Best Places11596, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 11596, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
11596 ranks 736th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 11596
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.
11596's strengths and weaknesses
Where 11596 ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of zip codes
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of zip codes
- Household income$170,458 median, better than 98% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of zip codes
Where 11596 ranks low
- Short commute39.5 minutes each way, better than only 4% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 7% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than only 13% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 11596
A household needs to earn about $241,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 11596 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $170,458, 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 11596's effective rate of 1.68%, 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 11596
11596's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 11596.
Who works in 11596, and how
Work in 11596 centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 18%
Life in 11596
11596 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of zip codes. The coast is about 14 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of 11596 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 11596, month by month
11596 sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 60° | 51° |
Flying in and out of 11596
John F Kennedy International sits about 11 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 31.0 million passengers in 2025, with 249 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 11596
Schools across 11596 average an A+, better than 99% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- North Side SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Center Street SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Top middle schools
- Willets Road SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Herricks Middle SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Mineola Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
Top high schools
- Herricks High SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- Wheatley SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Mineola High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 11596 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
11596 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 11596 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 11596
Is 11596 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 11596 ranks 736th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on good schools, fast internet, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes 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 11596 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $825,089. The overall cost of living runs about 45% above the national average. Set against a $170,458 median income, cost of living beats 87% of zip codes.
Is 11596 safe?
Yes, 11596 is safer than 66% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $267 per resident a year.
Compare 11596 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 11596. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 11596 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.
11596 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 11596: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 11596: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 11596: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 11596: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
11596 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.