Best PlacesPlainedge, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Plainedge, 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.
Plainedge ranks 3,633rd 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 Plainedge
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.
Plainedge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Plainedge ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
Where Plainedge ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 2% 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
What it costs to buy a home in Plainedge
A household needs to earn about $193,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plainedge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $146,826, 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 Plainedge's effective rate of 2.13%, 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 Plainedge
Plainedge's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Plainedge.
Who works in Plainedge, and how
Work in Plainedge centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Plainedge
Plainedge has more parkland per resident than 91% of towns. The coast is about 13 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Plainedge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Plainedge, month by month
Plainedge 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 Plainedge
John F Kennedy International sits about 17 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 Plainedge
Schools across Plainedge average an A, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eastplain SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Central Boulevard Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Albany Avenue Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- John F Kennedy Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Island Trees Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Howitt SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Bethpage Senior High SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- Island Trees High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Farmingdale Senior High SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plainedge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plainedge 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 Plainedge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Plainedge
Is Plainedge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plainedge ranks 3,633rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, and fast internet, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Plainedge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $624,452. The overall cost of living runs about 32% above the national average. Set against a $146,826 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Plainedge safe?
Yes, Plainedge is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
Compare Plainedge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plainedge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plainedge 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.
Plainedge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plainedge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plainedge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plainedge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plainedge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plainedge 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.