Best PlacesNorth Merrick, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Merrick, 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 Merrick ranks 1,111th 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 North Merrick
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 Merrick's strengths and weaknesses
Where North Merrick ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$174,038 median, better than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
Where North Merrick ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Short commute36.1 minutes each way, better than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in North Merrick
A household needs to earn about $204,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Merrick home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $174,038, 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 North Merrick's effective rate of 1.77%, 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 North Merrick
North Merrick 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 Merrick.
Who works in North Merrick, and how
Work in North Merrick centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in North Merrick
The coast is about 10 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across North Merrick, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in North Merrick, month by month
North Merrick sees roughly 75 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 North Merrick
John F Kennedy International sits about 12 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 31.0 million passengers in 2025, with 249 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around North Merrick
Schools across North Merrick average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Camp Avenue SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Old Mill Road SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- John G Dinkelmeyer SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Grand Avenue Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Merrick Avenue Middle SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Roosevelt Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Sanford H Calhoun High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Wellington C Mepham High SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- Roosevelt High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Merrick school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Merrick 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 Merrick against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North Merrick
Is North Merrick a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Merrick ranks 1,111th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, good schools, and fast internet, and lowest on noise 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 North Merrick expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $688,851. The overall cost of living runs about 32% above the national average. Set against a $174,038 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is North Merrick safe?
Yes, North Merrick is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
Compare North Merrick with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Merrick. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Merrick 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 Merrick detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Merrick: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Merrick: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Merrick: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Merrick: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Merrick 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.