Earlier this month, we mapped how much it costs to live in every New York City borough, to get a snapshot of what the average New Yorker spends on housing. Here we dig even deeper, mapping the median sales value for every NYC neighborhood to see how far each deviates from the median in its borough. The results highlight the most and least affordable neighborhoods in NYC and in every borough, illustrating the wide gaps in affordability across New York.

Parkchester Stays Affordable as the South Bronx Rises

Historically, the Bronx has been the city’s hardest-struggling borough, with 27 percent of the population living below the poverty line, according to 2014 census data. That translates to 385,830 residents living on incomes of $24,000 or less. Given the burden of housing costs across the borough, many Bronx residents rely on subsidized housing rather than take on the cost of owning or renting market-rate apartments.

The Bronx has traditionally been overlooked by real estate developers, but as its population has grown in recent years and available land for new development in other parts of the city has shrunk, developers are looking more to the area — especially the South Bronx. Although once associated with industrial warehouses and a warren of highways, the area has seen substantial new development. According to our findings, the South Bronx neighborhood of Mott Haven is now the borough’s most expensive area, edging out traditionally tony enclaves like Riverdale and Fieldston. Meanwhile, Parkchester, originally built during World War II as housing for middle-income New Yorkers, remains an excellent value 76 years after it was completed.

Gaps Between Brooklyn Neighborhoods Are Growing

Isolated from public transportation and tucked in on Brooklyn’s southern edge, Old Mill Basin tells a tale of two cities when it comes to housing affordability — not just compared to Dumbo, Brooklyn’s most expensive neighborhood, but even compared to Mill Basin, the coastal enclave to its south. Literally just a block over, Mill Basin has a median recorded sales value of $872,500, 14 percent above than the borough median. In recent years, the Mill Basin area has become popular with foreign investors and émigrés, with the ex-wife of a billionaire Russian developer and aluminum tycoon listing a beachfront compound for $18 million in 2016. Over in Old Mill Basin, however, the brick multi-family buildings are much more modest, and according to StreetEasy data, command prices 70 percent below the borough median.

Tribeca Prices Are Nearly Triple the Manhattan Median

In Manhattan, Tribeca is truly in a class of its own, with median housing costs hitting 288 percent of the borough median. StreetEasy data shows a median recorded sales price of $4,270,000, a level perhaps only palatable to the fabulously wealthy A-listers who seem to make up the majority of new Tribeca residents. The second-most expensive neighborhood in the borough is SoHo, with a median recorded sales price of $2,687,370. Yes, that’s $1,500,000 shy of what Tribeca commands, but still 144 percent of the borough median.

Queens Stays in the Middle of the Road

The more we dig into data about housing affordability in New York, the more apparent it becomes that Queens truly lives up to its reputation as an ideal home for middle-income New Yorkers. Although there is a price gap of more than $700,000 between the most and least expensive neighborhoods in the borough, nearly half of all Queens neighborhoods have median sales prices between $400,000 and $600,000, making them actually somewhat accessible to the typical New York buyer.

Staten Island Has Smallest Gap From Cheap to Pricey Nabes

In Staten Island, we see the smallest gap between the most and least expensive neighborhoods in the borough. Although Todt Hill clocks in at 100 percent over the borough median — it’s one of the island’s most affluent areas, known for large homes and private driveways — nearly 40 percent of all neighborhoods in Staten Island have median housing costs within 10 percent of the borough median.
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