Best PlacesCentral Islip, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Central Islip, 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.
Central Islip ranks 1,257th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Central Islip
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.
Central Islip's strengths and weaknesses
Where Central Islip ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of cities
- TransitBetter than 86% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 78% of cities
Where Central Islip ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 5% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Central Islip
A household needs to earn about $136,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Central Islip home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $114,767, 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 Central Islip's effective rate of 1.86%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Central Islip
Central Islip runs younger than the country, 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 Central Islip.
Who works in Central Islip, and how
Work in Central Islip centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Central Islip
Central Islip has more parkland per resident than 81% of cities. The coast is about 17 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Central Islip and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Central Islip, month by month
Central Islip 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 Central Islip
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 32 miles away.
The best schools in and around Central Islip
Schools across Central Islip average a B−, better than 66% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Francis J O'neill SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Marguerite L Mulvey SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Cordello Avenue Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Islip Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Islip Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- East Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- East Islip High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Islip High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
- Central Islip Senior High SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Central Islip school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Central Islip 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 Central Islip against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Central Islip 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 Central Islip
Is Central Islip a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Central Islip ranks 1,257th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, heat safety, and big-city access, and lowest on car insurance costs and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Central Islip expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $452,969. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $114,767 median income, cost of living beats 44% of cities.
Is Central Islip safe?
Yes, Central Islip is safer than 65% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Central Islip?
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 25% of cities.
Is Central Islip good for families?
Schools beat 66% of cities, crime safety beats 65%, and childcare runs $1,476 a month.
Compare Central Islip with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Central Islip. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Central Islip 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.
Central Islip detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Central Islip: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Central Islip: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Central Islip: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Central Islip: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Central Islip 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.