Living in Murray Hill: rent, commute and grades

Manhattan · Updated November 2026

Brownstones and tall apartment towers frame Lexington Avenue under a blue sky with clouds.
Pink cherry blossoms and yellow taxis on Park Avenue at the corner of 38th Street.
Two twisting towers joined by a sky bridge rise beside the Empire State Building and the East River.
A row of old brick buildings with specialty food stores at street level and pedestrians on the sidewalk.
Buses and taxis travel down 42nd Street between tall buildings as seen from the Tudor City bridge.
Photo credits

This guide also covers Kips Bay, which shares Murray Hill’s official city boundaries.

Rent in Murray Hill

$3,364 a month

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

Murray Hill is cheaper with roommates

Find people looking in Murray Hill
A+Overall

Murray Hill graded

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

Everyday life

  • A+Walkability

    The average home has 4.9 of 5 everyday needs within a 10-minute walk (grocery store, restaurant, cafe, subway station, park) and about 911 places to eat or shop.

    Residents: Doctors, groceries, mailing packages and haircuts can all be done within a short walk from home. Resident, Aug 2026

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

  • AFood and shopping

    Within a 10-minute walk of the average home: about 311 places to eat, 47 kinds of cuisine, 8.4 large grocery stores and 559 open storefronts.

    Residents: Trader Joe's at 31st Street, Lidl, Target, Fairway and a movie theater on 2nd Avenue cover everyday shopping. Resident, Aug 2026

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

  • B-Parks and green space

    100% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park of an acre or more, with about 24 acres of parkland within 1 km and about 527 street trees within 300 m of the average home.

    Residents: Park access is the weak point compared with Carnegie Hill, though Central Park is about a mile's walk. Resident, Aug 2026

    City data alone would give B; what residents say in 3 Reddit threads moves it to B-.

People

  • A+Community

    40% of households moved in since 2018, 17% are roommates sharing a home, 40% of residents are 22 to 34, and there are about 200 cafes and bars within a 10-minute walk of the average home.

    Residents: The Midtown area around Murray Hill feels the opposite of isolated, with small communities to join as much or as little as you like. Resident, Aug 2026

  • ANightlife

    About 158 bars, clubs and restaurants licensed to serve alcohol on site within a 10-minute walk of the average home.

    Residents: Much tamer than the bar scenes of the Lower East Side, East Village or West Village. Resident in their 30s, Jul 2026

    City data alone would give A+; what residents say in 8 Reddit threads moves it to A.

Home and safety

  • CSafety

    6.1 murders, robberies, felony assaults and burglaries were reported per 1,000 residents in 2025 (305 in all).

    Residents: Packages were never stolen before moving to Kips Bay; theft is common around the holidays, so deliveries now go to work or a pickup point. Resident, Jan 2026

    City data and 4 resident threads on Reddit agree on this grade.

  • CQuiet

    38 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: A very loud construction horn sounding often in 2026 is audible on work calls and has made staying hard to bear. Resident, Oct 2026

    City data alone would give C+; what residents say in 6 Reddit threads moves it to C.

  • A+Building upkeep

    4.1 serious housing code violations (class B or C) were issued in 2025 per 100 rented homes, and there were 2.6 heat or hot water complaints per 100 rented homes.

    Residents: A severe German cockroach infestation in a Kips Bay apartment got only bare minimum help from the building. Resident, Oct 2026

Who lives there

  • Recent grads and young professionals
  • Lots of roommates

What residents say

Residents like

Residents don’t like

  • SafetyPackages were never stolen before moving to Kips Bay; theft is common around the holidays, so deliveries now go to work or a pickup point. Resident, Jan 2026
  • QuietA very loud construction horn sounding often in 2026 is audible on work calls and has made staying hard to bear. Resident, Oct 2026
  • Building upkeepA severe German cockroach infestation in a Kips Bay apartment got only bare minimum help from the building. Resident, Oct 2026
  • Food and shoppingThe Indian restaurants tried after moving in were a letdown. Resident, May 2026
  • QuietGets a little loud at times. Kips Bay resident, Mar 2025
Show 18 moreShow less

Safety

Community

  • Murray Hill and Kips Bay have more of a neighborhood feel than the office blocks of Midtown East.

    Not a resident, Jul 2026

Food and shopping

Nightlife

Walkability

Quiet

Parks and green space

Getting around from Murray Hill

Map of New York City neighborhoods shaded by travel time by subway or bus from Murray Hill
By subway or bus, arriving by 9:00 on a weekday:Under 30 min30 to 45 min45 to 60 minOver an hourMurray Hill
  • Grand Central-42 St 7

Residents: A great base in your twenties, with easy access to everywhere else in the city. Former resident, Nov 2025

Residents: Park Avenue around 33rd Street is a very convenient base for commuting on the East Side. Resident, Aug 2025

What to know about Murray Hill

  • Murray Hill was home to many of the city's affluent in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and its streets are still lined with prewar townhouses and Beaux-Arts mansions. Today it is also known for its dining and nightlife. Source
  • The neighborhood is named for the 18th-century country estate of merchant Robert Murray and his wife Mary Murray. In 1847 their descendants drew up the Murray Hill Restrictive Agreement, which limited building to brick or stone houses, churches and private stables. Source
  • Building took off in the 1850s, when the New York & Harlem Railroad tracks along Fourth Avenue, now Park Avenue, were covered with a tunnel. Source
  • The Murray Hill Historic District, between East 35th and East 38th Streets from Park to Lexington Avenue, is mostly row houses built between 1853 and 1910, many of them Italianate brownstones. From the 1920s on, many of these single-family houses were converted into apartments. Source
  • Murray Hill is home to the Morgan Library & Museum, with its large collection of rare books, and to Scandinavia House, which has an art gallery and holds concerts and lectures. Source
  • Because the United Nations headquarters is nearby, many countries keep their Permanent Missions to the U.N. in Murray Hill. Source

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Sources

Facts about Murray Hill:

Data behind the grades: