Best PlacesRonkonkoma, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ronkonkoma, 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.
Ronkonkoma ranks 4,453rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ronkonkoma
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.
Ronkonkoma's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ronkonkoma ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
Where Ronkonkoma ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ronkonkoma
A household needs to earn about $151,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ronkonkoma home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $131,369, 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 Ronkonkoma's effective rate of 1.94%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ronkonkoma
Ronkonkoma'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 Ronkonkoma.
Who works in Ronkonkoma, and how
Work in Ronkonkoma centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Ronkonkoma
The coast is about 17 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Ronkonkoma, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ronkonkoma, month by month
Ronkonkoma sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 68° |
| October | 69° | 58° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Ronkonkoma
The nearest airport, Long Island MacArthur, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John F Kennedy International, about 36 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ronkonkoma
Schools across Ronkonkoma average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bretton Woods Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Helen B Duffield Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- John Pearl Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seneca Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Great Hollow Middle SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
- Hauppauge Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
Top high schools
- Hauppauge High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Connetquot High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Sachem High School NorthA+ · 96% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ronkonkoma school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ronkonkoma 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 Ronkonkoma against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Ronkonkoma suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 9% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Ronkonkoma
Is Ronkonkoma a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ronkonkoma ranks 4,453rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ronkonkoma expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $499,538. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $131,369 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Ronkonkoma safe?
Yes, Ronkonkoma is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $214 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ronkonkoma?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 25. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of towns.
Is Ronkonkoma good for families?
Schools beat 96% of towns, crime safety beats 85%, and childcare runs $1,476 a month.
Compare Ronkonkoma with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ronkonkoma. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ronkonkoma 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.
Ronkonkoma detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ronkonkoma: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ronkonkoma: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ronkonkoma: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ronkonkoma: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ronkonkoma 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.