Best PlacesSouthampton, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Southampton, 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.
Southampton ranks 4,693rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Southampton
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.
Southampton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Southampton ranks high
- Household income$161,321 median, better than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
Where Southampton ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Southampton
A household needs to earn about $384,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Southampton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $161,321, 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 Southampton's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Southampton
Southampton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Southampton.
Who works in Southampton, and how
Work in Southampton centers on finance & insurance and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 17%
Life in Southampton
Southampton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns. The coast is about 4 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Southampton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Southampton, month by month
Southampton sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Southampton
The nearest airport, Tweed/New Haven, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John F Kennedy International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Southampton
Schools across Southampton average an A−, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southampton Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Hampton Bays Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Tuckahoe SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southampton Intermediate SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Hampton Bays Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Hampton Bays High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Southampton High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Southampton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Southampton 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 Southampton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Southampton
Is Southampton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Southampton ranks 4,693rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, fast internet, and biking, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Southampton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,527,604. The overall cost of living runs about 84% above the national average. Set against a $161,321 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Southampton safe?
Southampton is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $486 per resident a year.
Compare Southampton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Southampton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Southampton 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.
Southampton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Southampton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Southampton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Southampton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Southampton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Southampton 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.