HoodEx has analyzed 39 neighborhoods in New York, New York, United States. The average livability score across New York is 6.8/10, measured across nature, community, housing, connectivity and quality of daily life. Central Park currently ranks highest at 8.5/10. Compare every analyzed area below, or run your own AI report for any New York address.
New York occupies a cluster of islands at the mouth of the Hudson River, its core forming a long, narrow spine of dense vertical development. Much of the city follows a strict street grid, though older neighborhoods like Greenwich Village, SoHo, and the Financial District retain narrower, more irregular blocks. Housing ranges from walk-up apartments and brownstones in Park Slope and the West Village to high-rise towers in the core and detached homes in outlying areas such as Bayside and Fieldston. Most residents rely on the subway, bus, and walking to get around, and car ownership is common in coastal and eastern neighborhoods like Far Rockaway and St. George but less so in the center. The climate brings humid summers and cold, windy winters. The measurements suggest that walkability and transit access are widely available, while greenery and neighborhood-level services are unevenly distributed.
Across the 39 measured areas HoodEx has mapped in New York, the average livability score is 6.8 out of 10 — solid. That places New York 18th of the 26 cities measured so far, 0.2 below the 7.0 average across those cities.
The highest-scoring area is Central Park at 8.5/10; the lowest is Financial District at 4.9/10. A gap of 3.6 points across one city is large — in New York the address matters more than the city does. 17 of the 39 areas score 7 or better, and 1 sit below 5.
Averaged across New York: nature 5.4, anthropos 6.2, shells 5.6, society 8.2 and networks 8.7, each out of 10.
New York's strongest dimension is networks — transport and walkability — at 8.7/10, 0.9 above the 7.8 average for that pillar. The weakest is nature — greenery and environmental quality — at 5.4/10, 0.2 below the 5.6 average. Those two are the shape of the city: what it gives you everywhere, and what you have to hunt for.
Against the other 26 measured cities, New York ranks 5th for networks.
The score that swings most from one New York area to the next is society: 3.5/10 in Far Rockaway, 9.8/10 in Greenwich Village — a spread of 6.3 points. In practice that means whether there is a life on your doorstep is the thing your choice of address actually decides here.
By contrast anthropos moves by only 3.6 points across the whole city, so it is close to a constant: worth knowing about New York, but not worth paying extra for one street over another.
Within United States, HoodEx has measured 2 cities, averaging 6.6/10. New York is 0.2 above the 6.6 average for the country, 1st of the 2.
No single area wins on everything, so it is worth knowing which one leads on the thing you care about. In New York that is most green space: Fieldston (7.3/10 nature), best connected: Civic Center (9.8/10 networks), strongest community life: Greenwich Village (9.8/10 society) and best housing stock: Civic Center (9.0/10 shells).
Open any of them below for the full breakdown — the five category scores, the components underneath them, and what residents have reported.
Describe the life you want — budget, commute, how much green you need, how lively the street should be — and HoodEx ranks New York's neighbourhoods against your answers instead of you looking up one address at a time.
If nobody has searched New York here before, the matcher maps it first — a one-off couple of minutes while you answer the questions. It runs without an account, and the top matches are free.
See which part of New York fits you
Every HoodEx neighborhood is scored from 0 to 10 across five dimensions drawn from the Ekistics framework for human settlements. Scores are generated by AI analysis of satellite imagery, street-level imagery, points of interest and public datasets, then blended into a single overall livability score.
HoodEx has analyzed 39 neighborhoods in New York. New areas are added whenever someone runs an analysis for a local address.
The average overall livability score across analyzed New York neighborhoods is 6.8/10, blended from our five scoring categories — 0.2 below the 7.0 average across the 26 cities HoodEx has measured.
Central Park currently has the highest overall livability score in New York at 8.5/10, 3.6 points ahead of the lowest-scoring measured area, Financial District (4.9/10).
Fieldston scores highest on nature in New York at 7.3/10, covering green space, air and water quality and natural features. The city average for nature is 5.4/10.
Civic Center leads on networks — transit access, road connectivity, walkability and reaching everyday destinations — at 9.8/10, against a New York average of 8.7/10.
Society varies most across New York — a spread of 6.3 points between Far Rockaway (3.5/10) and Greenwich Village (9.8/10). That makes whether there is a life on your doorstep the thing your address decides here, while anthropos is close to constant citywide (3.6 points).
HoodEx has measured 2 cities in United States, averaging 6.6/10. New York is 0.2 above the 6.6 average, ranking 1st of the 2.
Every neighborhood is scored 0–10 across five categories — Nature, Anthropos, Shells, Society and Networks — using AI analysis of satellite imagery, street-level imagery, points of interest and public datasets. The five category scores are blended into a single overall livability score.
Yes — browsing neighborhood scores and community insights is free. Running a fresh, in-depth AI analysis of a new address uses a report credit.
Scores update as new analyses are run and community feedback comes in. Each individual neighborhood page shows when it was last updated.