Best PlacesValley Stream, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Valley Stream, 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.
Valley Stream ranks 505th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Valley Stream
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.
Valley Stream's strengths and weaknesses
Where Valley Stream ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 97% of cities
- TransitBetter than 95% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of cities
Where Valley Stream ranks low
- Short commute40.7 minutes each way, better than only 1% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 3% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 7% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Valley Stream
A household needs to earn about $195,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valley Stream home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $146,549, 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 Valley Stream's effective rate of 1.82%, 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 Valley Stream
Valley Stream'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 Valley Stream.
Who works in Valley Stream, and how
Work in Valley Stream centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 21%
Life in Valley Stream
Valley Stream has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Valley Stream and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Valley Stream, month by month
Valley Stream 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 Valley Stream
John F Kennedy International sits about 4 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 Valley Stream
Schools across Valley Stream average an A, better than 97% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- West End SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Ps 176 Cambria HeightsA+ · 83% proficient
- Robert W Carbonaro SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodmere Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Lynbrook South Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Lynbrook North Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley Stream Central High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Lynbrook Senior High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- George W Hewlett High SchoolA+ · 96% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valley Stream school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valley Stream 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 Valley Stream against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Valley Stream suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Valley Stream
Is Valley Stream a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valley Stream ranks 505th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and good schools, and lowest on long commutes and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Valley Stream expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $653,371. The overall cost of living runs about 35% above the national average. Set against a $146,549 median income, cost of living beats 63% of cities.
Is Valley Stream safe?
Valley Stream is safer than 37% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $353 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Valley Stream?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 27. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 22% of cities.
Is Valley Stream good for families?
Schools beat 97% of cities, crime safety beats 37%, and childcare runs $1,476 a month.
Compare Valley Stream with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valley Stream. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valley Stream 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.
Valley Stream detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valley Stream: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valley Stream: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valley Stream: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valley Stream: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valley Stream 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.