Best Places11217, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 11217, 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.
11217 ranks 733rd 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 11217
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.
11217's strengths and weaknesses
Where 11217 ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of zip codes
- TransitBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of zip codes
Where 11217 ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than only 3% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,344 a month, better than only 12% of zip codes
- Short commute34.4 minutes each way, better than only 12% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 11217
A household needs to earn about $409,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 11217 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $162,495, 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 11217's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 11217
11217 runs younger 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 11217.
Who works in 11217, and how
Work in 11217 centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 6%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 61%
Life in 11217
11217 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of zip codes and more late-night spots per resident than 97% of zip codes. The coast is about 9 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 11217 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 11217, month by month
11217 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 11217
Laguardia sits about 9 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 11217
Schools across 11217 average a B+, better than 86% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
- Ps 38 Pacific (the)A+ · 85% proficient
- Ps 133 William A ButlerA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Math And Science Exploratory School (the)A · 60% proficient
- Knowledge And Power Preparatory Academy ViC− · 28% proficient
- Ms 266 Park Place Community Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Brooklyn Technical High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Brooklyn High School Of The ArtsA+ · 87% proficient
- Khalil Gibran International AcademyA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 11217 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
11217 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 11217 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Who 11217 suits
Common questions about living in 11217
Is 11217 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 11217 ranks 733rd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on taxes and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 11217 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,652,999. The overall cost of living runs about 111% above the national average. Set against a $162,495 median income, cost of living beats 49% of zip codes.
Is 11217 safe?
11217 is safer than 34% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $410 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in 11217?
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 11217 good for families?
Schools beat 86% of zip codes, crime safety beats 34%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.
Compare 11217 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 11217. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 11217 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.
11217 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 11217: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 11217: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 11217: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 11217: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
11217 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.