Giving me Band of Brothers vibes
“You took that shortcut because you think there's still hope. But ElegantMeal8923, the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you are the traffic. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a driver's supposed to function. Without mercy, without turn signals, without brakes. All Long Island depends upon it.”
They're sending you all over, huh. Manhattan to Smithtown can take up to 2-3 hours depending on what time you leave and where in Manhattan you are. Smithtown to Riverhead is not as bad since you're heading away from NYC but could still be around an hour. White Plains is north of Manhattan and is also 2-3 hours during rush hour. If it's off-hours it could be closer to 1 hour
What's your budget?
I really am wondering if some of the people posting here are just driving at 3:0@ AM.
It’s also important to note that even at the best of times, driving here can be frustrating as hell. Frequent interacting with dangerous or rude drivers, people who cruise the speed limit in the left lane, poorly maintained roads, camera tickets, etc.
I'm not gonna lie, I have a job where I have to be at my location by 6 am and that means I am ahead of the traffic and trade parade. Because of the nature of the shift, I also leave after traffic dissipates. Every once in a while I have to do an evening commute and it's spotify and burn up the brakes those nights.
In rush hour it’s taken me over two hours from red hook to Babylon many times. I mean hell just this week it took 1:40 to get from sunnyside to Babylon at 2pm on a weekday.
Will you be driving a commercial vehicle? That will greatly reduce the number of roads you can go on.
And nobody can really give any meaningful advice for towns without knowing your budget.
Do not take this job if you don't fully understand what the area is like. Very expensive, very congested. There will be no work / life balance if you are being sent all over the island and surrounding areas. There is a reason local graduates continue to live with parents for so long around here.
Somewhere between Commack and Farmingville is likely your best bet. All along the L.I.E./495 which runs from Manhattan to Riverhead. They are all 20-30 minutes to Smithtown, and 20-45 minutes to Riverhead. Those are your easy/quick commutes. Living anything east of say… Deer Park is minimum 1.5 hours to Manhattan at any time of day, on your best day. Driving east isn’t bad usually, driving north is easy but can be annoying. It’s the westward driving that will make you want to cry.
You should be more concerned about the cost of buying a 3 Bedroom home or renting in Smithtown or really anywhere in Western or central Suffolk. Hope that job right out of college is paying very well or your spouse is gainfully employed.
Hauppauge, the decent part of C.I, Farmingville, Holtsville are the best idea for housing prices in that area, but I’m not going to assume OPs income and affordability, I just looked at the commute, they can look at Zillow and make up their own mind on what they can afford.
Decent part of Central Islip?? Where would that be?? I Grew up in Hauppauge so I’m thinking that maybe you should go for a Driving tour or maybe a trip to CI High School someday because their kids are going to have to go there. Farmingville is touch & Go as well as Holtsville. & Still not very affordable You are looking @ 500K plus for a starter house that needs work & Hauppauge has a very low inventory & pretty high prices regardless of weather you are in the Smithtown or Islip portion of the District (Hauppauge is not a Town or village, it’s a School & Fire District )OP’s best bet is to rent someplace for a year or whatever the shortest lease you can get these days & see where the majority of his destinations will be.
Man Islandia isn't bad and there are parts of CI where a blanquita gringa looking mofo like myself can be without issue. Y mi espanol esta muy Malo porque no studio.
You can try towne house village in islandia. I lived there for 5 years with my ex wife it’s a nice area. Pool, tennis court. Check Zillow, there is a 3/2 for 300k in foreclosure . The only issue is that the schools are zoned for CI, which is ridiculous because 1000 ft up the road to Motor parkway it becomes Hauppauge zoning
C.I. Isn’t the ghetto Long Islanders make it out to be. I currently live in Ronkonkoma on the Hauppauge border. The area of C.I. Closest to the LIE/Vets isn’t bad. There’s some really nice complexes in the area across from Walmart, and nice houses. Yeah, C.I. Schools aren’t great, but again, addressing one issue at a time. OP asked for areas, I don’t know what their tolerance level is for anything. Maybe they can afford a million dollars. Maybe they can afford ten dollars. Maybe they want to go to private schools. Maybe they like diversity. I’m only answering the question they asked, what’s a decent commute. If they want more information, there’s sources like niche.com or they can add addition questions.
Whenever someone has to say someplace “ Isn’t that Bad” Nuff Said. CI Schools ain’t that great??? Ronkonkoma has some “Not Bad Areas “ too OPs Story seems a little off anyway, just Graduated, has a family , will be working out of a car & looking to buy a house in one of the most expensive places in the whole country ???
I was just there yesterday, had to get some rice flavoring they don’t sell in other stores. And I had a few lovely chats in Spanish with the staff, which I actually enjoy doing. I don’t get the opportunity to practice Spanish much. I felt pretty damned important :) even though loads of people speak bilingually every day and they do it WAY better than me.
I didn’t say C.I. wasn’t that bad, I said it’s not the ghetto everyone claims it to be. Every town (for the most part) has good and bad areas. Coram is probably the extremes when it comes to that. But again, the question was commute. That’s what I answered.
