Rank

3064of 3,144

Suffolk, New York

Score 4.27 / 10· population 1,523,170

Sandy damaged 21,000 homes in Suffolk County in 2012, and 11,000 of them took in one to six feet of water, with Fire Island and the South Shore hit hardest. The county's own sales tax rate rose from 4.25 to 4.375 percent on March 1, 2025. With the state's 4 percent and a 0.375 percent transit surcharge, shoppers pay 8.75 percent.

Sources
  • Hurricane Sandy (2012) damaged 21,000 homes in Suffolk County; 11,000 were flooded with one to six feet of water; homes on Fire Island and the barrier islands were most impacted and the South Shore took severe storm surge longislandadvocate.com
  • As of March 1, 2025 Suffolk's sales tax rate is 8.75%: state 4%, county 4.375% (up from 4.25%), MCTD surcharge 0.375% handsoffsalestax.com
  • Suffolk County combined sales tax rate is 8.75% for 2026 (state 4%, county 4.375%, transit district 0.375%) avalara.com

v4 — beta, 30 October 2026, sourced values

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Eleven factors

Government behavior

  1. Fraser Institute state ranking (state)4.4
  2. 2A (state)0.0
  3. GOP + LP vote for President5.5
  4. Sales tax2.1
  5. Property tax1.9

Environment

  1. Air quality6.0
  2. Floods / hurricanes0.1

Private behavior

  1. Homicide rate8.8
  2. Life expectancy10.0
  3. Government employees1.8
  4. Single-parent households7.5

Neighbors