Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town was incorporated in 1930 and has 7,889 residents today.
A well-rated place to live, with prices to match. Its standout strength is health: it is healthier than 95% of U.S. towns. With an A overall, Great Neck Plaza is better than 91% of U.S. towns and ranks 81st of 745 in New York. It also does well on schools: its public schools beat 95% of New York towns on state tests and graduation. What holds it back is cost of living (D): the typical home is worth about $416K, 4.2 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Only 44 of New York’s 1,216 towns score lower on history. Nearly two thirds of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in the town, against 32% in New York’s towns and 29% across U.S. towns. Few places in the country are easier to get around without a car.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Great Neck Plaza beats most towns.
6,707 counted in 2010 and 7,482 in 2020; an estimated 7,889 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 5.9% since 2020, after 11.6% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Great Neck Plaza is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 7%), so the A overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,031 in 1940, 7,482 in 2020. The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 2021 and 6 maps from 1897 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Great Neck Plaza. Close and well known come first.
Big draw13 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw12 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw14 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw11 mi Stadium & arenaYankee Stadium
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife StadiumCentral 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 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Yankee Stadium: Matt Boulton, CC BY-SA 2.0 · MetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Great Neck Plaza, 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 Great Neck Plaza.
Great Neck Plaza draws workers from New York City and beyond and has less food insecurity than most of New York.
Its widest gap with New York is food insecurity: 7.5% of its 6,218 adults worry about having enough food, against 17.2% statewide.
Only 5 of the 755 New York towns we compare have a lower share of adults who have been diagnosed with depression than Great Neck Plaza. 29% of Great Neck Plaza adults feel lonely. The town beats the New York average on 24 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2.
| Great Neck Plaza | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 16% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 21% | 23% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 6.4% | 13% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Great Neck Plaza | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.5% | 17.2% |
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 3.6% | 8.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.4% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
5,621 jobs are based in Great Neck Plaza, 1.9 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. 26.3% of workers work from home, against 14.9% across New York.
For Great Neck Plaza, the median household income is $92,000. Commuting out is the norm in the town: 6% of working residents work locally. Jobs based here fell to 5,621 in 2023, 335 fewer than in 2013. The median commute is under 12 miles.
| Great Neck Plaza | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 36 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $92,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.2% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Of the losses FEMA expects in Great Neck Plaza, 68% come from inland flooding and 9% from hurricanes. Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in 83% of U.S. communities. Federal aid has come to Great Neck Plaza households in 6 declared disasters; the latest was in 2021.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Great Neck Plaza’s typical July afternoon high comes in at 85°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
In Great Neck Plaza, the trail density is 0.7 miles per square mile. Count the trails in 2 parks and preserves and they come to 0.2 miles.
| Great Neck Plaza | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.7 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.2% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Grace Avenue Park | — | 3 |
| 2. Wyngate Park | 0.1 mi | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
On the market in Great Neck Plaza: a median 43 days to sell. In Great Neck Plaza, the median rent is $2,446 a month. Also worth knowing: among households here, 57% live in a home they own.
| Great Neck Plaza | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,446 a month | $1,098 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 57% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
94 within 15 miles of the center of Great Neck Plaza
About 7 of every 100 Great Neck Plaza residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New York.
Where Great Neck Plaza’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Village in New York, United States
Great Neck Plaza is a village on the Great Neck Peninsula in the Town of North Hempstead, in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 7,482 at the time of the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Great Neck Plaza.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Neck Plaza | #81 | A | D | — | A+ | A+ |
| Thomaston | #30 | A+ | D− | — | A+ | A+ |
| Great Neck Estates | #36 | A+ | D− | — | A+ | A+ |
| Kensington | — | — | D− | A | A+ | A+ |
| University Gardens | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Kensington has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Great Neck Plaza, Thomaston and Great Neck Estates report no FBI crime data of their own. University Gardens isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Great Neck Plaza with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Great Neck Plaza grades A overall, better than 91% of U.S. towns and #81 of 745 in New York. It grades A+ for health and A+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $416,000, 21% below the New York typical home. 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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