Best PlacesOyster Bay, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oyster Bay, 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.
Oyster Bay ranks 3,317th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oyster Bay
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.
Oyster Bay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oyster Bay ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 97% of towns
- Household income$131,837 median, better than 95% of towns
Where Oyster Bay ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oyster Bay
A household needs to earn about $202,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oyster Bay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $131,837, 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 Oyster Bay's effective rate of 1.88%, 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 Oyster Bay
Oyster Bay's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oyster Bay.
Who works in Oyster Bay, and how
Work in Oyster Bay centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Oyster Bay
Oyster Bay has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns and more parkland per resident than 91% of towns. The coast is about 5 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oyster Bay and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oyster Bay, month by month
Oyster Bay 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 Oyster Bay
The nearest airport, Westchester County, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 19 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oyster Bay
Schools across Oyster Bay average an A+, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Vernon SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
Top high schools
- Oyster Bay High SchoolA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oyster Bay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oyster Bay 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 Oyster Bay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oyster Bay
Is Oyster Bay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oyster Bay ranks 3,317th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, walkability, and fast internet, 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 Oyster Bay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $673,610. The overall cost of living runs about 39% above the national average. Set against a $131,837 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Oyster Bay safe?
Oyster Bay is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
Compare Oyster Bay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oyster Bay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oyster Bay 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.
Oyster Bay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oyster Bay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oyster Bay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oyster Bay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oyster Bay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oyster Bay 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.