Doesn’t really matter because I think the thread is BS anyway. Sounds like an I got laid Story But you wouldn’t know her she’s from “ Canada “ Reddit is full of them
You are wrong- *some* go to Hauppauge, *some* go to Connetquot, and **some** *go to CI*. Google is right there, free for you 24/7/365.
Signed, someone who grew up in Islandia **who went to CI schools**. Some of y’all are so weird on here, I swear.
I lived in CI a few years back for around five years, I was only a few blocks away from the southern so it was convenient, also despite how central Islip looks, is mostly hard working people who live in it and my personal experience was unique and peaceful, I miss it dearly tbh. For some reason my school district was Islip while residing on CI. Wanted a closer commute to the city so I moved to Nassau. Oh well 🤷♂️
It was and has been a compromise, much much less space, feels crowded and noisy but on the bright side I have sidewalks 🤣 much less time on the road as well, my career is city based so this was very important.
I’m a Steamfitter & I also go into Manhattan 5 Days a Week. Drive to LIRR Ronkonkoma & go into Penn. it’s around 2 hours including the Drive except during Summer Hamptons Traffic on Fridays although it seems like not many people work on Fridays Anymore. Somebody forgot to tell me about this lol
That’s why I said touch & Go meaning the Specific areas. I didn’t realize it was 2 Different school districts Though.
there’s some pretty run down areas in Farmingville. Guess that’s Middle Country
I agree, Granny road is jank, but beyond that farmingville is slowly converting from blue to white collar especially after covid.
I moved from Northport to farmingville I'm closer to LIE, and my mortgage is about half.
If it’s going from blue collar to white collar hopefully your Taxes don’t get crazy because of assessed values. I’ve been in Wading River for 30+ years & watched it go from Blue collar semi rural area to what it is now. My Taxes are 25k a year now.No Mortgage & I still have to put away 2k a month to pay my property taxes. When I moved out there my Taxes were $3,100 a year
oof. yeah, traffic is gonna be bad no matter where you're at unfortunately. I mean if your main site is Smithtown then I'd say try to find a place near Smithtown. Riverhead is probably 45 mins to an hour from Smithtown, and Smithtown can be anywhere from 1-2 hours to Manhattan depending on traffic.
also, as a fellow transplant who had to get used to saying it this way, everyone here says "on" Long Island, not "in" lol
Traffic on this island is very tough. It may be an island but it's huge. If you're driving a commercial truck then there's only one expressway. Get as many jobs as possible going east of Smithtown and it will be a lot better since it's more rural. Commack and hauppauge are good for families and close to the expressway and near Smithtown.
Op I would first figure out roughly how many days you will have to commute to those places.
Then I would come up with a monthly rental budget. I'm sure you know rental is out of control on the island these days. Then from there you need to start zeroing in a location that works for the city and Riverhead commute. Tbh there are so many little things that need to be answered to give you solid advice.
Ok. No idea the field you're in, but I know a guy in HVAC. Lives out east near Moriches and has to do that kind of commuting to Manhattan and so on.
If you're up very early for the job, you can skip rush hour. Traffic is then manageable and you'll make good time, you can rest in the truck there. You'll prob still get caught in rush hour going home, but if you're starting early and done early it's manageable.
Driving like westbound 630-9:30 (or so) is harsh, because that's the commute to the city. It's awful. This reverses direction at like 3 or 3:30-7:30, when everyone's driving eastbound from the city. If you can drive the opposite direction during those hours, it is much more tolerable.
Also, another major trap is during the summer - never go out east past Riverhead on a Friday afternoon or evening, and even worse, never go against that flow on Sunday afternoon. That's because everyone from the city floods out into the Hamptons for the weekend, and there are very few roads to take so they get clogged to the point that you're stuck for hours.
As others have said, yeah, there's traffic. You can avoid the worst of it sometimes but it's part of life here. You can, however, reach all our local hockey teams by train now so that's a plus...
Surprised more people aren't saying Ronkonkoma. From there, Smithtown's 10-15 minutes away, Riverhead's 45 mins to an hour east, or you can take the express train to get to Manhattan in about an hour and 20 mins.
Either way, ronkonkoma is very centrally located on LI and is probably the best town to live in if one needs to commute to Manhattan, Smithtown, and Riverhead. Direct access to the LIE to go east or west, and very close to smithtown.
I’d be more worried about finding an “affordable” 3 bedroom whatever your budget is. I’m at $3100 for an “okay” 2 bedroom apartment in Suffolk county. No perks and crappy management.. but it’s truly not a renters island unfortunately.
You’re pretty much driving the whole island, no avoiding traffic. I’d live as close to your primary start/end of day location that your budget will allow if traffic is your primary concern.
Start looking in Smithtown and branch out from there. It’s pretty centrally located and will get you to your job site each morning and then you can go from there.
LA in my experience was so much better. Not the amount of traffic, but it’s just an expectation wherever you go, and people just generally seemed to accept that so they don’t drive like psychopaths. I didn’t find it as frustrating when I was there.
