Best PlacesOceanside, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oceanside, 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.
Oceanside ranks 335th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oceanside
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.
Oceanside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oceanside ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of cities
Where Oceanside ranks low
- Short commute36.1 minutes each way, better than only 4% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 11% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Oceanside
A household needs to earn about $191,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oceanside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $147,680, 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 Oceanside's effective rate of 1.78%, 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 Oceanside
Oceanside 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 Oceanside.
Who works in Oceanside, and how
Work in Oceanside centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 18%
Life in Oceanside
Oceanside has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of cities. The coast is about 7 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Oceanside and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oceanside, month by month
Oceanside sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 60° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Oceanside
John F Kennedy International sits about 7 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 Oceanside
Schools across Oceanside average an A+, better than 99% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- School 3A+ · 83% proficient
- School 9e-boardman Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- School 5A+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Side Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- School 9m-oceanside Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Island Park Lincoln Orens Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- South Side High SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- School 7-oceanside Senior High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Long Beach High SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oceanside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oceanside 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 Oceanside against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Oceanside suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Oceanside
Is Oceanside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oceanside ranks 335th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on good schools, fast internet, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes 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 Oceanside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $644,736. The overall cost of living runs about 28% above the national average. Set against a $147,680 median income, cost of living beats 74% of cities.
Is Oceanside safe?
Oceanside is safer than 47% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $318 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oceanside?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 27. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 22% of cities.
Is Oceanside good for families?
Schools beat 99% of cities, crime safety beats 47%, and childcare runs $1,476 a month.
Compare Oceanside with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oceanside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oceanside 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.
Oceanside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oceanside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oceanside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oceanside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oceanside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oceanside 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.