11 Best Places to Live on Long Island: Top Towns for Families, Schools & Commute

Long Island has a habit of quietly dominating “best places to live” rankings while New York City gets all the attention. In the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Places to Live rankings, three Long Island towns landed in New York State’s top seven — ahead of Westchester, ahead of upstate metros, ahead of the five boroughs themselves. This guide isn’t just a list of pretty downtowns. It covers schools, real commute numbers, the property tax trade-offs nobody likes to talk about, and what actually changes once you decide to move.

What Makes a Long Island Town Great to Live In?

Rankings like U.S. News and Niche.com lean on a similar set of factors when they crunch these lists: school district quality, crime rates, cost of living, job access, and how well-connected a town is to Manhattan via the LIRR. That’s roughly the same lens we used to put this list together, with one addition — we tried to be honest about where a good school district and a manageable commute come at a real cost, because on Long Island, they usually do.

11 Best Places to Live on Long Island

These towns come up again and again across independent rankings, not just this year’s list — a sign the reputation is earned rather than manufactured for SEO purposes.

Massapequa Park — New York’s #1 Ranked Town for 2026

Massapequa Park didn’t just make this list — it topped U.S. News’s entire New York State ranking for the second year running. The village of just over 17,000 people, tucked inside the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, posted a median household income north of $167,000 and a 28-minute average commute via the LIRR Babylon Branch. Add historic Sears kit houses, family-friendly parks, and a tightly run civic identity dating back to 1931, and it’s easy to see why it keeps winning.

Huntington — Small-Town Charm With Real Nightlife

Huntington Village, on the North Shore, pulls off something a lot of Long Island towns don’t even attempt: a genuinely walkable downtown with independent shops, strong restaurants, and The Paramount, a mid-sized theater that regularly books national acts. Beaches are a short drive away, and the mix of historic colonials and newer builds keeps housing options varied.

Great Neck — Excellent Schools, Gold Coast Character

Great Neck’s reputation traces back to its Gold Coast heritage — historic estates and some of the highest home values on Long Island. What keeps it consistently near the top of rankings, though, is the school district and the LIRR access, which makes the Manhattan commute more manageable than its distance on a map might suggest.

Garden City — Manicured, Upscale, Family-Oriented

Garden City is the kind of place people mean when they say “classic Long Island suburb” — tree-lined streets, spacious homes, a genuinely safe neighborhood feel, and schools that consistently rank among the region’s best. It runs more expensive than the towns around it, but the trade-off is a level of polish that’s hard to find elsewhere on the Island.

Commack — Central, Suburban, Built for Families

Commack sits roughly in the geographic middle of Long Island, which makes it a practical pick if your commute isn’t strictly Manhattan-bound. It’s a family-friendly town with parks, playgrounds, and a strong sense of community that residents mention often — the kind of place where you get to know your block.

Jericho — One of Long Island’s Top School Districts

Jericho shows up near the top of nearly every Long Island school ranking, and that reputation drives a lot of its housing demand. It’s smaller and quieter than some of its Nassau County neighbors, with a diverse resident base and easy access to major shopping along the way.

Merrick — South Shore Suburb With Water Access

Merrick sits on Long Island’s South Shore and draws young families specifically for its combination of good schools and proximity to the water. It has its own LIRR station, which keeps the Manhattan commute reasonable without the price tag of the North Shore’s more exclusive villages.

Port Jefferson — Waterfront Village With Ferry Access

Port Jefferson has a genuinely different character from most of this list — a historic harbor village with its own ferry connection across Long Island Sound to Connecticut, a walkable downtown, and a strong community feel that leans more coastal-town than commuter-suburb.

Cold Spring Harbor — Scenic and Affluent

Cold Spring Harbor is one of the North Shore’s most scenic pockets — wooded, hilly, and built around its namesake harbor. Homes here tend to be spacious and priced accordingly, and the school district is a consistent draw for families who can afford to be selective.

Dix Hills — Space to Spread Out

Dix Hills is a good pick for anyone who wants more land without leaving Suffolk County’s stronger school districts behind. It’s less about downtown walkability and more about spacious lots, suburban charm, and easy access to the Northern State and Long Island Expressways.

Smithtown and East Northport — Reliable, Affordable Family Suburbs

Smithtown and East Northport won’t top the glossiest “best of” lists, but they consistently deliver what a lot of families are actually looking for: solid schools, a strong sense of community, and home prices that stay more attainable than Nassau County’s top-tier villages. If Garden City or Great Neck are priced out of reach, these two are worth a serious look.

