Best PlacesStaten Island, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Staten Island, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Staten Island ranks 199th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 4 minutes away. Its strengths are big-city access and transit. The cost shows up in long commutes, taxes, and state infrastructure.
The best neighborhoods in Staten Island
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.
The best areas in Staten Island
The parts of Staten Island, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Ettingville, Woodrow & Tottenville
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and more adults hold degrees.
Great Kills
Fewer households have young kids and streets are more car-dependent.
Richmondtown, Oakwood & Todt Hill
Scores close to Great Kills, except that commutes are shorter here.
Bloomfield & Bulls Head
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Westerleigh-Castleton & Port Richmond
Crime runs higher and health care is harder to reach.
South Beach & Midland Beach
Disaster risk is higher.
New Brighton & Clifton
Fewer residents vote.
Mariners Harbor
Homes cost less, though it is noisier.
Staten Island shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 9% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Staten Island's strengths and weaknesses
Staten Island lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 2% of cities. Transit and good schools follow.
The one real hole is long commutes, near the bottom of the country. Taxes and state infrastructure also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Staten Island ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of cities
- TransitBetter than 96% of cities
- School gradeB+, better than 93% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 85% of cities
Where Staten Island ranks low
- Short commute43.1 minutes each way, better than only 1% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Staten Island
A household needs to earn about $181,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Staten Island 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 Staten Island'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 Staten Island
Staten Island'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 Staten Island.
Who works in Staten Island, and how
Work in Staten Island 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 Staten Island
Staten Island has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of cities and more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. The coast is about 4 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Staten Island and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Staten Island, month by month
Staten Island 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 Staten Island
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 Staten Island
Schools across Staten Island average a B+, better than 93% of cities.
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 Staten Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Staten Island 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 Staten Island against the other 444 cities.
Who Staten Island suits
Common questions about living in Staten Island
Is Staten Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Staten Island ranks 199th of 445 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, and good schools, 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 Staten Island 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 25% of cities.
Is Staten Island safe?
Yes, Staten Island is safer than 60% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $375 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Staten Island?
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 16% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Staten Island?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Ettingville, Woodrow & Tottenville, Great Kills, and Richmondtown, Oakwood & Todt Hill. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Staten Island good for families?
Schools beat 93% of cities, crime safety beats 60%, and childcare runs $1,344 a month.
Is Staten Island good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 25% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 12% of cities. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Staten Island with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Staten Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Staten Island 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.
Staten Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Staten Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Staten Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Staten Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Staten Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Staten Island 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.