Living in Far Rockaway: rent, commute and grades

Queens · Updated November 2026

A sandy beach with dune fencing and old pilings in front of open blue water and a bright sky.

A pine tree and picnic table on a green lawn beside blue Jamaica Bay.

Two stucco bungalows with arched porches and tiled roofs under a deep blue sky.

A cream bungalow with a row of arches across the porch on a bright day.

A pale pink bungalow with a deep porch and a skylit upper floor beside other bungalows.

Photo credits

Photo: Rublov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Rublov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Peter Greenberg, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Peter Greenberg, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Peter Greenberg, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rent in Far Rockaway

$1,407 a month, estimated

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

Far Rockaway is cheaper with roommates

Find people looking in Far Rockaway

DOverall

Far Rockaway graded

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

Everyday life

DWalkability
The average home has 3.3 of 5 everyday needs within a 10-minute walk (grocery store, restaurant, cafe, subway station, park) and about 66 places to eat or shop.
DFood and shopping
Within a 10-minute walk of the average home: about 11 places to eat, 7 kinds of cuisine, 1.6 large grocery stores and 43 open storefronts.
Residents: Few everyday amenities, supermarkets included; the nearest corner store can be blocks away. Former resident of 16 years, Jun 2025
CParks and green space
93% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park of an acre or more, with about 430 acres of parkland within 1 km and about 311 street trees within 300 m of the average home.
Residents: The beach is lovely and the boardwalk is calm during the day. Resident, Mar 2024

People

DCommunity
18% of households moved in since 2018, 6% are roommates sharing a home, 14% of residents are 22 to 34, and there are about 2 cafes and bars within a 10-minute walk of the average home.
Residents: Longtime homeowners can be unwelcoming to newcomers, objecting to people parking on the street or hanging out in local parks. Resident, Jun 2025
FNightlife
About 2 bars, clubs and restaurants licensed to serve alcohol on site within a 10-minute walk of the average home.
Residents: Nothing to do in winter, so entertainment means an hour trip to another borough. Resident, Jun 2025

Home and safety

C-Safety
7.2 murders, robberies, felony assaults and burglaries were reported per 1,000 residents in 2025 (453 in all).
Residents: Some areas are best avoided; it has become somewhat safer over the years but is still far from fully safe. Resident of about 5 years, Mar 2024
B+Quiet
27 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.
CBuilding upkeep
25.3 serious housing code violations (class B or C) were issued in 2025 per 100 rented homes, and there were 8 heat or hot water complaints per 100 rented homes.

Who lives there

Families with kids

What residents say

Residents like

Parks and green spaceThe beach is lovely and the boardwalk is calm during the day. Resident, Mar 2024

Residents don’t like

CommunityLongtime homeowners can be unwelcoming to newcomers, objecting to people parking on the street or hanging out in local parks. Resident, Jun 2025
SafetySome areas are best avoided; it has become somewhat safer over the years but is still far from fully safe. Resident of about 5 years, Mar 2024

Show 7 moreShow less

Safety

Keep to yourself and people leave you alone, though being out after dark is best avoided.
Resident, Mar 2024
Living near Beach 25th St has been trouble free, as long as you steer clear of drunks.
Older resident, Mar 2024
Near the Beach 25 St A station, by the Long Island line, it is fine and safer than the western Rockaways.
Not a resident, Mar 2024

Food and shopping

Few everyday amenities, supermarkets included; the nearest corner store can be blocks away.
Former resident of 16 years, Jun 2025
Not much in the way of restaurants.
Not a resident, Mar 2024

Nightlife

Nothing to do in winter, so entertainment means an hour trip to another borough.
Resident, Jun 2025
Someone coming from Brooklyn or the Bronx may find it a bit boring.
Not a resident, Mar 2024

Getting around from Far Rockaway

By subway or bus, arriving by 9:00 on a weekday:Under 30 min30 to 45 min45 to 60 minOver an hourFar Rockaway

Beach 25 St A
Beach 36 St A
Far Rockaway-Mott Av A

Residents: The commute is bad: about an hour to Manhattan, longer whenever the Broad Channel bridge is up or stuck. Resident, Jun 2025

What to know about Far Rockaway

Far Rockaway joined the City of Greater New York in 1898, when about 11,000 people lived there year-round. Many homeowners rented out their houses in summer, when the peninsula drew vacationers. Source
Subway service reached Far Rockaway in 1956 and brought middle and working class residents, lifting the year-round population of the Rockaways to 79,000 by 1960. Source
Downtown Far Rockaway is the neighborhood's commercial center, built around the shops of Central Avenue, Mott Avenue and Beach 20th Street, with the Far Rockaway LIRR line and the A train. Source
Downtown Far Rockaway is one of the few parts of the Rockaway peninsula outside the floodplain, and it is home to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, which a 2017 city study calls the peninsula's largest employer. Source
Bayswater Park, a 30-acre park running from Dwight Avenue to Seagirt Boulevard, has a playground, three basketball courts, six tennis courts, handball courts and a large baseball field by the water. Source
Bayswater Point State Park covers 12 acres at the tip of a peninsula in Mott Basin, on the eastern shore of Jamaica Bay, with beachfront, wetlands and woodland. It was once a bird sanctuary overseen by Audubon. Source
The Far Rockaway Library at 1637 Central Avenue reopened in 2024 in a new two-story building designed by Snøhetta. It is the third library on the site, whose first branch opened in 1904 as the first library in Queens built with Andrew Carnegie's money. Source
Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue, an elevated, accessible station at Mott Avenue and Beach 22nd Street, is one of the A train's three Queens terminals. Source