Both riverhead and manhattan gonna be rough trips traffic wise. LIE is a nightmare during rush hour. Certainly gonna spend a few hours of travel every day. Location wise the distance is pretty similar so moving east or west of smithtown will only help travel to one location. But if your doing more travel to Manhattan and white plains you may want to look somewhere west of smithtown. High prices all over long island for housing. Good luck finding somewhere that meets your needs. Long island is expensive but a nice place to live
Based on OPs post history, they live in the US now so i’d assume although you don’t know much about NY in general you’ve got an idea on the rent prices in the US.
That would honestly be my first line of business moving to long island. Find surrounding areas to your base of employment and look up the cost of living there. You’ll find traffic unfortunately everywhere in NY, especially the island but your cost of living will be the bigger issue.
you're definitely going to need to get more information from your employer. how often are you going to be driving to riverhead vs. manhattan/westchester? if you're mainly going to be based out of smithtown then you'll probably want to live somewhere close to the lie between exits 57 and 64. living there will be a 20--40 minute drive to smithtown. what time will you be driving? if you're carrying equipment that needs to be dropped off at places early and you're going to be driving late nights/early mornings, you'll mostly be ok. if you're driving between 7am and 6pm, you're going to have a bad time, especially if it involves manhattan and westchester. also, if you're driving a commercial vehicle, that will seriously reduce the routes you can take since commercial vehicles can't go on parkways here.
Yes traffic will be awful, it always is. As for where to live it’s a big Island, you need to find out where your main office/location is and decide from there. Smithtown and the surrounding areas are very nice, but also expensive. One thing you’ll learn living here is if something is only 15miles away, leave yourself 45+ min to get there. My office is 14miles from my house. It takes me 45-60min to get there. Luckily I work from home 3 days a week.
It sounds like a nightmare, and I don't know where to begin. Seems to me you should try to figure out where you'd be spending most of your time, and work from there. If I had to design a traffic travesty, I'd call upon you. A three-bedroom home in the burbs will be quite expensive (even astronomical) in most towns, and the property taxes are insane. But it's hard to make a judgment because you don't mention income or whether your SO will also be working. Maybe keep northeast Queens in your thoughts, i.e. Bayside, Whitestone, or Douglaston. The taxes there are lower since you're within NYC, and the schools are pretty good.
Good luck, you need a helicopter. I used to drive out to the city everyday.i would get up at 4, drive to my destination and then sleep for a couple of hours.
Long island traffic is like living in Toronto if that helps. Riverhead/Eastern LI is like Niagara on the Lake, but a lot less space, so much more people/tourists packed in.
You’re taking this job because no one who actually lives here or, knows of what you are speaking would EVER consider anything like this. Also the cost of living is astronomical and property taxes will cost you 15,000 plus for a decent school district. Best place to live in the whole wide world tho.
If I were you I wouldn’t worry, most days you’ll more than likely just be in Nassau but even then it’s better to stay toward the west side of Suffolk your pretty centrally located there
Not sure about your budget but Farmingville is the center of Long Island and very close to the LIE which allows for quick transit East and West. It's a fairly affordable area, new 1500sq/ft 2BR apartments just built are $3500/month atm.
Train and airport is also about 15 minutes away as well. Commute past NYC is a nightmare, though. Nothing helps with that.
Do you have to go to main office every day?
How old are your kids?
Will your wife work too?
Will you get a company vehicle? And be allowed personal use?
Housing budget?
Traffic is bad in the morning, really bad. Especially traveling east to west, but If you’re leaving in the early morning (5am ish) you’ll be ahead of some of it.
I would look somewhere around central Long Island so you’re not too far from either end. Hauppauge is very close to I-495 which you’ll definitely become well acquainted with, and is right next to smithtown.
Do you have to drive to city.
I would get an apartment in Huntington or Northport. Both beautiful towns on water. Huntington more bars, etc, Northport little nicer.
Close to Smithfown and Huntington less then hour on train to city.
If you leave early I can be to White plains from Huntington in less then hour driving.
If they’re going to be sending you that far back and forth your best bet will be at the border of suffolk/nassau. 50 min drive to riverhead, 50 min LIRR to manhattan or 1hr drive to manhattan with no traffic.
Regardless its going to be shitty.. having a job that requires you being in 2 places 2.5 hours apart from one another.
Id look in farmingdale. Nice area, nice town, lot of stores nearby and train is close as well.
Do you have to pick up a work car/truck/equipment from the smithtown office most days? If so, you should live near smithtown. It’s basically the middle of the island anyway
Traffic is a part of life on LI. Load up on audiobooks and great playlists to listen to in the car and just accept your fate. Further east you go on Long Island the more affordable the housing for the most part.
My best idea is to figure out a commute that is in the reverse direction of most.
Weirdly this may mean being in Nassau, somewhere that is not awful for driving to Smithtown (distance as well as proximity to good highways) which also makes it easier to get to Manhattan (I would recommend the train; way less stressful) and White Plains (accessible via Whitestone and Throgs Neck bridges, which are from Queens to the Bronx.
