Living in Carroll Gardens: rent, commute and grades

Brooklyn · Updated October 2026

Rowhouses with deep front gardens, rose bushes and iron fences line a sunny tree-shaded block.
Smith Street lined with colorful shops and rowhouses runs toward the downtown Brooklyn skyline.
Brick brownstones with iron stair railings and leafy street trees on a Brooklyn block.
A narrow mews of brick rowhouses with a snowy garden walk down the middle.
Bare trees and a circular stone seating area in Cobble Hill Park covered in snow.
Photo credits

This guide also covers Gowanus, Cobble Hill, Red Hook and Columbia Street Waterfront, which share Carroll Gardens’s official city boundaries.

Rent in Carroll Gardens

$2,803 a month

Type of homeA room in a 2-bedroom, shared by two

Carroll Gardens is cheaper with roommates

Find people looking in Carroll Gardens
B+Overall

Carroll Gardens graded

Grades compare NYC neighborhoods with each other. How the grades work.

Everyday life

  • B-Walkability

    The average home has 4.7 of 5 everyday needs within a 10-minute walk (grocery store, restaurant, cafe, subway station, park) and about 264 places to eat or shop.

    Residents: The new Court Street bike lane makes weekend errands by bike, like a sandwich and coffee run, easy and pleasant. Resident, Mar 2026

    City data alone would give B; what residents say in 5 Reddit threads moves it to B-.

  • B-Food and shopping

    Within a 10-minute walk of the average home: about 94 places to eat, 26 kinds of cuisine, 5.5 large grocery stores and 141 open storefronts.

    Residents: Trader Joe's at Court and Atlantic, its outside fruit stand and K&Y on Court offer good produce at reasonable prices. Resident, Oct 2026

    City data alone would give B+; what residents say in 13 Reddit threads moves it to B-.

  • CParks and green space

    95% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park of an acre or more, with about 50 acres of parkland within 1 km and about 462 street trees within 300 m of the average home.

    Residents: Carroll Gardens has nice playgrounds and schoolyards but almost no open grass. Resident, May 2026

People

  • A-Community

    29% of households moved in since 2018, 14% are roommates sharing a home, 21% of residents are 22 to 34, and there are about 73 cafes and bars within a 10-minute walk of the average home.

  • ANightlife

    About 58 bars, clubs and restaurants licensed to serve alcohol on site within a 10-minute walk of the average home.

    Residents: The neighborhood already has beer-focused taprooms and bars. Resident, May 2026

    City data and 7 resident threads on Reddit agree on this grade.

Home and safety

  • B-Safety

    5.8 murders, robberies, felony assaults and burglaries were reported per 1,000 residents in 2025 (349 in all).

    Residents: Gowanus mixes luxury buildings and shelters, yet living right next to the canal has never felt unsafe. New resident, May 2026

    City data alone would give C+; what residents say in 7 Reddit threads moves it to B-.

  • DQuiet

    48 noise complaints to 311 per 1,000 residents in 2025, not counting helicopter complaints, and counting each address at most 12 days a year. That measures how often people complain, not how loud it is.

    Residents: Reversing utility trucks on Smith Street have been beeping loudly around 3:30am lately. Resident, May 2026

    City data alone would give C; what residents say in 10 Reddit threads moves it to D.

  • A-Building upkeep

    11.2 serious housing code violations (class B or C) were issued in 2025 per 100 rented homes, and there were 3.6 heat or hot water complaints per 100 rented homes.

    Residents: Buildings are nicely maintained and the streets clean. New resident, Oct 2026

Who lives there

  • Lots of roommates

What residents say

Residents like

  • SafetyGowanus mixes luxury buildings and shelters, yet living right next to the canal has never felt unsafe. New resident, May 2026
  • Food and shoppingTrader Joe's at Court and Atlantic, its outside fruit stand and K&Y on Court offer good produce at reasonable prices. Resident, Oct 2026
  • Building upkeepBuildings are nicely maintained and the streets clean. New resident, Oct 2026
  • NightlifeThe neighborhood already has beer-focused taprooms and bars. Resident, May 2026
  • QuietGowanus is quieter than Crown Heights. Resident of about 8 years, Apr 2026
  • WalkabilityThe new Court Street bike lane makes weekend errands by bike, like a sandwich and coffee run, easy and pleasant. Resident, Mar 2026

