Living in the Bronx
Home to neighborhoods with unique characteristics, the Bronx makes an ideal location for those who are planning their move into NYC. The borough is filled with affordable housing, plenty of green spaces, rich culture, and accessible transportation options, making it one of NYC’s popular places to live.
Brief Overview of the Bronx
Coextensive with Bronx County, the Bronx is located south of Westchester County, north of Queens, and east of Manhattan. The borough is home to more than 50 neighborhoods, most of them safe and located in close proximity to NYC and other major boroughs.
Among baseball enthusiasts, Bronx is popular because of Yankee Stadium. A baseball stadium, Yankee Stadium serves as the home field for one of the most successful teams in all of MLB’s history, the New York Yankees. The original Yankee Stadium was renovated before the 2009 season, and it is currently the sixth-largest stadium in MLB based on seating capacity.
Though the Bronx is primarily residential, many of its waterfronts are used for warehouses, shipping, and other industrial sectors. Historically, the borough was divided into two regions—West Bronx and East Bronx by the Bronx River, which vertically runs through the center of the borough.
West Bronx is the most urban of the two and has a hillier terrain. It is divided further into the Northwest Bronx and the Southwest Bronx by Fordham Road. West Bronx makes an ideal location for people who wish to settle in Manhattan but are priced out and those who have to commute to Manhattan often.
On the other hand, East Bronx is generally suburban and has a coastal vibe. The Pelham Parkway splits it into the Northeast Bronx and the Southeast Bronx. Though West Bronx is closer to Manhattan, commuters can still manage to reach the borough from parts of East Bronx, especially leveraging the ferry service from the Soundview to Manhattan.
Some of the coziest and safest neighborhoods in the borough worth considering include:
- Bedford Park – Features a combination of three-story Victorian homes and five or six-story apartment buildings.
- Belmont – It gives off a small-town vibe with its rainbow or rowhouses, a mixture of four, five, and six-story tenements, and low-rise apartments.
- Fordham – Hub of mass transit, also holding single-family homes, brick rowhouses, and four and five-story tenements.
- Hunts Point – One of the safest neighborhoods in the Bronx, the residences (mainly townhouses, low-rise apartments, and brownstones) are located to the northern end.
- Kingsbridge – Ideal for people who prefer Manhattan living at a lower price. Encompassing Kingsbridge Heights and Van Cortlandt Village, the neighborhood hosts a few single-family homes and mostly spacious apartments.
Homes for Sale
Education in the Bronx
Education in The Bronx is offered by many public and private institutions. The public non-charter schools are managed by the New York City Department of Education. There also exist several public charter schools in the borough.
Some of the notable public high schools in The Bronx are Bronx High School of Science, DeWitt Clinton High School, School for Excellence, Herbert H. Lehman High School, Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, and the High School of American Studies.
The Bronx also holds three of New York City’s most prestigious private, secular schools—Fieldston, Riverdale Country School, and Horace Mann.
When it comes to higher education in the borough, residents and people from the neighboring boroughs have plenty of options to choose from. There is Fordham University with its largest campus in the city, Manhattan College, Lehman College, a division of the City University of New York, and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.
The Climate in the Bronx
The Bronx gets 200 days of sunshine, 48 inches of rain, and 26 inches of snow per year. Additionally, the borough also gets some precipitation, around 122 days every year. May, June, and September happen to be the most comfortable months in The Bronx, while January and February can be extremely cold.
Public Transportation in the Bronx
Seven New York City Subway services serve The Bronx, with 70 stations spread throughout the borough. Additionally, there are many MTA Regional Bus Operations bus routes. This includes both local and express routes and Bee-Line Bus System routes.
The NYC Ferry’s Soundview line opened in 2018, connecting the Soundview landing in Clason Point Park to three East River locations in Manhattan. Later on, the Throgs Neck Ferry operating from Ferry Point Park in Throgs Neck added another stop on the Soundview line. The ferry is operated by Hornblower Cruises.
The 11 train stations in the Bronx are served by two Metro-North Railroad commuter rail lines—the Harlem Line and the Hudson Line. Furthermore, a few trains that serve the New Haven Line stop at Fordham Plaza.
In 2018, the MTA budget funded the construction of four new stops along the New Haven Line as part of Penn Station Access to serve Hunts Point, Parkchester, Co-op City, and Morris Park.
Make Your Home in the Bronx
The Bronx holds an excellent variety in terms of neighborhoods, nature, housing types, views, and more. Some enclaves like Riverdale feel quite suburban with large homes, views of the river, and leafy streets, while others give off industrial vibes with apartment complexes and warehouses and mom and pop shops.
Come find your ideal neighborhood in the Bronx.