Best PlacesMonsey, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Monsey, 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.
Monsey ranks 1,978th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Monsey
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.
Monsey's strengths and weaknesses
Where Monsey ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of cities
- Local economyBetter than 95% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of cities
Where Monsey ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Monsey
A household needs to earn about $276,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Monsey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,063, 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 Monsey's effective rate of 1.31%, 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 Monsey
Monsey runs younger 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 Monsey.
Who works in Monsey, and how
Work in Monsey centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Monsey
Monsey has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of cities and more parkland per resident than 79% of cities. The coast is about 31 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Monsey and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Monsey, month by month
Monsey sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 34° | 26° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Monsey
The nearest airport, Westchester County, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 26 miles away.
The best schools in and around Monsey
Schools across Monsey average a C+, better than 40% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Cherry Lane Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Elmwood Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Suffern Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Kakiat Elementary SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Chestnut Ridge Middle SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Suffern Senior High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Spring Valley High SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Ramapo High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Monsey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Monsey 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 Monsey against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Monsey suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 15% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Monsey
Is Monsey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Monsey ranks 1,978th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on heat safety, fast internet, and a strong job market, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay 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 Monsey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $987,661. The overall cost of living runs about 29% above the national average. Set against a $68,063 median income, cost of living beats 0% of cities.
Is Monsey safe?
Monsey is safer than 24% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $399 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Monsey?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 26. That works out to about 58 pleasant days a year, more than 5% of cities.
Is Monsey good for families?
Schools beat 40% of cities, crime safety beats 24%, and childcare runs $1,476 a month.
Compare Monsey with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Monsey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Monsey 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.
Monsey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Monsey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Monsey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Monsey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Monsey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Monsey 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.