Best PlacesWest Hempstead, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around West Hempstead, 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.
West Hempstead ranks 494th 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 West Hempstead
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.
West Hempstead's strengths and weaknesses
Where West Hempstead ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 94% of cities
- Household income$153,903 median, better than 92% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of cities
Where West Hempstead ranks low
- Short commute37.6 minutes each way, better than only 2% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 3% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in West Hempstead
A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median West Hempstead home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $153,903, 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 West Hempstead's effective rate of 1.91%, 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 West Hempstead
West Hempstead runs younger than the country, 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 West Hempstead.
Who works in West Hempstead, and how
Work in West Hempstead centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in West Hempstead
West Hempstead has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 81% of cities. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of West Hempstead and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in West Hempstead, month by month
West Hempstead 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 West Hempstead
John F Kennedy International sits about 8 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 West Hempstead
Schools across West Hempstead average an A, better than 94% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Hewitt SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Washington Street SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Polk Street SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- George Washington SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Howard T Herber Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Alverta B Gray Schultz Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Malverne Senior High SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- West Hempstead Secondary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- H Frank Carey High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every West Hempstead school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
West Hempstead 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 West Hempstead against the other 2,097 cities.
Who West Hempstead suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in West Hempstead
Is West Hempstead a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, West Hempstead ranks 494th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and good schools, and lowest on long commutes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is West Hempstead expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $644,660. The overall cost of living runs about 32% above the national average. Set against a $153,903 median income, cost of living beats 72% of cities.
Is West Hempstead safe?
West Hempstead is safer than 34% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $366 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in West Hempstead?
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 West Hempstead good for families?
Schools beat 94% of cities, crime safety beats 34%, and childcare runs $1,476 a month.
Compare West Hempstead with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to West Hempstead. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in West Hempstead 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.
West Hempstead detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for West Hempstead: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in West Hempstead: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of West Hempstead: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in West Hempstead: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
West Hempstead 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.