Best PlacesPort Washington, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Washington, 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.
Port Washington ranks 537th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Port Washington
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.
Port Washington's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Washington ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
Where Port Washington ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Port Washington
A household needs to earn about $293,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Washington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $171,070, 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 Port Washington's effective rate of 1.57%, 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 Port Washington
Port Washington 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 Port Washington.
Who works in Port Washington, and how
Work in Port Washington centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 48%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 21%
Life in Port Washington
Port Washington has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 4 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Port Washington and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Washington, month by month
Port Washington sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 36° | 29° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 45° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 70° | 61° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Port Washington
Laguardia sits about 10 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 118 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Port Washington
Schools across Port Washington average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- John Philip Sousa Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- John J Daly Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- South Salem Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Roslyn Middle SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Great Neck North Middle SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
- Carrie Palmer Weber Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Paul D Schreiber Senior High SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- Roslyn High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Great Neck North High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Washington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Washington 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 Port Washington against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Port Washington
Is Port Washington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Washington ranks 537th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, walkability, and good schools, and lowest on childcare costs 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 Port Washington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,014,169. The overall cost of living runs about 47% above the national average. Set against a $171,070 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Port Washington safe?
Port Washington is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $322 per resident a year.
Compare Port Washington with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Washington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Washington 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.
Port Washington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Washington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Washington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Washington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Washington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Washington 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.