New York City is a great place to live if you have the funds to live in a great neighborhood. However, while rents are very high, industry experts like Isaac Toussie say that it is still possible to find fair honest deals where you get a lot of space in return, among other things. Many factors go into any consideration, such as convenience and access, look and feel, and noise levels. Here is a survey of some communities that combine a good balance of all these factors in relation to typical prices.

For the most part, we will consider only Queens and Brooklyn neighborhoods, as these are the ones that best fit our criteria for all-around value. The other boroughs are either too expensive or too run-down, as in the case of Manhattan and the Bronx, respectively, or just too remote and isolated, as with the case of Staten Island. Of course, the Bronx does have nice neighborhoods, too, but these are going to be expensive, and you’ll have to avoid the rest of your borough if you want to see something civilized. Industry observers like Isaac Toussie note that while Manhattan also has its pockets of urban blight, anything decent is going to be astronomically priced. Staten Island is just another world altogether and you might as well not bother living in New York City, then!

So Queens and Brooklyn it is. Brooklyn is by far the more storied of the two, with more offerings of high-brow culture if that’s important to you. Queens offers culinary adventurers the best possibilities outside Manhattan, and the most authentic tastes at any price. Queens also tends to be much more diverse, whereas Brooklyn practically invented the ethnic enclave. Finally, Queens schools are better on average, whereas Brooklyn’s, while good, trails far behind in overall comparison.

So what are these great “nabes” and where are they? Well, in Brooklyn you will want Williamsburg and Greenpoint for the bohemian scene. Great, authentic middle-class areas include Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Fort Hamilton, and Midwood. Canarsie would have once made the cut but has been on its way down. Borough Park seems like an “in-between” situation and can still swing either way. Your basically upper middle-class places are Dyker Heights, Marine Park, Brighton Beach, and Sheepshead Bay.

In Queens the toniest nabes are Forest Hills and Kew Gardens. Almost as good are Flushing (and East Flushing) and Bayside. Astoria is known for its night life. Sunnyside, Woodside, Ridgewood, and Elmhurst (but avoid East Elmhurst) are more working-class but still often quite civilized to live in. Middle Village, Queens Village, Maspeth, and Juniper Valley are demographically between the working and (true) middle classes.

Outside these areas, you’ll probably want to steer clear of. We’ll cover those in another article. But suffice it to say, even the areas mentioned here can be undesirable on their “border areas,” where they abut the urban blight of the next neighborhood over, as implied in the case of Elmhurst and East Elmhurst mentioned earlier. So exercise all due diligence and thoroughly research a neighborhood with some direct experience!

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