Best PlacesHauppauge, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hauppauge, 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.
Hauppauge ranks 1,481st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hauppauge
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.
Hauppauge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hauppauge ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$155,894 median, better than 98% of towns
Where Hauppauge ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hauppauge
A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hauppauge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $155,894, 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 Hauppauge's effective rate of 1.67%, 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 Hauppauge
Hauppauge runs older 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 Hauppauge.
Who works in Hauppauge, and how
Work in Hauppauge centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Hauppauge
Hauppauge has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hauppauge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hauppauge, month by month
Hauppauge sees roughly 70 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 Hauppauge
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 32 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hauppauge
Schools across Hauppauge average an A, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tackan Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Dogwood Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Bretton Woods Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Great Hollow Middle SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
- Hauppauge Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Commack Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Smithtown High School-westA+ · 98% proficient
- Commack High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Hauppauge High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hauppauge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hauppauge 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 Hauppauge against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Hauppauge suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 93% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Hauppauge
Is Hauppauge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hauppauge ranks 1,481st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, and good schools, and lowest on childcare costs and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hauppauge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $664,276. The overall cost of living runs about 23% above the national average. Set against a $155,894 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Hauppauge safe?
Yes, Hauppauge is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $253 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hauppauge?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 25. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 25% of towns.
Is Hauppauge good for families?
Schools beat 98% of towns, crime safety beats 73%, and childcare runs $1,476 a month.
Compare Hauppauge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hauppauge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hauppauge 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.
Hauppauge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hauppauge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hauppauge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hauppauge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hauppauge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hauppauge 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.