Best PlacesQueens, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Queens, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Queens ranks 197th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 15 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and transit. The cost shows up in long commutes, taxes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Queens
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.
The best areas in Queens
The parts of Queens, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Douglaston-Little Neck, Clearview & Oakland Gardens
More adults hold degrees, health care is easier to reach, and local pay stretches further.
Ridgewood, Elmhurst & Forest Hills
Streets are more walkable and prices have run up less.
Jackson Heights-ny, Astoria & Corona
Transit reaches more jobs, though more homes sit empty.
Jamaica & Kew Ggardens
More households have young kids.
Woodhaven, Ozone Park & Howard Beach
Scores close to Jamaica & Kew Ggardens, except that it is quieter here.
Queens Village & Hollis
Incomes run higher and tree cover is thicker.
Far Rockaway, St Albans & Laurelton
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park & Arverne
Scores close to Far Rockaway, St Albans & Laurelton, except that biking is worse here.
Flushing
Heat risk is higher.
Queens shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 5% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Queens' strengths and weaknesses
Queens lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Transit and walkability follow.
The one real hole is long commutes, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and noise also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Queens ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 98% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of cities
- School gradeB+, better than 92% of cities
Where Queens ranks low
- Short commute42.9 minutes each way, better than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Queens
A household needs to earn about $197,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Queens home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $92,601, 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 Queens' effective rate of 0.73%, 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 Queens
Queens'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 Queens.
Who works in Queens, and how
Work in Queens centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 38%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 49%
Life in Queens
Queens has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of cities and more parkland per resident than 83% of cities. The coast is about 15 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Queens and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Queens, month by month
Queens sees roughly 69 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 Queens
Laguardia sits about 4 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 Queens
Schools across Queens average a B+, better than 92% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Ps 242 Leonard P Stavisky Early Childhood SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- 30th Avenue School (the) (g & T Citywide)A+ · 95% proficient
- Ps 196 Grand Central ParkwayA+ · 94% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ms 158 Marie CurieA+ · 87% proficient
- Jhs 67 Louis PasteurA+ · 84% proficient
- Jhs 74 Nathaniel HawthorneA+ · 79% proficient
Top high schools
- Townsend Harris High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Maspeth High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Francis Lewis High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Queens school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Queens 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 Queens against the other 444 cities.
Who Queens suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Queens
Is Queens a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Queens ranks 197th of 445 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, and walkability, and lowest on long commutes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Queens expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $759,850. The overall cost of living runs about 40% above the national average. Set against a $92,601 median income, cost of living beats 6% of cities.
Is Queens safe?
Yes, Queens is safer than 77% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $295 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Queens?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 29. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 19% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Queens?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Douglaston-Little Neck, Clearview & Oakland Gardens, Ridgewood, Elmhurst & Forest Hills, and Jackson Heights-ny, Astoria & Corona. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Queens good for families?
Schools beat 92% of cities, crime safety beats 77%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.
Is Queens good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 6% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 14% of cities. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Queens with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Queens. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Queens 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.
Queens detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Queens: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Queens: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Queens: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Queens: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Queens 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.