Best PlacesBrownsville, Brooklyn, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brownsville, Brooklyn, 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.
Brownsville, Brooklyn ranks 3,926th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Its strengths are transit and big-city access. The cost shows up in long commutes, taxes, and car insurance costs.
The best neighborhoods in Brownsville, 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.
Brownsville, Brooklyn's strengths and weaknesses
Brownsville, Brooklyn lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Transit is the standout, in the top 1% of neighborhoods. Big-city access and walkability follow.
The one real hole is long commutes, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and car insurance costs also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Brownsville, Brooklyn ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- School gradeB+, better than 88% of neighborhoods
Where Brownsville, Brooklyn ranks low
- Short commute47.8 minutes each way, better than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of neighborhoods
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Brownsville, Brooklyn
A household needs to earn about $166,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brownsville, Brooklyn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,670, 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 Brownsville, Brooklyn's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Brownsville, Brooklyn
Brownsville, Brooklyn's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Who works in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and how
Work in Brownsville, Brooklyn centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 27%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 66%
Life in Brownsville, Brooklyn
The coast is about 13 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Brownsville, Brooklyn, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brownsville, Brooklyn, month by month
Brownsville, Brooklyn sees roughly 69 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 Brownsville, Brooklyn
John F Kennedy International sits about 7 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 Brownsville, Brooklyn
Schools across Brownsville, Brooklyn average a B+, better than 88% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
- Ps 222 Katherine R SnyderA+ · 78% proficient
- Ps 233 Langston HughesA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Brownsville Collaborative Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Is 381C− · 30% proficient
- Knowledge And Power Preparatory Academy ViC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Performing Arts And Technology High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Fdny-captain Vernon A Richards HsA · 78% proficient
- Frederick Douglass Academy Vii High SchoolA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brownsville, Brooklyn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brownsville, 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 Brownsville, Brooklyn against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Who Brownsville, Brooklyn suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Brownsville, Brooklyn
Is Brownsville, Brooklyn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brownsville, Brooklyn ranks 3,926th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and walkability, and lowest on long commutes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brownsville, Brooklyn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $655,869. The overall cost of living runs about 27% above the national average. Set against a $60,670 median income, cost of living beats 6% of neighborhoods.
Is Brownsville, Brooklyn safe?
Yes, Brownsville, Brooklyn is safer than 67% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $387 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brownsville, Brooklyn?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 27. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 22% of neighborhoods.
Is Brownsville, Brooklyn good for families?
Schools beat 88% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 67%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.
Is Brownsville, Brooklyn good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 6% of neighborhoods, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 85% of neighborhoods. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Brownsville, Brooklyn with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brownsville, Brooklyn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brownsville, 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.
Brownsville, Brooklyn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brownsville, Brooklyn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brownsville, Brooklyn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brownsville, Brooklyn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brownsville, Brooklyn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brownsville, 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.