Other Long Island Towns Worth a Look

The list above isn’t exhaustive — a few more towns are worth knowing depending on what you’re optimizing for. Rockville Centre and Mineola are strong picks if job access and a shorter LIRR ride matter most. Ronkonkoma has seen a wave of new construction in recent years, making it good for value-focused buyers. Syosset and Oyster Bay offer quiet suburban living without straying far from the water. And if weekend character matters as much as your weekday commute, the east end has its own draw — Riverhead, the North Fork, Montauk, the Hamptons, and Fire Island trade commute convenience for genuinely different, coastal living, with shopping and local amenities clustered around each town’s own downtown rather than a single regional hub.

The Honest Trade-Off: Property Taxes & Cost of Living

No honest guide to Long Island can skip this part. Nassau and Suffolk County have some of the highest property tax rates in the country: Nassau County homeowners pay an average effective rate of about 2.24% of assessed value, with Suffolk running slightly higher at roughly 2.3% — both well above New York State’s overall average of around 1.69%, and far above Manhattan’s comparatively low 0.88%. On a median-priced home, that can mean well over $10,000 a year in property taxes alone.

That’s not an accident or a hidden fee — it’s largely how the school districts on this list get funded. Long Island’s public schools rely heavily on local property tax revenue rather than broader state or city funding, which is a direct part of why towns like Jericho and Great Neck consistently rank so well academically. The high taxes and the good schools are, in a very real sense, the same story told twice.

Home prices follow the same pattern. Long Island’s median home price runs close to double the national median, which pushes property assessments — and tax bills — higher along with it. None of this makes Long Island a bad choice. It just means “affordable” needs an asterisk: cheaper than Manhattan or Brooklyn, not cheap in absolute terms.

Commute to NYC: What to Actually Expect

Which LIRR branch you’re on matters more than raw mileage. Massapequa Park’s 28-minute average commute via the Babylon Branch is a good example — it’s not the closest town to the city on this list, but it sits on one of the faster, more direct lines into Penn Station. If you’re driving instead, long-time Long Islanders have a rule of thumb worth repeating: commutes get noticeably worse once you’re east of Route 110. West of it, a drive into the city is annoying but manageable; east of it, Long Island Expressway traffic and tolls start eating into the time savings you’d expect from living farther out. Worth factoring in before you fall in love with a town purely on price.

What to Know Before Moving to Long Island

Once you’ve picked a town, a few things change compared to a move within NYC’s five boroughs. Most Long Island moves are into single-family homes rather than apartment buildings, which usually simplifies logistics — no elevator reservations, no narrow stairwells — but it’s worth confirming HOA or village-specific rules ahead of time, especially in more tightly managed communities like Garden City. If you’re moving during peak season, build extra time into your schedule for LIE traffic, which can turn a short trip into a long one on a summer Friday. And if your move is headed toward Port Jefferson, the North Fork, or Fire Island, factor in ferry schedules the same way you would for any cross-water move.

When you’re ready to book, Maxi Moving’s Suffolk County movers and Long Beach movers know these towns, the LIRR branches, and the LIE traffic patterns firsthand.

FAQ

What is the best place to live on Long Island in 2026?

According to U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 rankings, Massapequa Park is New York State’s top-ranked place to live — its second year in a row at #1 — thanks to strong household income, education, and a manageable LIRR commute.

Is Long Island expensive to live on?

Yes, relative to the national average — home prices run close to double the U.S. median, and property tax rates in both Nassau and Suffolk County are among the highest in the country. It’s still generally more affordable than Manhattan or Brooklyn, though the gap has narrowed in some towns.

What’s the commute like from Long Island to NYC?

It depends heavily on which LIRR branch you’re near and, if driving, whether you’re east or west of Route 110. Towns on faster branches, like Massapequa Park on the Babylon Branch, can see commutes of under 30 minutes even though they’re not the closest towns to the city.

Is Nassau or Suffolk County better to live in?

Nassau County tends to be closer to the city with higher home prices and slightly lower average property tax rates; Suffolk County generally offers more space and somewhat lower home prices, with marginally higher average tax rates. Neither is universally “better” — it depends on budget and how much commute time you’re willing to trade for space.

Is Long Island good for raising a family?

For many families, yes — strong school districts, plenty of parks and beaches, and a genuine sense of community across most of the towns on this list are consistently cited as the region’s biggest draws.