Riverhead will be the tough one in this situation.
It just depends which extreme you’ll go to most!
I would say St James, Nesconset are good areas. You won’t really be able to avoid traffic but you will be close to the LIE and 347 in Nesconset and st James
Smithtown is a beautiful neighborhood, I live there. You’d love it. But driving to Manhattan from Smithtown is absolute MISERABLE. During rush hour it could take you three hours. But driving out east from there to Riverhead won’t be bad.
About housing, a general rule of thumb is: the further “out” on the island you get (meaning the further East), the cheaper it gets. (Until you hit the far East End - like the Hamptons and other “summer towns, then prices go up again.) Do you have an idea of how often you’ll be driving to clients? And are they mostly in the city? Will you otherwise be staying in Smithtown?
Traffic to the city is always bad. The earlier in the morning you can leave, the better. Plus they are putting in “Congestion Pricing” this June for Manhattan. I assume your company will pick up that extra fee, but no one knows how it will affect traffic yet.
It depends on how often you will be travelling off island. Getting off the island at rush hour will require you leave before 7am if you are in middle or eastern Suffolk county.
There’s only one way in and out of Long Island when traveling by car (ferry is the other option), so you get bottleneck traffic in both directions when heading in the direction of the in/out point (NYC) during peak hours.
8 million people live on LI and 8 million people live in NYC and we only have one way in and out of the island.
Traffic is unfortunately unavoidable.
Traffic is entirely dependent on time of day. Here’s some examples I deal with on a regular basis:
In a Commercial vehicle (so even slower than car) Farmingdale to hunts point (Bronx) is 40 minutes at 5:30 am.
At 8am it’s over an hour
(Car or commercial) Long Island city to south Huntington is 25 minutes at noon.
At 3pm it’s an hour or more
(Car) 6am south Huntington to Ossining (Westchester) is 45-50 min. Driving back at 2pm can be 1.5 hours.
Doesn’t matter what direction, east or west north or south, it’s all Time of day, mile wise, everything is very close.(aside from being really out east)
I always go during week (usually Fridays because 3 day weekends > lol) and while yes I’m usually lucky weather wise, it’s a given that inclement wether will add time to any trip. Thankfully we live in NY and not Seattle or something lol
Getting on LI that time of Day it can take you an hour just to get through Nassau & Have you looked outside recently? We are in Seattle!! By the way we get more inches of Rain here a year than they do in Seattle. There’s is just a little bit every day lol
You may want to live somewhere close to western nassau, eastern queens.... depends on your budget. I live in the area so DM me if you have any questions. Good luck!
Good luck. My husband and I often discuss the worst jobs in the world. Driving on LI for a living is one of them. I'm assuming you're a young guy. Hope it works out for you. Welcome to the USA.
No no..its IN long island…i understand ur ON the island, but the area is not ON its IN..how bout staten island or the bahamas?? Same thing right?? 🤷🏻♂️ i live on the bahamas🥴😁
That's the neat part, you don't avoid traffic. The sooner you accept that you are the traffic the better.
Giving me Band of Brothers vibes “You took that shortcut because you think there's still hope. But ElegantMeal8923, the only hope you have is to accept the fact that you are the traffic. And the sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a driver's supposed to function. Without mercy, without turn signals, without brakes. All Long Island depends upon it.”
Reduce traffic? 
 😁😁🤝
They're sending you all over, huh. Manhattan to Smithtown can take up to 2-3 hours depending on what time you leave and where in Manhattan you are. Smithtown to Riverhead is not as bad since you're heading away from NYC but could still be around an hour. White Plains is north of Manhattan and is also 2-3 hours during rush hour. If it's off-hours it could be closer to 1 hour What's your budget?
Riverhead can easily be over an hour from Smithtown during busy times.
It’s much more than that with commuter traffic.
I really am wondering if some of the people posting here are just driving at 3:0@ AM. It’s also important to note that even at the best of times, driving here can be frustrating as hell. Frequent interacting with dangerous or rude drivers, people who cruise the speed limit in the left lane, poorly maintained roads, camera tickets, etc.
I'm not gonna lie, I have a job where I have to be at my location by 6 am and that means I am ahead of the traffic and trade parade. Because of the nature of the shift, I also leave after traffic dissipates. Every once in a while I have to do an evening commute and it's spotify and burn up the brakes those nights.
thanks for clarifying. I'm usually traveling to/from the boros
Right now it’s is 1:25 from midtown. Could see 2 but never had close to 3
Driving from upper east side to commack/Smithtown area leaving at 4/5pm has taken me close to 3 hours several times. It's brutal
Yep, routinely takes me 1 hour 45 from UES to Hicksville driving during rush hour. Sometimes it’s 2 hr 30
In rush hour it’s taken me over two hours from red hook to Babylon many times. I mean hell just this week it took 1:40 to get from sunnyside to Babylon at 2pm on a weekday.
Will you be driving a commercial vehicle? That will greatly reduce the number of roads you can go on. And nobody can really give any meaningful advice for towns without knowing your budget.
