Briarwood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located northwest of Jamaica and roughly bounded by Queens Boulevard, Parsons Boulevard, Union Turnpike, and Hillside Avenue. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 8. It is serviced by the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway at the Briarwood–Van Wyck Boulevard station (E F). It lies in the northern half of the 11435 zip code.

Briarwood is today a very diverse community, with lead fractions of the population being African-Americans (36.6%) and European-Americans (30.2%). It has many Bukharian Jewish, Greek, Hispanic, African American, Albanian, and South American residents. It now has a distinguishable and fast-growing Asian American (14.4%) community as well. Economic activity is mostly confined to small restaurants, delis, markets, and other small businesses.

The neighborhood is named for the Briarwood Land Company, headed by Herbert O'Brien, which built housing there beginning in 1905. However, the company quickly went bankrupt and the area was largely empty until the 1920s. The New York Life Insurance Company and the United Nations constructed housing in the 1940s; United States diplomat Ralph Bunche and feminist writer Betty Friedan have lived there.

The neighborhood is known to be very inexpensive and provide affordable housing to middle class families.

The lack of major landmarks in the neighborhood coupled with its small size have caused Briarwood to remain relatively unknown; many life-long-residents of Queens have never heard[citation needed] of it and the local ZIP Code 11435 is actually designated as Jamaica. Parkway Village, a garden apartment complex initially built for United Nations employees is also in Briarwood and, in years past, lent the area a very international flavor with families from all over the world living there and attending the local public schools.

Briarwood is home to the Catholic Archbishop Molloy High School. Some of the school's more famous alumni are Andrew Cuomo, current New York State Governor and former New York State Attorney General, and actor David Caruso, who is currently featured on the series CSI: Miami. The school is named in honor of Archbishop Thomas Molloy. It has about 1,550 students.

Also located in Briarwood is Robert A. Van Wyck M.S. 217Q, a middle school of 1,300 students in grades 6-8. The school was established in 1955 and was named after the first mayor of the Greater City of New York, Robert A. Van Wyck, a Tammany Hall lawyer.

In the Briarwood–Van Wyck Boulevard station hang many paintings done by the students of Archbishop Molloy High School, M.S. 217Q, and P.S.117Q during the mid-1980's. They are titled, "Beautifying Briarwood".

Notable residents of Briarwood have included:

Arverne  Astoria  Astoria Heights  Auburndale  Bayside  Bayswater  Bay Terrace  Beechhurst  Bellaire  Belle Harbor  Bellerose  Blissville  Boulevard Gardens  Breezy Point  Briarwood  Broad Channel  Broadway-Flushing  Cambria Heights  College Point  Corona  Ditmars  Douglaston  Dutch Kills  East Elmhurst  Edgemere  Electchester  Elmhurst  Far Rockaway  Floral Park  Flushing  Forest Hills  Forest Hills Gardens  Fresh Meadows  Fresh Pond  Glendale  Glen Oaks  Hamilton Beach  Hammels  Hillcrest  Hollis  Hollis Hills  Holliswood  Howard Beach  Howard Park  Hunters Point  Jackson Heights  Jamaica  Jamaica Estates  Jamaica Hills  Kew Gardens  Kew Gardens Hills  Laurelton  LeFrak City  Linden Hill  Lindenwood  Little Neck  Locust Manor  Long Island City  Malba  Maspeth  Meadowmere  Middle Village  Murray Hill  Neponsit  North Corona  North Shore Towers  Oakland Gardens  Old Howard Beach  Ozone Park  Pomonok  Queensboro Hill  Queensbridge  Queens Village  Ramblersville  Ravenswood  Rego Park  Richmond Hill  Ridgewood  Rochdale  Rockaway  Rockaway Beach  Rockaway Park  Rockwood Park  Rosedale  Roxbury  St. Albans  Seaside  South Jamaica  South Ozone Park  Springfield Gardens  Sunnyside  Sunnyside Gardens  Tudor Village  Utopia  Warnerville  Whitestone  Willets Point  Woodhaven  Woodside