Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,208, settled in 1912.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Brightwaters grades A− overall, 158th among New York's 745 graded towns. It is among the healthiest towns in the country on CDC estimates. The median household earns $218K. The catch is cost: homes are expensive, about $841K for a typical one and 8.5 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Brightwaters’ median household income is $218,000, where New York’s towns sit at $82,000 and U.S. towns at $80,000. Brightwaters is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 94% of U.S. towns. Only 54 of New York’s 1,216 towns score lower on history.
Where Brightwaters beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Brightwaters | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.2% | 17.2% |
Coastal flooding makes up 10% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Brightwaters is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 250 in 1920, 3,181 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1915 and 5 maps from 1901 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Brightwaters. Close and well known come first.
Big draw37 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw38 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw38 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw37 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaYankee Stadium
Big draw39 mi BeachConey IslandCentral Park: Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Madison Square Garden: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Yankee Stadium: Matt Boulton, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Coney Island: OptimumPx, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Brightwaters, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Brightwaters.
Brightwaters has less food insecurity than most of New York, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New York and has a long record of flood insurance claims.
Its widest gap with New York is food insecurity: 6.2% of its 2,451 adults worry about having enough food, against 17.2% statewide. Against the 744 U.S. towns with household incomes like Brightwaters’s, it is healthier than 69%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
27% of adults feel lonely in Brightwaters. Brightwaters beats the New York average on 22 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 9.7% of adults report frequent physical distress in Brightwaters.
| Brightwaters | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 32% | 33% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.7% | 14% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 21% | 23% |
| What stands out | Brightwaters | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.2% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.4% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.7% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 8.5 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $841K) costs more against local pay than in 91% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its D for cost of living.
96% of Brightwaters households own their home. Typical home values rose 9.7% in the year to September 2026. The median rent in Brightwaters is $1,728 a month.
| Brightwaters | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 96% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,728 a month | $1,098 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Most working residents leave Brightwaters for work: only 3% work in town. Brightwaters’ average trip to work is 32 minutes. Of the 758 New York towns we compare, none has a lower share of residents below the poverty line than Brightwaters.
| Brightwaters | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 0.2% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.2% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
111 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 11 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 75% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 111 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Brightwaters.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Brightwaters has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 26° and about 32 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Brightwaters | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wohseepee Park | — | 6 |
| 2. Gilbert Park | — | 5 |
| 3. Walker Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
4 within 15 miles of the center of Brightwaters
About 5 of every 100 Brightwaters residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Where Brightwaters’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Village in New York, United States
Brightwaters is an incorporated village located within the southwestern part of the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 3,181 at the time of the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Brightwaters.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brightwaters | #158 | A− | D | — | B− | A+ |
| Bay Shore | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| West Bay Shore | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Brightwaters reports no FBI crime data of its own. Bay Shore and West Bay Shore aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Brightwaters with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Brightwaters grades A− overall, better than 81% of U.S. towns and #158 of 745 in New York. It grades A+ for health and B− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
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