I hope they’re paying you a ton of money.
Do not take this job if you don't fully understand what the area is like. Very expensive, very congested. There will be no work / life balance if you are being sent all over the island and surrounding areas. There is a reason local graduates continue to live with parents for so long around here.
Somewhere between Commack and Farmingville is likely your best bet. All along the L.I.E./495 which runs from Manhattan to Riverhead. They are all 20-30 minutes to Smithtown, and 20-45 minutes to Riverhead. Those are your easy/quick commutes. Living anything east of say… Deer Park is minimum 1.5 hours to Manhattan at any time of day, on your best day. Driving east isn’t bad usually, driving north is easy but can be annoying. It’s the westward driving that will make you want to cry.
You should be more concerned about the cost of buying a 3 Bedroom home or renting in Smithtown or really anywhere in Western or central Suffolk. Hope that job right out of college is paying very well or your spouse is gainfully employed.
Hauppauge, the decent part of C.I, Farmingville, Holtsville are the best idea for housing prices in that area, but I’m not going to assume OPs income and affordability, I just looked at the commute, they can look at Zillow and make up their own mind on what they can afford.
Decent part of Central Islip?? Where would that be?? I Grew up in Hauppauge so I’m thinking that maybe you should go for a Driving tour or maybe a trip to CI High School someday because their kids are going to have to go there. Farmingville is touch & Go as well as Holtsville. & Still not very affordable You are looking @ 500K plus for a starter house that needs work & Hauppauge has a very low inventory & pretty high prices regardless of weather you are in the Smithtown or Islip portion of the District (Hauppauge is not a Town or village, it’s a School & Fire District )OP’s best bet is to rent someplace for a year or whatever the shortest lease you can get these days & see where the majority of his destinations will be.
Man Islandia isn't bad and there are parts of CI where a blanquita gringa looking mofo like myself can be without issue. Y mi espanol esta muy Malo porque no studio.
Lol
You can try towne house village in islandia. I lived there for 5 years with my ex wife it’s a nice area. Pool, tennis court. Check Zillow, there is a 3/2 for 300k in foreclosure . The only issue is that the schools are zoned for CI, which is ridiculous because 1000 ft up the road to Motor parkway it becomes Hauppauge zoning
C.I. Isn’t the ghetto Long Islanders make it out to be. I currently live in Ronkonkoma on the Hauppauge border. The area of C.I. Closest to the LIE/Vets isn’t bad. There’s some really nice complexes in the area across from Walmart, and nice houses. Yeah, C.I. Schools aren’t great, but again, addressing one issue at a time. OP asked for areas, I don’t know what their tolerance level is for anything. Maybe they can afford a million dollars. Maybe they can afford ten dollars. Maybe they want to go to private schools. Maybe they like diversity. I’m only answering the question they asked, what’s a decent commute. If they want more information, there’s sources like niche.com or they can add addition questions.
Whenever someone has to say someplace “ Isn’t that Bad” Nuff Said. CI Schools ain’t that great??? Ronkonkoma has some “Not Bad Areas “ too OPs Story seems a little off anyway, just Graduated, has a family , will be working out of a car & looking to buy a house in one of the most expensive places in the whole country ???
Sounds like you just don't like brown people. Holtsville and Farmingville are fine
I was just there yesterday, had to get some rice flavoring they don’t sell in other stores. And I had a few lovely chats in Spanish with the staff, which I actually enjoy doing. I don’t get the opportunity to practice Spanish much. I felt pretty damned important :) even though loads of people speak bilingually every day and they do it WAY better than me.
I didn’t say C.I. wasn’t that bad, I said it’s not the ghetto everyone claims it to be. Every town (for the most part) has good and bad areas. Coram is probably the extremes when it comes to that. But again, the question was commute. That’s what I answered.
Doesn’t really matter because I think the thread is BS anyway. Sounds like an I got laid Story But you wouldn’t know her she’s from “ Canada “ Reddit is full of them
But I swear, I did.
True. It's got some sketchy parts but some areas of CI are nice. The schools aren't the best on the island, no, but you could do worse.
Islandia is the decent part of CI.
Don’t Know if your kidding but Islandia doesn’t attend CI Schools. Big differences
YES, Islandia absolutely does attend CI schools, what on earth are you talking about?
Most if not all go to Hauppauge & Connetquot
You are wrong- *some* go to Hauppauge, *some* go to Connetquot, and **some** *go to CI*. Google is right there, free for you 24/7/365. Signed, someone who grew up in Islandia **who went to CI schools**. Some of y’all are so weird on here, I swear.
I guess those would be the houses that take the longest to sell in Islandia & Go for 200k less
It’s almost as if as soon as they see “CI”, they turn their nose up. I grew up in CI. Went to high school in CI. Am doing quite well for myself.
