Best PlacesIslip Terrace, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Islip Terrace, 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.
Islip Terrace ranks 2,212th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Islip Terrace
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.
Islip Terrace's strengths and weaknesses
Where Islip Terrace ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$152,396 median, better than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
Where Islip Terrace ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Islip Terrace
A household needs to earn about $156,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Islip Terrace home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $152,396; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Islip Terrace's effective rate of 1.82%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Islip Terrace
Islip Terrace'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 Islip Terrace.
Who works in Islip Terrace, and how
Work in Islip Terrace centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Islip Terrace
The coast is about 16 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Islip Terrace, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Islip Terrace, month by month
Islip Terrace 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 Islip Terrace
The nearest airport, Long Island MacArthur, is about 5 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 Islip Terrace
Schools across Islip Terrace average an A, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ruth C Kinney Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Anthony Alfano Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Charles A Mulligan Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Islip Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Ralph Reed SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- East Islip High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Central Islip Senior High SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Islip Terrace school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Islip Terrace 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 Islip Terrace against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Islip Terrace
Is Islip Terrace a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Islip Terrace ranks 2,212th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and biking, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Islip Terrace expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $522,887. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $152,396 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Islip Terrace safe?
Yes, Islip Terrace is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $225 per resident a year.
Compare Islip Terrace with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Islip Terrace. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Islip Terrace 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.
Islip Terrace detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Islip Terrace: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Islip Terrace: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Islip Terrace: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Islip Terrace: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Islip Terrace 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.