Best PlacesHempstead, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hempstead, 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.
Hempstead ranks 1,642nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hempstead
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.
Hempstead's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hempstead ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of cities
- TransitBetter than 96% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of cities
Where Hempstead ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 7% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Hempstead
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hempstead home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $96,984, 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 Hempstead's effective rate of 2.25%, 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 Hempstead
Hempstead's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Hempstead.
Who works in Hempstead, and how
Work in Hempstead centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 24%
Life in Hempstead
Hempstead has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 76% of cities. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hempstead and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hempstead, month by month
Hempstead sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 60° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Hempstead
John F Kennedy International sits about 10 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 31.0 million passengers in 2025, with 249 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hempstead
Schools across Hempstead average a C+, better than 43% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- William S Covert SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Lenox Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Grand Avenue Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- George Washington SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Alverta B Gray Schultz Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
- Lawrence Road Middle SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- South Side High SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- Baldwin Senior High SchoolA+ · 96% proficient
- Uniondale High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hempstead school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hempstead 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 Hempstead against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Hempstead suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Hempstead
Is Hempstead a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hempstead ranks 1,642nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and transit, and lowest on car insurance costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hempstead expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $469,396. The overall cost of living runs about 23% above the national average. Set against a $96,984 median income, cost of living beats 20% of cities.
Is Hempstead safe?
Hempstead is safer than 24% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $406 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hempstead?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 27. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of cities.
Is Hempstead good for families?
Schools beat 43% of cities, crime safety beats 24%, and childcare runs $1,476 a month.
Compare Hempstead with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hempstead. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hempstead 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.
Hempstead detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hempstead: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hempstead: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hempstead: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hempstead: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hempstead 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.