Best PlacesRichmond County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Richmond County, 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.
Richmond County ranks 675th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 4 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and transit. The cost shows up in taxes, long commutes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Richmond County
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.
Richmond County's strengths and weaknesses
Richmond County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Transit and walkability follow.
The one real hole is taxes, near the bottom of the country. Long commutes and noise also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Richmond County ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- BikingBetter than 96% of counties
- Household income$104,397 median, better than 94% of counties
Where Richmond County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Short commute43.1 minutes each way, better than only 1% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,344 a month, better than only 5% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Richmond County
A household needs to earn about $181,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Richmond County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $104,397, 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 Richmond County's effective rate of 0.88%, 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 Richmond County
Richmond County'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 Richmond County.
Who works in Richmond County, and how
Work in Richmond County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 28%
Life in Richmond County
Richmond County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of counties and more parkland per resident than 90% of counties. The coast is about 4 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Richmond County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Richmond County growing, and who is moving in?
Richmond County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the New York, NY metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Richmond County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Richmond County, month by month
Richmond County sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 71° | 60° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Richmond County
Newark Liberty International sits about 7 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.5 million passengers in 2025, with 242 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Richmond County
Schools across Richmond County average a B+, better than 92% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
- Naples Street Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Ps 50 Frank HankinsonA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Is 7 Elias BernsteinA+ · 79% proficient
- Marsh Avenue School For Expeditionary LearningA+ · 75% proficient
- Is 34 TottenvilleA+ · 74% proficient
Top high schools
- Staten Island Technical High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Csi High School For International StudiesA+ · 98% proficient
- Ralph R Mckee Career And Technical Education High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Richmond County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Richmond County 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 Richmond County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Richmond County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Richmond County
Is Richmond County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Richmond County ranks 675th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, and walkability, and lowest on taxes and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Richmond County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $687,334. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $104,397 median income, cost of living beats 44% of counties.
Is Richmond County safe?
Richmond County is safer than 41% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $375 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Richmond County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 26. That works out to about 67 pleasant days a year, more than 15% of counties.
Is Richmond County good for families?
Schools beat 92% of counties, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.
Is Richmond County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 44% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 64% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Richmond County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Richmond County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Richmond County 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.
Richmond County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Richmond County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Richmond County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Richmond County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Richmond County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Richmond County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.