Best PlacesFinancial District, Manhattan, NY Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Financial District, Manhattan, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Financial District, Manhattan ranks 103rd of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.

#103
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Financial District, Manhattan

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Financial District, Manhattan area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Financial District, Manhattan's strengths and weaknesses

#103Best US area overall
Top 1%Walkability
Top 1%Transit
Top 1%Population health
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Financial District, Manhattan with other neighborhoods.

Where Financial District, Manhattan ranks high

  • WalkabilityBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • TransitBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • Health outlookBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • Big-city accessBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • School gradeA+, better than 99% of neighborhoods

Where Financial District, Manhattan ranks low

  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
  • Low vacancyBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
  • QuietBetter than only 12% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Financial District, Manhattan

A household needs to earn about $316,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Financial District, Manhattan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $194,978, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$316,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$7,384
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $1,174,835 home
Median rent
$3,280
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$5,990
Property tax$1,003
Homeowners insurance$392

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 Financial District, Manhattan's effective rate of 1.02%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Financial District, Manhattan

Financial District, Manhattan runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
33
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
8%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
1.9
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1813%
18 to 3443%
35 to 4923%
50 to 6413%
65 and older8%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Financial District, Manhattan.


Who works in Financial District, Manhattan, and how

Work in Financial District, Manhattan centers on professional & technical and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
28%
above the national average
Unemployment
2.0%
below the national average
Job growth
−2.4%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical25%
Finance & insurance20%
Health care & social9%
Education7%
Retail trade7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 6%
  • Work from home 28%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 66%

Life in Financial District, Manhattan

Financial District, Manhattan has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of neighborhoods and more late-night spots per resident than 82% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 10 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Financial District, Manhattan and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
949
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 241.7 per 10,000 residents, more than 92% of neighborhoods
Coffee shops
163
about 41.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 94% of neighborhoods
Open past 10pm
~168
food and drink venues open late, about 42.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 82% of neighborhoods
Living on campus
1,417
students living in college or university housing
To the coast
10 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in Financial District, Manhattan, month by month

Financial District, Manhattan 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.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January43°35°28°
April65°53°44°
July88°78°70°
October69°60°52°

Flying in and out of Financial District, Manhattan

Newark Liberty International sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.5 million passengers in 2025, with 242 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
EWR
Newark Liberty International, about 8 miles
Airport size
Large hub
14th-busiest in the US, 242 nonstop destinations
Average drive
12 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Financial District, Manhattan

Schools across Financial District, Manhattan average an A+, better than 99% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Financial District, Manhattan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Financial District, Manhattan 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 Financial District, Manhattan against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Who Financial District, Manhattan suits

Families

Schools beat 99% of neighborhoods and crime safety beats 63%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of neighborhoods and 28% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 76%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Financial District, Manhattan

Is Financial District, Manhattan a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Financial District, Manhattan ranks 103rd of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and population health, and lowest on taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Financial District, Manhattan expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $1,174,835. The overall cost of living runs about 100% above the national average. Set against a $194,978 median income, cost of living beats 77% of neighborhoods.

Is Financial District, Manhattan safe?

Yes, Financial District, Manhattan is safer than 63% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $478 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Financial District, Manhattan?

July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 28. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of neighborhoods.

Is Financial District, Manhattan good for families?

Schools beat 99% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 63%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.


Compare Financial District, Manhattan with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Financial District, Manhattan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Financial District, Manhattan 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.

Financial District, Manhattan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Financial District, Manhattan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Financial District, Manhattan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Financial District, Manhattan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Financial District, Manhattan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Financial District, Manhattan detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.