Best PlacesNorth Great River, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Great River, 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.
North Great River ranks 1,717th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in North Great River
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.
North Great River's strengths and weaknesses
Where North Great River ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$160,912 median, better than 98% of towns
Where North Great River ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in North Great River
A household needs to earn about $164,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Great River home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $160,912; 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 North Great River's effective rate of 1.94%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in North Great River
North Great River 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 North Great River.
Who works in North Great River, and how
Work in North Great River centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in North Great River
North Great River has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 19 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of North Great River and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in North Great River, month by month
North Great River sees roughly 70 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 North Great River
The nearest airport, Long Island MacArthur, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John F Kennedy International, about 33 miles away.
The best schools in and around North Great River
Schools across North Great River average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Helen B Duffield Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Idle Hour Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Sycamore Avenue Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oakdale-bohemia Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- East Islip Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Ronkonkoma Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- East Islip High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Connetquot 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 North Great River school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Great River 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 North Great River against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North Great River
Is North Great River a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Great River ranks 1,717th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and biking, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is North Great River expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $541,954. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $160,912 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is North Great River safe?
Yes, North Great River is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $227 per resident a year.
Compare North Great River with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Great River. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Great River 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.
North Great River detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Great River: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Great River: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Great River: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Great River: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Great River 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.