Best PlacesNorthwest Harbor, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Northwest Harbor, 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.
Northwest Harbor ranks 3,578th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Northwest Harbor
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.
Northwest Harbor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Northwest Harbor ranks high
- Household income$163,157 median, better than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
Where Northwest Harbor ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Northwest Harbor
A household needs to earn about $405,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Northwest Harbor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $163,157, 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 Northwest Harbor's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Northwest Harbor
Northwest Harbor 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 Northwest Harbor.
Who works in Northwest Harbor, and how
Work in Northwest Harbor centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 51%
- Work from home 37%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Northwest Harbor
The coast is about 5 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Northwest Harbor, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Northwest Harbor, month by month
Northwest Harbor sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Northwest Harbor
The nearest airport, Westerly State, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 69 miles away.
The best schools in and around Northwest Harbor
Schools across Northwest Harbor average a B+, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- John M Marshall Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Sag Harbor Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- East Hampton Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- East Hampton High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Northwest Harbor school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Northwest Harbor 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 Northwest Harbor against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Northwest Harbor
Is Northwest Harbor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Northwest Harbor ranks 3,578th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, fast internet, and an educated workforce, and lowest on childcare costs 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 Northwest Harbor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,600,843. The overall cost of living runs about 85% above the national average. Set against a $163,157 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Northwest Harbor safe?
Yes, Northwest Harbor is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $267 per resident a year.
Compare Northwest Harbor with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Northwest Harbor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Northwest Harbor 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.
Northwest Harbor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Northwest Harbor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Northwest Harbor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Northwest Harbor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Northwest Harbor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Northwest Harbor 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.