Best PlacesBrooklyn, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brooklyn, 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.
Brooklyn ranks 142nd of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 9 minutes away. Its strengths are walkability and transit. The cost shows up in taxes, long commutes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Brooklyn
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 Brooklyn
The parts of Brooklyn, 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.
Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens & Brooklyn Heights
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant & Fort Green
Commutes are shorter, though homes cost more.
Borough Park, Sunset Park & Park Slope
More households have young kids and crime runs lower.
Gravesend-Sheepshead Bay, Mapleton-Flatlands & Sheepshead Bay
Health care is easier to reach.
Crown Heights & Ditmas Park
Scores close to Gravesend-Sheepshead Bay, Mapleton-Flatlands & Sheepshead Bay, except that transit reaches more jobs here.
Bergen Beach
More homes sit empty and streets are more car-dependent.
Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge-Fort Hamilton & Dyker Heights
Schools score higher, though fewer residents vote.
Bushwick & Ocean Hill
Scores close to Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge-Fort Hamilton & Dyker Heights, except that heat risk is lower here.
Brownsville, East Brooklyn & Canarsie
Health outcomes score lower and prices have run up more.
Brooklyn shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 9% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Brooklyn's strengths and weaknesses
Brooklyn lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Walkability is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Transit and big-city access follow.
The one real hole is taxes, near the bottom of the country. Long commutes and noise also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Brooklyn to another than it does between Brooklyn and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Brooklyn ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 99% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of cities
- School gradeB+, better than 95% of cities
Where Brooklyn ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- Short commute41.7 minutes each way, better than only 2% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 4% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Brooklyn
A household needs to earn about $266,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brooklyn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $90,170, 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 Brooklyn's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Brooklyn
Brooklyn runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Brooklyn.
Who works in Brooklyn, and how
Work in Brooklyn centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 23%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 59%
Life in Brooklyn
Brooklyn has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. The coast is about 9 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brooklyn and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brooklyn, month by month
Brooklyn sees roughly 69 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 Brooklyn
John F Kennedy International sits about 9 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 Brooklyn
Schools across Brooklyn average a B+, better than 95% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
- Ps 107 John W KimballA+ · 90% proficient
- Ps 236 Mill BasinA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Christa Mcauliffe School (the) /is 187A+ · 95% proficient
- Is 98 Bay AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- Mark Twain Is 239 For The Gifted And TalentedA+ · 83% proficient
Top high schools
- Brooklyn Technical High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Leon M Goldstein High School For The SciencesA+ · 98% proficient
- Brooklyn College AcademyA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brooklyn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brooklyn 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 Brooklyn against the other 444 cities.
Who Brooklyn suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 18% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Brooklyn
Is Brooklyn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brooklyn ranks 142nd of 445 cities. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on taxes and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brooklyn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,049,551. The overall cost of living runs about 54% above the national average. Set against a $90,170 median income, cost of living beats 4% of cities.
Is Brooklyn safe?
Yes, Brooklyn is safer than 78% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $301 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brooklyn?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 28. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 19% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Brooklyn?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens & Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant & Fort Green, and Borough Park, Sunset Park & Park Slope. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Brooklyn good for families?
Schools beat 95% of cities, crime safety beats 78%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.
Is Brooklyn good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 4% of cities, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 82% of cities. About 18% of workers already work from home.
Compare Brooklyn with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brooklyn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brooklyn 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.
Brooklyn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brooklyn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brooklyn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brooklyn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brooklyn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brooklyn 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.