Best PlacesCentereach, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Centereach, 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.
Centereach ranks 472nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Centereach
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.
Centereach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Centereach ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 96% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- Household income$138,638 median, better than 87% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of cities
Where Centereach ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 13% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Centereach
A household needs to earn about $162,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Centereach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $138,638, 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 Centereach's effective rate of 2.10%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Centereach
Centereach'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 Centereach.
Who works in Centereach, and how
Work in Centereach centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Centereach
Centereach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Centereach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Centereach, month by month
Centereach sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Centereach
The nearest airport, Long Island MacArthur, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John F Kennedy International, about 40 miles away.
The best schools in and around Centereach
Schools across Centereach average an A+, better than 96% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Nassakeag Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Arrowhead Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Holbrook Road SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Robert Cushman Murphy Junior High SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Samoset Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Selden Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Ward Melville Senior High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Sachem High School NorthA+ · 96% proficient
- Sachem High School EastA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Centereach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Centereach 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 Centereach against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Centereach suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 70% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Centereach
Is Centereach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Centereach ranks 472nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on good schools, fast internet, and low crime, and lowest on property taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Centereach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $525,435. The overall cost of living runs about 21% above the national average. Set against a $138,638 median income, cost of living beats 70% of cities.
Is Centereach safe?
Yes, Centereach is safer than 95% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $181 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Centereach?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 25. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of cities.
Is Centereach good for families?
Schools beat 96% of cities, crime safety beats 95%, and childcare runs $1,476 a month.
Compare Centereach with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Centereach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Centereach 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.
Centereach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Centereach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Centereach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Centereach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Centereach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Centereach 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.