Best PlacesDowntown Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Downtown Brooklyn, 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.
Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn ranks 290th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Downtown Brooklyn, 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.
Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
Where Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn
A household needs to earn about $271,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $164,322, 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 Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn
Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn.
Who works in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn, and how
Work in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 8%
- Work from home 35%
- Transit, walk, or bike 57%
Life in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn
Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of neighborhoods and more late-night spots per resident than 77% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 10 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn, month by month
Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn sees roughly 75 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 Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn
Laguardia sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 118 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn
Schools across Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn average a B+, better than 90% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bridges: A School For Exploration And EquityA · 60% proficient
- Knowledge And Power Preparatory Academy ViC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- George Westinghouse Career And Technical Ed High SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Urban Assembly School For Law And Justice (the)A+ · 91% proficient
- City Polytechnic High SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Downtown Brooklyn, 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 Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn
Is Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn ranks 290th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on transit, population health, and walkability, and lowest on taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,087,262. The overall cost of living runs about 117% above the national average. Set against a $164,322 median income, cost of living beats 50% of neighborhoods.
Is Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn safe?
Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn is safer than 52% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $594 per resident a year.
Compare Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Downtown Brooklyn, 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.
Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Downtown Brooklyn, Brooklyn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Downtown Brooklyn, 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.