Best PlacesRiverdale, Bronx, NY Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Riverdale, Bronx, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Riverdale, Bronx ranks 1,135th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.

#1,135
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Riverdale, Bronx

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Riverdale, Bronx area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
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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.

Riverdale, Bronx's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%A stable housing market
Top 5%Big-city access
Top 10%Health care access
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Riverdale, Bronx with other neighborhoods.

Where Riverdale, Bronx ranks high

  • Housing crash safetyBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
  • Big-city accessBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
  • Tree shadeBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
  • TransitBetter than 88% of neighborhoods

Where Riverdale, Bronx ranks low

  • Short commute42.2 minutes each way, better than only 2% of neighborhoods
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 3% of neighborhoods
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
  • Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of neighborhoods
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Riverdale, Bronx

A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riverdale, Bronx home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $116,233, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$147,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,419
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $559,840 home
Median rent
$1,907
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,854
Property tax$378
Homeowners insurance$187

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 Riverdale, Bronx's effective rate of 0.81%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Riverdale, Bronx

Riverdale, Bronx runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
46
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
28%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3417%
35 to 4916%
50 to 6417%
65 and older28%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Riverdale, Bronx.


Who works in Riverdale, Bronx, and how

Work in Riverdale, Bronx centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
20%
above the national average
Unemployment
4.5%
about the national average
Job growth
+0.4%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Education22%
Health care & social19%
Professional & technical13%
Retail trade6%
Finance & insurance5%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 41%
  • Work from home 20%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 39%

Life in Riverdale, Bronx

Riverdale, Bronx has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of neighborhoods and more parkland per resident than 69% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Riverdale, Bronx and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
293
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 94.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 79% of neighborhoods
Coffee shops
19
about 6.1 per 10,000 residents, more than 72% of neighborhoods
Parkland
87 acres
about 2.8 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 69% of neighborhoods
Living on campus
2,036
students living in college or university housing
To the coast
14 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in Riverdale, Bronx, month by month

Riverdale, Bronx sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January44°34°26°
April65°53°42°
July90°79°69°
October71°59°48°

Flying in and out of Riverdale, Bronx

Laguardia sits about 9 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 118 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
LGA
Laguardia, about 9 miles
Airport size
Large hub
19th-busiest in the US, 118 nonstop destinations
Average drive
12 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Riverdale, Bronx

Schools across Riverdale, Bronx average a B, better than 81% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riverdale, Bronx school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Riverdale, Bronx 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 Riverdale, Bronx against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Who Riverdale, Bronx suits

Families

Schools beat 81% of neighborhoods and crime safety beats 85%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 76% of neighborhoods, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 93%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Riverdale, Bronx

Is Riverdale, Bronx a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riverdale, Bronx ranks 1,135th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on a stable housing market, big-city access, and health care access, 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 Riverdale, Bronx expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $559,840. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $116,233 median income, cost of living beats 76% of neighborhoods.

Is Riverdale, Bronx safe?

Yes, Riverdale, Bronx is safer than 85% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $298 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Riverdale, Bronx?

July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 26. That works out to about 63 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of neighborhoods.

Is Riverdale, Bronx good for families?

Schools beat 81% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 85%, and childcare runs $1,347 a month.


Compare Riverdale, Bronx with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riverdale, Bronx. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riverdale, Bronx 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.

Riverdale, Bronx detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Riverdale, Bronx: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Riverdale, Bronx: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Riverdale, Bronx: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Riverdale, Bronx: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Riverdale, Bronx detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.