Best PlacesLong Island City, Queens, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Long Island City, Queens, 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.
Long Island City, Queens ranks 1,054th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Long Island City, Queens
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.
Long Island City, Queens' strengths and weaknesses
Where Long Island City, Queens ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of neighborhoods
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
- School gradeB+, better than 90% of neighborhoods
Where Long Island City, Queens ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Low vacancyBetter than only 3% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
- Short commute33.8 minutes each way, better than only 8% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than only 13% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Long Island City, Queens
A household needs to earn about $252,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Long Island City, Queens home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $136,933, 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 Long Island City, Queens' effective rate of 0.55%, 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 Long Island City, Queens
Long Island City, Queens runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Long Island City, Queens.
Who works in Long Island City, Queens, and how
Work in Long Island City, Queens centers on professional & technical and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 12%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 64%
Life in Long Island City, Queens
Long Island City, Queens has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of neighborhoods and more parkland per resident than 79% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 18 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Long Island City, Queens and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Long Island City, Queens, month by month
Long Island City, Queens sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 35° | 28° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 88° | 78° | 70° |
| October | 69° | 60° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Long Island City, Queens
Laguardia sits about 4 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 118 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Long Island City, Queens
Schools across Long Island City, Queens average a B+, better than 90% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
- Ps/is 78A+ · 88% proficient
- Ps 111 Jacob BlackwellC+ · 36% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hunters Point Community Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Knowledge And Power Preparatory Academy ViC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Academy Of American StudiesA+ · 98% proficient
- Bard High School Early College QueensA+ · 98% proficient
- Academy Of Finance And EnterpriseA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Long Island City, Queens school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Long Island City, Queens 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 Long Island City, Queens against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Who Long Island City, Queens suits
Common questions about living in Long Island City, Queens
Is Long Island City, Queens a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Long Island City, Queens ranks 1,054th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, and walkability, and lowest on taxes and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Long Island City, Queens expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $997,162. The overall cost of living runs about 112% above the national average. Set against a $136,933 median income, cost of living beats 33% of neighborhoods.
Is Long Island City, Queens safe?
Yes, Long Island City, Queens is safer than 73% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $373 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Long Island City, Queens?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 28. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 33% of neighborhoods.
Is Long Island City, Queens good for families?
Schools beat 90% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 73%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.
Compare Long Island City, Queens with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Long Island City, Queens. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Long Island City, Queens 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.
Long Island City, Queens detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Long Island City, Queens: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Long Island City, Queens: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Long Island City, Queens: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Long Island City, Queens: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Long Island City, Queens 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.