Best PlacesBronx, NY Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Bronx, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Bronx ranks 349th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Its strengths are transit and walkability. The cost shows up in long commutes, the cost of living against local pay, and car insurance costs.

#349
of 445 cities
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 445 cities
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Bronx

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Bronx area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

The best areas in Bronx

The parts of Bronx, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.

#1

University Heights, Kings Bridge & Riverdale

More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.

WorseBetter
58th nationally
#2

Parkchester

Streets are more car-dependent and homes cost more.

WorseBetter
54th nationally
#3

Wakefield-Williamsbridge, Country Club & Baychester

Health care is easier to reach, though fewer households have young kids.

WorseBetter
49th nationally
#4

Bedford Park & Williamsbridge

Transit reaches more jobs.

WorseBetter
49th nationally
#5

Belmont, Bronxdale & West Farms

WorseBetter
46th nationally
#6

Unionport & Throgs Neck-Edgewater Park

Health outcomes score higher, though disaster risk is higher.

WorseBetter
46th nationally
#7

Soundview & Hunts Point

Biking is better.

WorseBetter
38th nationally
#8

South Bronx & Mott Haven

Fewer homes sit empty, though crime runs higher.

WorseBetter
38th nationally
#9

Morris Heights, Tremont & Highbridge

Fewer residents vote.

WorseBetter
36th nationally

Bronx shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.


Bronx's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Transit
Top 1%Walkability
Top 3%Big-city access

Bronx ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Transit is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Walkability and big-city access follow.

The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: long commutes, the cost of living against local pay, and car insurance costs all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Bronx with other cities.

Where Bronx ranks high

  • TransitBetter than 99% of cities
  • WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
  • Big-city accessBetter than 98% of cities
  • Cell coverageBetter than 97% of cities
  • School gradeB+, better than 96% of cities

Where Bronx ranks low

  • Short commute43.3 minutes each way, better than only 1% of cities
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of cities
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 1% of cities
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
  • Household income$56,320 median, better than only 2% of cities

What it costs to buy a home in Bronx

A household needs to earn about $143,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bronx home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $56,320, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$143,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,342
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $553,924 home
Median rent
$1,517
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,824
Property tax$333
Homeowners insurance$185

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 Bronx's effective rate of 0.72%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Bronx

Bronx runs younger than the country.

Median age
38
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
15%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.6
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1823%
18 to 3424%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6418%
65 and older15%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bronx.


Who works in Bronx, and how

Work in Bronx centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
10%
below the national average
Unemployment
8.5%
above the national average
Job growth
−0.3%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social27%
Retail trade10%
Education9%
Transportation & warehousing8%
Hospitality & food8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 27%
  • Work from home 10%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 62%

Life in Bronx

Bronx has more parkland per resident than 80% of cities and less late-night activity than most cities. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bronx and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
3,996
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 27.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 60% of cities
Coffee shops
315
about 2.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 70% of cities
Parkland
3,915 acres
about 2.7 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 80% of cities
Open past 10pm
~415
food and drink venues open late, about 2.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 29% of cities
Living on campus
7,348
students living in college or university housing
To the coast
11 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in Bronx, month by month

Bronx sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January44°36°29°
April65°53°45°
July90°80°72°
October70°61°54°

Flying in and out of Bronx

Laguardia sits about 5 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 118 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
LGA
Laguardia, about 5 miles
Airport size
Large hub
19th-busiest in the US, 118 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Bronx

Schools across Bronx average a B+, better than 96% of cities.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bronx school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Bronx 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 Bronx against the other 444 cities.


Who Bronx suits

Families

Schools beat 96% of cities and crime safety beats 73%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Bronx

Is Bronx a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bronx ranks 349th of 445 cities. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Bronx expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $553,924. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $56,320 median income, cost of living beats 0% of cities.

Is Bronx safe?

Yes, Bronx is safer than 73% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $325 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Bronx?

July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 29. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of cities.

What are the best neighborhoods in Bronx?

Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are University Heights, Kings Bridge & Riverdale, Parkchester, and Wakefield-Williamsbridge, Country Club & Baychester. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.

Is Bronx good for families?

Schools beat 96% of cities, crime safety beats 73%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.

Is Bronx good for remote workers?

Cost of living against local pay beats 0% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 92% of cities. About 10% of workers already work from home.


Compare Bronx with other cities


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bronx. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bronx 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.

Bronx detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Bronx: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Bronx: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Bronx: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Bronx: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Bronx detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.