Best PlacesGreat River, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Great River, 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.
Great River ranks 1,475th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Great River
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.
Great River's strengths and weaknesses
Where Great River ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$163,965 median, better than 98% of towns
Where Great River ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Short commute34.9 minutes each way, better than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Great River
A household needs to earn about $265,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Great River home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $163,965, 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 Great River's effective rate of 2.23%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Great River
Great River runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Great River.
Who works in Great River, and how
Work in Great River centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Great River
The coast is about 18 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Great River, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Great River, month by month
Great River 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 Great River
The nearest airport, Long Island MacArthur, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John F Kennedy International, about 33 miles away.
The best schools in and around Great River
Schools across Great River average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Woodhull SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Idle Hour Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Ruth C Kinney Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oakdale-bohemia Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- East Islip Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
Top high schools
- East Islip High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Great River school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Great River 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 Great River against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Great River
Is Great River a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Great River ranks 1,475th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, fast internet, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Great River expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $848,553. The overall cost of living runs about 43% above the national average. Set against a $163,965 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Great River safe?
Yes, Great River is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $157 per resident a year.
Compare Great River with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Great River. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Great River 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.
Great River detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Great River: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Great River: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Great River: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Great River: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Great River 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.