Living in Todt Hill: rent, commute and grades

Staten Island · Updated November 2026

A brick house with a white wraparound porch, turret and a manicured lawn under a bright sky.

A brick Italianate house with a cupola seen through tall bare trees.

A tall white lighthouse tower seen close up against a clear blue sky with evergreens.

The stone facade of the Marchais Museum with its dark red doors and windows among garden plants.

A stone terrace with benches and bare trees looking over the hillside after snowfall.

Photo credits

Photo: Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: cisc1970, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This guide also covers Emerson Hill, Lighthouse Hill and Egbertville, which share Todt Hill’s official city boundaries.

Rent in Todt Hill

$1,357 a month, estimated

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

Todt Hill is cheaper with roommates

Find people looking in Todt Hill

C-Overall

Todt Hill graded

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

Everyday life

FWalkability
The average home has 2.3 of 5 everyday needs within a 10-minute walk (grocery store, restaurant, cafe, subway station, park) and about 16 places to eat or shop.
FFood and shopping
Within a 10-minute walk of the average home: about 4 places to eat, 3 kinds of cuisine, 0.7 large grocery stores and 9 open storefronts.
B-Parks and green space
100% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park of an acre or more, with about 353 acres of parkland within 1 km and about 249 street trees within 300 m of the average home.

People

FCommunity
12% of households moved in since 2018, 2% are roommates sharing a home, 14% of residents are 22 to 34, and there are about 0 cafes and bars within a 10-minute walk of the average home.
FNightlife
About 0 bars, clubs and restaurants licensed to serve alcohol on site within a 10-minute walk of the average home.

Home and safety

A+Safety
2 murders, robberies, felony assaults and burglaries were reported per 1,000 residents in 2025 (66 in all).
A+Quiet
16 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: The Todt Hill area has been getting too busy for some families who lived there. Former resident, Sep 2026
ABuilding upkeep
5.3 serious housing code violations (class B or C) were issued in 2025 per 100 rented homes, and there were 2.3 heat or hot water complaints per 100 rented homes.

Who lives there

Families with kids
Older residents

What residents say

Residents don’t like

QuietThe Todt Hill area has been getting too busy for some families who lived there. Former resident, Sep 2026

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Safety

Todt Hill is a hilltop of large houses with very little crime.
Not a resident, May 2025

Walkability

Many Todt Hill streets have no sidewalks, so it is not built for getting around on foot.
Not a resident, Sep 2026

Quiet

Todt Hill is entirely residential and calm, more like a suburban retreat than the city.
Not a resident, Sep 2026

Getting around from Todt Hill

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

Residents: From the Emerson Hill and Grasmere edge, the express bus reaches the World Trade Center in about 35 to 40 minutes, far faster than the ferry. Resident, Jan 2025

What to know about Todt Hill

Todt Hill is one of the serpentine hills that form Staten Island's wooded central spine, with Emerson Hill, Dongan Hills and Lighthouse Hill, an area of steep slopes, rock outcrops, ponds and old oak forest that city zoning protects. Source
Building here is tightly controlled: in the Special Natural Area District the City Planning Commission reviews new construction to save trees and limit regrading of slopes, and most applications are for single-family detached houses. Source
Architect Ernest Flagg built his country estate, Stone Court, on Todt Hill from 1898, and by 1918 owned some 200 acres reaching past Todt Hill Road, including much of today's Richmond County Country Club golf course. Source
Flagg also built a series of small stone cottages on his estate as models of affordable middle-class housing, starting with Bowcot on West Entry Road, completed in 1918; the cottages are city landmarks. Source
Robert Moses planned a four-mile Richmond Highway through Todt Hill, but environmentalists won in court and the road was never built; its excavated rubble became a hill called Moses Mountain, and the Staten Island Greenbelt was formed soon after. Source
On Lighthouse Hill, the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, founded in 1945, is built to resemble a Tibetan monastery and is the earliest example of Himalayan-style architecture in the United States, according to NYC Tourism. Source