Living in Tompkinsville: rent, commute and grades

Staten Island · Updated November 2026

A green lawn under tall trees with a red-brick Victorian building beyond.

A planted garden and iron fence in a sunny park with a small brick building behind.

The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge across hazy water with old pilings in the foreground.

A pink Art Deco theatre facade with a stepped crown above a street with parked cars.

Sunlit water and old pilings with the bridge in the distance.

Photo credits

Photo: Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Jim.henderson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: MTKirk, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Shannon, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Photo: MTKirk, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This guide also covers Stapleton and Clifton, which share Tompkinsville’s official city boundaries.

Rent in Tompkinsville

$1,456 a month, estimated

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

Tompkinsville is cheaper with roommates

Find people looking in Tompkinsville

DOverall

Tompkinsville graded

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

Everyday life

C-Walkability
The average home has 4.1 of 5 everyday needs within a 10-minute walk (grocery store, restaurant, cafe, subway station, park) and about 74 places to eat or shop.
C+Food and shopping
Within a 10-minute walk of the average home: about 17 places to eat, 10 kinds of cuisine, 1.7 large grocery stores and 39 open storefronts.
Residents: Stapleton has really good Dominican food on Broad Street and a well-liked small Greek diner. Resident, Mar 2025
City data alone would give D; what residents say in 6 Reddit threads moves it to C+.
FParks and green space
91% of residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park of an acre or more, with about 42 acres of parkland within 1 km and about 309 street trees within 300 m of the average home.
Residents: Stapleton has a really neat waterfront. Resident, Mar 2025

People

B-Community
18% of households moved in since 2018, 9% are roommates sharing a home, 19% of residents are 22 to 34, and there are about 7 cafes and bars within a 10-minute walk of the average home.
Residents: Stapleton has fantastic neighbors and an enclave of artists. Resident since 2002, Jul 2023
C-Nightlife
About 6 bars, clubs and restaurants licensed to serve alcohol on site within a 10-minute walk of the average home.

Home and safety

DSafety
10 murders, robberies, felony assaults and burglaries were reported per 1,000 residents in 2025 (181 in all).
Residents: Stapleton's Tappen Park is not as bad as its reputation. Resident, Mar 2025
City data and 9 resident threads on Reddit agree on this grade.
CQuiet
42 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.
C+Building upkeep
36.5 serious housing code violations (class B or C) were issued in 2025 per 100 rented homes, and there were 5.5 heat or hot water complaints per 100 rented homes.

Who lives there

A mix of ages

What residents say

Residents like

SafetyStapleton's Tappen Park is not as bad as its reputation. Resident, Mar 2025
CommunityStapleton has fantastic neighbors and an enclave of artists. Resident since 2002, Jul 2023
Food and shoppingCheap tacos for about $3 on Victory Boulevard and Bay Street, plus great Dominican food with large portions. Resident, Aug 2024
SafetyTompkinsville is fine day to day, apart from occasionally being asked for money. Resident of 10 years, Feb 2024

Residents don’t like

SafetyParts of Stapleton feel safe enough, but gunshots can be heard. From the area, May 2023

Show 9 moreShow less

Safety

Gang and drug activity exist, but people not involved in it find the area very safe.
Resident, Jul 2023
Stapleton is now considered safe compared with decades ago.
Not a resident, Apr 2025
Tompkinsville, judging by a map of gun violence, is one of the areas a visitor should avoid.
Not a resident, Mar 2025

Community

Stapleton has a good community despite its problems.
Not a resident, May 2023

Food and shopping

Stapleton has really good Dominican food on Broad Street and a well-liked small Greek diner.
Resident, Mar 2025
Lakruwana serves amazing Sri Lankan food, with a cash-only weekend buffet.
Not a resident, May 2026
Taqueria Azteca on Victory Boulevard serves arguably the best tacos on the island.
Not a resident, May 2026

Nightlife

Stapleton has added high-end cocktail bars in recent years.
Not a resident, May 2023

Parks and green space

Stapleton has a really neat waterfront.
Resident, Mar 2025

Getting around from Tompkinsville

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

Stapleton SIR
Tompkinsville SIR

Residents: The NYC Ferry is about a 10 minute walk, and commuting to Penn Station from Tompkinsville works well. Resident, Sep 2025

What to know about Tompkinsville

Tompkinsville is home to one of the largest Sri Lankan communities in the United States, and it also has a significant African community, according to a 2016 city study. Source
Victory Boulevard is the main street of Tompkinsville's Little Sri Lanka, where Sri Lankan restaurants and groceries serve roti and spicy sambol. Source
Bay Street is the shopping street of Staten Island's North Shore, running south from the Staten Island Ferry terminal through St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton. In Tompkinsville its shops cluster at Tompkinsville Park, where Bay Street meets Victory Boulevard. Source
In colonial times Tompkinsville was known as the Watering Place, for a fresh water spring there. In 1816 Daniel D. Tompkins, governor of New York and later U.S. vice president, had part of his land surveyed to become the village named after him. Source
On the hill between Tompkinsville and Stapleton, the St. Paul's Avenue-Stapleton Heights Historic District, designated by the city in 2004, takes in ninety-two buildings, mostly wood-frame freestanding houses built from the 1830s to about 1930. Source
The Tompkinsville (Joseph H. Lyons) Pool on Victory Boulevard at the waterfront opened on July 7, 1936. It was one of eleven large pools the city built with WPA funds that summer and the only one on Staten Island, and it has been a city landmark since 2008. Source
Stapleton, just south of Tompkinsville, is built around Tappen Park, one of the borough's oldest parks, which gives it a village center feel; it was once one of Staten Island's main shopping areas. Source