Best Places10021, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 10021, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
10021 ranks 330th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 10021
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
10021's strengths and weaknesses
Where 10021 ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of zip codes
- TransitBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of zip codes
Where 10021 ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than only 1% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,344 a month, better than only 12% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 10021
A household needs to earn about $351,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 10021 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $173,963, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 10021's effective rate of 0.85%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 10021
10021 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 10021.
Who works in 10021, and how
Work in 10021 centers on professional & technical and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 9%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 62%
Life in 10021
10021 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of zip codes and more late-night spots per resident than 91% of zip codes. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 10021 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 10021, month by month
10021 sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 35° | 28° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 69° | 60° | 52° |
Flying in and out of 10021
Laguardia sits about 4 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 118 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 10021
Schools across 10021 average an A+, better than 98% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mark Twain Is 239 For The Gifted And TalentedA+ · 83% proficient
- Jhs 167 Robert F WagnerA · 62% proficient
- Knowledge And Power Preparatory Academy ViC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Eleanor Roosevelt High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Professional Pathways High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 10021 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
10021 measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 10021 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Who 10021 suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 30% already work from home.
Common questions about living in 10021
Is 10021 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 10021 ranks 330th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on walkability, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 10021 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,332,460. The overall cost of living runs about 113% above the national average. Set against a $173,963 median income, cost of living beats 66% of zip codes.
Is 10021 safe?
10021 is safer than 49% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $322 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in 10021?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 28. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of zip codes.
Is 10021 good for families?
Schools beat 98% of zip codes, crime safety beats 49%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.
Compare 10021 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 10021. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 10021 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
10021 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 10021: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 10021: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 10021: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 10021: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
10021 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.