It’s a big score for the north shore.
Nearly a dozen affluent Nassau County enclaves on the Gold Coast, or just a few miles south, made a newly released list of the best places in the US to raise a family.
Kensington, a neighborhood on Manhasset Bay near the Queens border, placed second in the nation out of 18,084 towns in Niche’s 2025 rankings.
The small but elite section of Great Neck — it has a population under 1,500 — trailed only the Philadelphia suburb of Chesterbrook and earned top marks for its overall safety and high-performing public schools.
Homes in the sweet Long Island suburb command top dollar with a median value of $1.4 million. The area’s earning power is also impressive — it has a median household income of $217,679 — and 41% of residents have a master’s degree or higher, according to the outlet.
Syosset was next locally landing No. 11 on the list, followed by neighboring Jericho at 21, East Williston at 30, and Manhasset — the high-end home to the “Miracle Mile” Americana shopping district — at 39.
A handful of elite Nassau locales also rounded out the bottom half of the top 100. The scenic, farm- and garden-filled Muttontown landed at No. 51 while Plainview came in at 68, Roslyn Heights 73, Garden City 75, Lake Success 94 and Searingtown 99.
The posh Dix Hills — the only Suffolk County suburb to make the cut — which was recently rocked by the chilling murder of a police detective, earned a ranking of 135.
Extremely affluent Upper Brookville, just a stone’s throw from Muttontown, shockingly finished 1,575.
The south shore was snubbed as its popular communities didn’t scratch the top 100. Ritzy Merrick was only 512, and Wantagh — the “gateway to Jones Beach” and Long Island’s beautiful Atlantic Ocean — scored 982.
Perhaps recent Rex Heuermann notoriety catapulted Massapequa — where President Trump patronized staple burger joint “All American” — down to a measly 3,087 ranking, while nearby Farmingdale came in 2,407.
Outside of Long Island, Westchester’s Scarsdale and Ardsley finished 13 and 14, respectively.