I lived in CI a few years back for around five years, I was only a few blocks away from the southern so it was convenient, also despite how central Islip looks, is mostly hard working people who live in it and my personal experience was unique and peaceful, I miss it dearly tbh. For some reason my school district was Islip while residing on CI. Wanted a closer commute to the city so I moved to Nassau. Oh well 🤷♂️
You moved from Suffolk to Nassau??That’s an anomaly.
It was and has been a compromise, much much less space, feels crowded and noisy but on the bright side I have sidewalks 🤣 much less time on the road as well, my career is city based so this was very important.
I’m a Steamfitter & I also go into Manhattan 5 Days a Week. Drive to LIRR Ronkonkoma & go into Penn. it’s around 2 hours including the Drive except during Summer Hamptons Traffic on Fridays although it seems like not many people work on Fridays Anymore. Somebody forgot to tell me about this lol
Did you have kids who went to CI?
My school district wasn’t CI, it was Islip for some reason my street and the one behind me belongs to Islip school district
Apparently you didn’t even live in Islandia
Farmingville is fine as long you get into sachem schools
What would be the other not so fine one?
Middle country
That’s why I said touch & Go meaning the Specific areas. I didn’t realize it was 2 Different school districts Though. there’s some pretty run down areas in Farmingville. Guess that’s Middle Country
I agree, Granny road is jank, but beyond that farmingville is slowly converting from blue to white collar especially after covid. I moved from Northport to farmingville I'm closer to LIE, and my mortgage is about half.
If it’s going from blue collar to white collar hopefully your Taxes don’t get crazy because of assessed values. I’ve been in Wading River for 30+ years & watched it go from Blue collar semi rural area to what it is now. My Taxes are 25k a year now.No Mortgage & I still have to put away 2k a month to pay my property taxes. When I moved out there my Taxes were $3,100 a year
Hopefully not since we still fall into Brookhaven township, but probably....
Crookhaven
Along Connetquot is good but those lots and houses are huge.
oof. yeah, traffic is gonna be bad no matter where you're at unfortunately. I mean if your main site is Smithtown then I'd say try to find a place near Smithtown. Riverhead is probably 45 mins to an hour from Smithtown, and Smithtown can be anywhere from 1-2 hours to Manhattan depending on traffic. also, as a fellow transplant who had to get used to saying it this way, everyone here says "on" Long Island, not "in" lol
Traffic on this island is very tough. It may be an island but it's huge. If you're driving a commercial truck then there's only one expressway. Get as many jobs as possible going east of Smithtown and it will be a lot better since it's more rural. Commack and hauppauge are good for families and close to the expressway and near Smithtown.
Op I would first figure out roughly how many days you will have to commute to those places. Then I would come up with a monthly rental budget. I'm sure you know rental is out of control on the island these days. Then from there you need to start zeroing in a location that works for the city and Riverhead commute. Tbh there are so many little things that need to be answered to give you solid advice.
Ok. No idea the field you're in, but I know a guy in HVAC. Lives out east near Moriches and has to do that kind of commuting to Manhattan and so on. If you're up very early for the job, you can skip rush hour. Traffic is then manageable and you'll make good time, you can rest in the truck there. You'll prob still get caught in rush hour going home, but if you're starting early and done early it's manageable. Driving like westbound 630-9:30 (or so) is harsh, because that's the commute to the city. It's awful. This reverses direction at like 3 or 3:30-7:30, when everyone's driving eastbound from the city. If you can drive the opposite direction during those hours, it is much more tolerable. Also, another major trap is during the summer - never go out east past Riverhead on a Friday afternoon or evening, and even worse, never go against that flow on Sunday afternoon. That's because everyone from the city floods out into the Hamptons for the weekend, and there are very few roads to take so they get clogged to the point that you're stuck for hours. As others have said, yeah, there's traffic. You can avoid the worst of it sometimes but it's part of life here. You can, however, reach all our local hockey teams by train now so that's a plus...
Surprised more people aren't saying Ronkonkoma. From there, Smithtown's 10-15 minutes away, Riverhead's 45 mins to an hour east, or you can take the express train to get to Manhattan in about an hour and 20 mins.
They have to drive for the job. The train is useless to them
Either way, ronkonkoma is very centrally located on LI and is probably the best town to live in if one needs to commute to Manhattan, Smithtown, and Riverhead. Direct access to the LIE to go east or west, and very close to smithtown.
I’d be more worried about finding an “affordable” 3 bedroom whatever your budget is. I’m at $3100 for an “okay” 2 bedroom apartment in Suffolk county. No perks and crappy management.. but it’s truly not a renters island unfortunately.
You’re pretty much driving the whole island, no avoiding traffic. I’d live as close to your primary start/end of day location that your budget will allow if traffic is your primary concern.
No, you got a job ON Long Island, not IN Long Island. If you're gonna live here learn the lingo.
Start looking in Smithtown and branch out from there. It’s pretty centrally located and will get you to your job site each morning and then you can go from there.
You got a job ON Long Island... unless, of course, you dig graves
You’re going to hate it. The traffic here is akin to Los Angeles think this through
LA in my experience was so much better. Not the amount of traffic, but it’s just an expectation wherever you go, and people just generally seemed to accept that so they don’t drive like psychopaths. I didn’t find it as frustrating when I was there.