Residents don’t like

  • Food and shoppingBeing so Italian heavy, Carroll Gardens is hard for gluten-free eating, especially grabbing a quick sandwich. Resident, Jun 2026
  • QuietReversing utility trucks on Smith Street have been beeping loudly around 3:30am lately. Resident, May 2026
  • NightlifeGowanus has fewer late-night options than Crown Heights. Resident of about 8 years, Apr 2026
  • Parks and green spaceCarroll Gardens has nice playgrounds and schoolyards but almost no open grass. Resident, May 2026
  • WalkabilityCourt Street at Pacific, by Trader Joe's, has long lacked a proper crosswalk, making it a hard crossing on foot. Resident, May 2026
  • Building upkeepBasement units get ants every spring and summer, an occasional cockroach and mosquitoes by the door. Resident, Aug 2026
Show 22 moreShow less

Safety

Community

  • Full of families who are mostly wonderful neighbors, though some kids scooter into people unchecked.

    Not a resident, Oct 2026

Food and shopping

Nightlife

Walkability

Quiet

Parks and green space

Building upkeep

  • The newest Gowanus luxury buildings look nicer but seem built with more corner-cutting and slightly smaller apartments.

    Resident of about 8 years, Apr 2026

  • Many Gowanus luxury buildings have central systems that leave apartments very hot all winter, and several tenants have broken leases over it.

    Resident, Apr 2026

  • Streets near the canal, such as Union and 3rd Street, flood with dirty water in heavy rain; west of Hoyt and Smith is fine.

    Not a resident, Jul 2026

Getting around from Carroll Gardens

Map of New York City neighborhoods shaded by travel time by subway or bus from Carroll Gardens
By subway or bus, arriving by 9:00 on a weekday:Under 30 min30 to 45 min45 to 60 minOver an hourCarroll Gardens
  • 4 Av-9 St FG
  • Carroll St FG
  • Smith-9 Sts FG

Residents: The F and G make it quick to get around Brooklyn while still reaching Manhattan easily. New resident, Oct 2026

Residents: The F train is unreliable; alternatives include biking to the Brooklyn Bridge Park ferry or Citi Bike to the 4 and 5 at Borough Hall. Retired resident, Mar 2025

What to know about Carroll Gardens

  • Carroll Gardens keeps an old-school Italian character: brownstones, churches and Italian bakeries, alongside newer bars, boutiques and restaurants, many of them Italian too. Source
  • Carroll Gardens is mostly three- and four-story row houses with some four- and five-story apartment buildings. On the east-west streets the row houses sit behind 30-foot-deep front yards, the gardens the neighborhood is named for. Source
  • Smith Street and Court Street are the shopping streets, lined with three- and four-story buildings with stores below and apartments above. Source
  • The name Carroll Gardens is relatively new: until the mid-1960s the area was considered part of Red Hook, within what was long called South Brooklyn. Source
  • The Carroll Gardens Historic District, on President and Carroll streets between Smith and Hoyt streets, was designated in 1973 and covers more than 160 buildings. Source
  • Red Hook, also covered by this guide, is home to Brooklyn's largest public housing development: the Red Hook Houses, built in 1938 with more added in 1955, where over half of Red Hook's residents live. Source

More of Carroll Gardens

Moving to Carroll Gardens? Find a roommate who wants to live there too.

Free on iPhone and Android, at 800+ colleges and in NYC.

Scan to get Bunky

Free onApp StoreGoogle Play

Check it out on the App StoreCheck it out on Google Play
App StoreGoogle Play

Free on iPhone and Android

More NYC neighborhoods

Brooklyn

39 neighborhoods

Manhattan

30 neighborhoods

Queens

46 neighborhoods

The Bronx

35 neighborhoods

Staten Island

16 neighborhoods

See every neighborhood on the map

Sources

Facts about Carroll Gardens:

Data behind the grades: