Best PlacesRockaway Park, Queens, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rockaway Park, Queens, 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.
Rockaway Park, Queens ranks 1,988th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rockaway Park, 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.
Rockaway Park, Queens' strengths and weaknesses
Where Rockaway Park, Queens ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- School gradeB, better than 88% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 83% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than 82% of neighborhoods
- Household income$121,307 median, better than 81% of neighborhoods
Where Rockaway Park, Queens ranks low
- Short commute44.1 minutes each way, better than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of neighborhoods
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Rockaway Park, Queens
A household needs to earn about $230,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rockaway Park, Queens home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $121,307, 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 Rockaway Park, Queens' effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Rockaway Park, Queens
Rockaway Park, Queens runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rockaway Park, Queens.
Who works in Rockaway Park, Queens, and how
Work in Rockaway Park, Queens centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 56%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 33%
Life in Rockaway Park, Queens
Rockaway Park, Queens has more parkland per resident than 89% of neighborhoods. The coast is about 0 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Rockaway Park, Queens and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rockaway Park, Queens, month by month
Rockaway Park, Queens sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 43° |
| July | 87° | 77° | 70° |
| October | 70° | 60° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Rockaway Park, Queens
John F Kennedy International sits about 5 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 Rockaway Park, Queens
Schools across Rockaway Park, Queens average a B, better than 88% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Brooklyn School Of InquiryA+ · 93% proficient
- Waterside Children's Studio SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Ps 47 Chris GalasA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Knowledge And Power Preparatory Academy ViC− · 28% proficient
- Waterside School For LeadershipD− · 18% proficient
- Village AcademyF · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Scholars' AcademyA+ · 93% proficient
- Channel View School For ResearchA · 74% proficient
- Rockaway Collegiate High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rockaway Park, Queens school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rockaway Park, 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 Rockaway Park, Queens against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Rockaway Park, Queens
Is Rockaway Park, Queens a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rockaway Park, Queens ranks 1,988th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on big-city access, good schools, 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 Rockaway Park, Queens expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $892,822. The overall cost of living runs about 34% above the national average. Set against a $121,307 median income, cost of living beats 61% of neighborhoods.
Is Rockaway Park, Queens safe?
Yes, Rockaway Park, Queens is safer than 70% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $373 per resident a year.
Compare Rockaway Park, Queens with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rockaway Park, Queens. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rockaway Park, 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.
Rockaway Park, Queens detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rockaway Park, Queens: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rockaway Park, Queens: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rockaway Park, Queens: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rockaway Park, Queens: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rockaway Park, 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.