Best PlacesLocust Valley, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Locust Valley, 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.
Locust Valley ranks 2,250th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Locust Valley
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.
Locust Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Locust Valley ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
Where Locust Valley ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Locust Valley
A household needs to earn about $240,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Locust Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $157,934, 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 Locust Valley's effective rate of 1.68%, 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 Locust Valley
Locust Valley 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 Locust Valley.
Who works in Locust Valley, and how
Work in Locust Valley centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Locust Valley
Locust Valley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of towns. The coast is about 4 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Locust Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Locust Valley, month by month
Locust Valley sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 62° | 51° | 42° |
| July | 86° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 69° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Locust Valley
The nearest airport, Westchester County, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 16 miles away.
The best schools in and around Locust Valley
Schools across Locust Valley average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Locust Valley Middle SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top high schools
- Locust Valley High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Locust Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Locust Valley 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 Locust Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Locust Valley
Is Locust Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Locust Valley ranks 2,250th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, good schools, and fast internet, 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 Locust Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $821,647. The overall cost of living runs about 42% above the national average. Set against a $157,934 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Locust Valley safe?
Yes, Locust Valley is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $283 per resident a year.
Compare Locust Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Locust Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Locust Valley 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.
Locust Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Locust Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Locust Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Locust Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Locust Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Locust Valley 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.