Best PlacesLower East Side, Manhattan, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lower East Side, Manhattan, 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.
Lower East Side, Manhattan ranks 2,761st of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lower East Side, Manhattan
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.
Lower East Side, Manhattan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lower East Side, Manhattan ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of neighborhoods
- TransitBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
Where Lower East Side, Manhattan ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
- Short commute31.6 minutes each way, better than only 13% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Lower East Side, Manhattan
A household needs to earn about $304,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lower East Side, Manhattan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $59,549, 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 Lower East Side, Manhattan's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 Lower East Side, Manhattan
Lower East Side, Manhattan runs older 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 Lower East Side, Manhattan.
Who works in Lower East Side, Manhattan, and how
Work in Lower East Side, Manhattan centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 11%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 71%
Life in Lower East Side, Manhattan
Lower East Side, Manhattan has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of neighborhoods and more late-night spots per resident than 78% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lower East Side, Manhattan and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lower East Side, Manhattan, month by month
Lower East Side, Manhattan 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 Lower East Side, Manhattan
Laguardia sits about 7 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 Lower East Side, Manhattan
Schools across Lower East Side, Manhattan average an A+, better than 99% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
- Ps 184 Shuang WenA+ · 86% proficient
- Ps 110 Florence NightingaleA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mark Twain Is 239 For The Gifted And TalentedA+ · 83% proficient
- University Neighborhood Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Knowledge And Power Preparatory Academy ViC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Bard High School Early CollegeA+ · 98% proficient
- High School For Dual Language And Asian StudiesA+ · 98% proficient
- Orchard Collegiate AcademyA+ · 91% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lower East Side, Manhattan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lower East Side, Manhattan 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 Lower East Side, Manhattan against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Who Lower East Side, Manhattan suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Lower East Side, Manhattan
Is Lower East Side, Manhattan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lower East Side, Manhattan ranks 2,761st of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and big-city access, and lowest on taxes 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 Lower East Side, Manhattan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,192,609. The overall cost of living runs about 123% above the national average. Set against a $59,549 median income, cost of living beats 6% of neighborhoods.
Is Lower East Side, Manhattan safe?
Yes, Lower East Side, Manhattan is safer than 62% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $418 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lower East Side, Manhattan?
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 Lower East Side, Manhattan good for families?
Schools beat 99% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 62%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.
Compare Lower East Side, Manhattan with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lower East Side, Manhattan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lower East Side, Manhattan 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.
Lower East Side, Manhattan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lower East Side, Manhattan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lower East Side, Manhattan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lower East Side, Manhattan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lower East Side, Manhattan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lower East Side, Manhattan 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.