretty big place though.. Some of the nicer, quieter areas of Flushing are pretty far from the subway. The areas near the #7 subway are high-density areas with lots of activity. There is a pretty substancial police presence in Flushing so the neighborhood is fairly safe, but you still need to be street smart.
The other option is to live further out in places beyond Flushing served by the Long Island Railroad’s Port Washington branch, like Bayside, Douglaston or Little Neck (all very good suburban quiet neighborhoods). It takes about 30 minutes on the LIRR PW branch to get to Penn Station in Manhattan. Not as convenient as the #7 subway though, and LIRR is more expensive.
Hope this helps.
Wintery Syracuse NY Commute