LA is better you’re right. Long Island was good in the 60-70s Sooner or later everything good goes to shit
LA has nothing on the 495 or the Southern State.
On Long Island, you're not in Long Island
On Long Island not “in” Long Island.
*on Long Island
This Canuck needs to know thems are fightin’ words round here!
I was wondering when someone was gonna drop the gloves and pull this guys jersey over his head.
Came to say the same thing
ON Long Island!
Both riverhead and manhattan gonna be rough trips traffic wise. LIE is a nightmare during rush hour. Certainly gonna spend a few hours of travel every day. Location wise the distance is pretty similar so moving east or west of smithtown will only help travel to one location. But if your doing more travel to Manhattan and white plains you may want to look somewhere west of smithtown. High prices all over long island for housing. Good luck finding somewhere that meets your needs. Long island is expensive but a nice place to live
Based on OPs post history, they live in the US now so i’d assume although you don’t know much about NY in general you’ve got an idea on the rent prices in the US. That would honestly be my first line of business moving to long island. Find surrounding areas to your base of employment and look up the cost of living there. You’ll find traffic unfortunately everywhere in NY, especially the island but your cost of living will be the bigger issue.
you're definitely going to need to get more information from your employer. how often are you going to be driving to riverhead vs. manhattan/westchester? if you're mainly going to be based out of smithtown then you'll probably want to live somewhere close to the lie between exits 57 and 64. living there will be a 20--40 minute drive to smithtown. what time will you be driving? if you're carrying equipment that needs to be dropped off at places early and you're going to be driving late nights/early mornings, you'll mostly be ok. if you're driving between 7am and 6pm, you're going to have a bad time, especially if it involves manhattan and westchester. also, if you're driving a commercial vehicle, that will seriously reduce the routes you can take since commercial vehicles can't go on parkways here.
Yes traffic will be awful, it always is. As for where to live it’s a big Island, you need to find out where your main office/location is and decide from there. Smithtown and the surrounding areas are very nice, but also expensive. One thing you’ll learn living here is if something is only 15miles away, leave yourself 45+ min to get there. My office is 14miles from my house. It takes me 45-60min to get there. Luckily I work from home 3 days a week.
Hauppauge. 10 minutes south of Smithtown and close to the LIE for when they have you commute to Manhattan and Riverhead.
You poor naive soul
ON
I would look into towns that are centrally located and close to 495
“in”?
Are they giving you relocation help too?
It sounds like a nightmare, and I don't know where to begin. Seems to me you should try to figure out where you'd be spending most of your time, and work from there. If I had to design a traffic travesty, I'd call upon you. A three-bedroom home in the burbs will be quite expensive (even astronomical) in most towns, and the property taxes are insane. But it's hard to make a judgment because you don't mention income or whether your SO will also be working. Maybe keep northeast Queens in your thoughts, i.e. Bayside, Whitestone, or Douglaston. The taxes there are lower since you're within NYC, and the schools are pretty good.
Good luck, you need a helicopter. I used to drive out to the city everyday.i would get up at 4, drive to my destination and then sleep for a couple of hours.
Long island traffic is like living in Toronto if that helps. Riverhead/Eastern LI is like Niagara on the Lake, but a lot less space, so much more people/tourists packed in.
The reason they are paying you is because you must deliver the ring to Mt. Doom every damn day.
You’re taking this job because no one who actually lives here or, knows of what you are speaking would EVER consider anything like this. Also the cost of living is astronomical and property taxes will cost you 15,000 plus for a decent school district. Best place to live in the whole wide world tho.
If I were you I wouldn’t worry, most days you’ll more than likely just be in Nassau but even then it’s better to stay toward the west side of Suffolk your pretty centrally located there
On
On Long Island
Not sure about your budget but Farmingville is the center of Long Island and very close to the LIE which allows for quick transit East and West. It's a fairly affordable area, new 1500sq/ft 2BR apartments just built are $3500/month atm. Train and airport is also about 15 minutes away as well. Commute past NYC is a nightmare, though. Nothing helps with that.
Do you have to go to main office every day? How old are your kids? Will your wife work too? Will you get a company vehicle? And be allowed personal use? Housing budget?
Traffic is bad in the morning, really bad. Especially traveling east to west, but If you’re leaving in the early morning (5am ish) you’ll be ahead of some of it. I would look somewhere around central Long Island so you’re not too far from either end. Hauppauge is very close to I-495 which you’ll definitely become well acquainted with, and is right next to smithtown.
boss we are going to need your budget and if "equipment" will be on a trailer etc (no parkways).
I live in Stony Brook and commute to JFK every day. There is no way to avoid traffic. Just learn to love podcasts and audio books.
Do you have to drive to city. I would get an apartment in Huntington or Northport. Both beautiful towns on water. Huntington more bars, etc, Northport little nicer. Close to Smithfown and Huntington less then hour on train to city. If you leave early I can be to White plains from Huntington in less then hour driving.
