A good place to live, if you can afford it. Its standout strength is health: residents are healthier than 89% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. With a B+ overall, Southold is better than nearly three quarters of U.S. towns and ranks 204th of 745 in New York. Walkability is another plus: it is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. The drawback is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $1.1 million, 11.3 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Its National Register listings include Firefighter and Plum Island Light Station. The town’s value of a typical home is $1,117,000, above both the New York town median ($361,000) and the median of U.S. towns ($332,000). History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 98% of U.S. towns, with 29 places on the National Register.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places · Zillow, September 2026.
Old House, The · National Register of Historic Places
Southold’s story
386 years in pictures
Old House, The is one of 2 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier. Its founding year, 1640, comes before those of 99% of the New York towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 3,219 in 1790, a low of 2,200 in 1800, 23,732 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1834 and 3 maps from 1904 on.
29 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Its grades run from A+ for hazard risk (better than 96% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 2%), so the B+ overall blends very different results.
Southold is safe by national standards but not by New York’s; it also has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New York and has a long record of flood insurance claims.
At 11.3 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $1.12M) costs more against local pay than in 95% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
Southold’s rent at the middle of the market stands at $2,135 a month. In the year to September 2026, typical home values climbed 2.5%. For households locally, the share who live in a home they own is 82%.
Below: Three of its 9 schools, each with why it was picked. The largest public high school is Mattituck Junior-Senior High School, with 524 students. Also worth knowing: 5 public schools serve Southold, with 1,698 students in all.
Southold: 15% of adults say their health is fair or poor. Among adults locally, 16% have been diagnosed with depression and 13% report frequent mental distress.
850 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 82 properties have flooded more than once.
On expected storm and flood damage, Southold sits below 93% of U.S. communities. 850 flood insurance claims have been paid locally since 1978. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 50% come from inland flooding and 21% from hurricanes. Federal aid has come to Southold households in 9 declared disasters; the latest was in 2021.
At 10.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 58% of New York’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 15 reported in 2025, 0.7 per 1,000 residents.
Southold’s violent offense rate is 0.7 per 1,000 residents. Its property offense rate stands at 7.7 per 1,000 residents.
30% of residents are 65 or older in Southold. The town has grown 2.3% since 2020, to 24,260 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. The median age for Southold comes to 53.7 years. The bachelor’s-degree share among adults 25 and older is 50%, against 40% across New York.
53.7median age · NY 39.8
Southold
New York towns
U.S. towns
Median age
53.7 years
42.9 years
40.5 years
Aged 65 or older
30%
20%
18%
Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+
50%
32%
29%
Under 18
16%
20%
22%
SoutholdNew YorkUnited States
Ages · share of residents
19%
<1010–1718–2425–3435–4445–5455–6465–7475+
Education · adults 25 and older
No diploma7%
High school18%
Some college16%
Associate’s9%
Bachelor’s29%
Graduate21%
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
WomenNYU.S.Men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.1 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
The average commute for its 9,598 working residents takes 26.6 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
The share of residents in Southold who live below the poverty line: 5.6%. Roughly one working resident in three has a job in Southold itself. The middle household income locally is $117,000. Jobs in Southold grew by 432 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 7,326.
35%work in town
Southold
New York towns
U.S. towns
Working residents who work in town
35%
10%
8%
Work from home
21%
12%
11%
Median household income
$117,000
$82,000
$80,000
Below the poverty line
5.6%
9.5%
9.6%
Where working residents work
In Southold35%
New York16%
Brookhaven6%
Riverhead6%
Southampton5%
24 mi
median commute distance
7,326
jobs based in Southold
Balanced
jobs vs. working residents
A
Walkability grade: more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns
Walkers can cover 44 miles of trail in 31 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Long Beach Bay Tidal Wetlands Area, at 407 acres. Southold’s trail density comes in at 0.1 miles per square mile.
The Town of Southold is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located in the northeastern tip of the county, on the North Fork of Long Island. The population was 23,732 at the 2020 census. The town contains a hamlet, also named Southold, which was settled in 1640.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; East Hampton (B+) comes closest. Shelter Island next door grades lower for schools (C+ to Southold’s B+) and higher for cost of living (C− to D−).
East HamptonShelter IslandRiverheadShelter Island HeightsWesterlyGreenport WestNorthvilleMattituckEast MarionLaurelSouthold
East Hampton reports no FBI crime data of its own. Shelter Island Heights, Greenport West, Northville and Mattituck aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Southold with a neighbor →
Questions about Southold
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Southold, NY a good place to live?
For most people who can afford it, yes. Southold grades B+ overall, better than 74% of U.S. towns and #204 of 745 in New York. It grades A for health, B+ for safety and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Southold, NY expensive?
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−.
What is Southold, NY known for?
2 notable people were born here, including John Benedict and Mike Wheeler.
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