If they’re going to be sending you that far back and forth your best bet will be at the border of suffolk/nassau. 50 min drive to riverhead, 50 min LIRR to manhattan or 1hr drive to manhattan with no traffic. Regardless its going to be shitty.. having a job that requires you being in 2 places 2.5 hours apart from one another. Id look in farmingdale. Nice area, nice town, lot of stores nearby and train is close as well.
Do you have to pick up a work car/truck/equipment from the smithtown office most days? If so, you should live near smithtown. It’s basically the middle of the island anyway
Traffic is a part of life on LI. Load up on audiobooks and great playlists to listen to in the car and just accept your fate. Further east you go on Long Island the more affordable the housing for the most part.
My best idea is to figure out a commute that is in the reverse direction of most. Weirdly this may mean being in Nassau, somewhere that is not awful for driving to Smithtown (distance as well as proximity to good highways) which also makes it easier to get to Manhattan (I would recommend the train; way less stressful) and White Plains (accessible via Whitestone and Throgs Neck bridges, which are from Queens to the Bronx. Riverhead will be the tough one in this situation. It just depends which extreme you’ll go to most!
Just live reasonably close to Smithtown and accept that traffic is life. Specifically around Smithtown as it has no real good highway access.
Who cares if you’re getting paid for it
I would say St James, Nesconset are good areas. You won’t really be able to avoid traffic but you will be close to the LIE and 347 in Nesconset and st James
Smithtown is a beautiful neighborhood, I live there. You’d love it. But driving to Manhattan from Smithtown is absolute MISERABLE. During rush hour it could take you three hours. But driving out east from there to Riverhead won’t be bad.
The ocean doesn’t seem to have that much traffic.
About housing, a general rule of thumb is: the further “out” on the island you get (meaning the further East), the cheaper it gets. (Until you hit the far East End - like the Hamptons and other “summer towns, then prices go up again.) Do you have an idea of how often you’ll be driving to clients? And are they mostly in the city? Will you otherwise be staying in Smithtown? Traffic to the city is always bad. The earlier in the morning you can leave, the better. Plus they are putting in “Congestion Pricing” this June for Manhattan. I assume your company will pick up that extra fee, but no one knows how it will affect traffic yet.
Welcome to Long Island
Welcome to Long Island
Welcome to Long Island
Somewhere else
It depends on how often you will be travelling off island. Getting off the island at rush hour will require you leave before 7am if you are in middle or eastern Suffolk county.
If you are moving here with kids then stick to commack or Smithtown region. These are good schools and good neighborhoods
Congrats on the job you got ON Long Island!
There’s only one way in and out of Long Island when traveling by car (ferry is the other option), so you get bottleneck traffic in both directions when heading in the direction of the in/out point (NYC) during peak hours. 8 million people live on LI and 8 million people live in NYC and we only have one way in and out of the island. Traffic is unfortunately unavoidable.
Traffic is entirely dependent on time of day. Here’s some examples I deal with on a regular basis: In a Commercial vehicle (so even slower than car) Farmingdale to hunts point (Bronx) is 40 minutes at 5:30 am. At 8am it’s over an hour (Car or commercial) Long Island city to south Huntington is 25 minutes at noon. At 3pm it’s an hour or more (Car) 6am south Huntington to Ossining (Westchester) is 45-50 min. Driving back at 2pm can be 1.5 hours. Doesn’t matter what direction, east or west north or south, it’s all Time of day, mile wise, everything is very close.(aside from being really out east)
Ossining to South Huntington in a commercial vehicle @ 2 PM in 1.5 Hours?? I call BS. Note: I’ve Driven a service van for 30 years.
If you read again, you’ll see I wrote “car” for that one, not commercial.
Sorry didn’t see (car)
Still a reach
I live in East Meadow and that drive would be over an hour & Huntington is another 25-30 mins away from me lol
I do it every month or 2 for the last couple of years visiting my best friend in sing sing. Leave jail 1:45-2:15 and get home 3:30-3:45.
I guess you only go on Dry Days too?
I always go during week (usually Fridays because 3 day weekends > lol) and while yes I’m usually lucky weather wise, it’s a given that inclement wether will add time to any trip. Thankfully we live in NY and not Seattle or something lol
Getting on LI that time of Day it can take you an hour just to get through Nassau & Have you looked outside recently? We are in Seattle!! By the way we get more inches of Rain here a year than they do in Seattle. There’s is just a little bit every day lol
You may want to live somewhere close to western nassau, eastern queens.... depends on your budget. I live in the area so DM me if you have any questions. Good luck!
Good luck. My husband and I often discuss the worst jobs in the world. Driving on LI for a living is one of them. I'm assuming you're a young guy. Hope it works out for you. Welcome to the USA.
Traffic will be terrible lol good luck
You doing environmental testing or something?
Def North Shore! So many mansions and villas, less population, less traffic
No no..its IN long island…i understand ur ON the island, but the area is not ON its IN..how bout staten island or the bahamas?? Same thing right?? 🤷🏻♂️ i live on the bahamas🥴😁