Living in East Hampton, NY

Suffolk County (within the much larger Town of East Hampton)

East Hampton is a real, genuinely iconic Suffolk County village on eastern Long Island's South Fork, and this record covers the incorporated VILLAGE specifically -- a genuinely tiny year-round community of just 1,517 residents at the 2020 Census -- within the much larger Town of East Hampton (which also includes Montauk, Amagansett, Springs, and Wainscott as separate hamlets). East Hampton was genuinely founded in 1648 (originally named Maidstone) after colonial governors purchased more than 30,000 acres from the Montaukett people, and its real, now-iconic celebrity-and-wealthy-second-home reputation specifically accelerated beginning in the 1970s, building on wealthy New Yorkers' presence dating to the early 20th century. This record discloses plainly that East Hampton is genuinely among the most expensive real estate markets in the entire United States: the incorporated village's own median home value reached a real $5.625 million per one 2026 source -- the highest figure of any market on the South Fork -- even as a broader ZIP/CDP-level Zillow figure ran a comparatively lower $1,768,052, and the wider Hamptons region's own median sale price topped $2 million for the first time in history around the same period. A real, direct measure of the village's dominant second-home character: approximately 64.5% of homes sit vacant at any given time, with only 35.5% occupied year-round. East Hampton's own decisively elevated senior demographic (median age 57, approximately 36.3% aged 65+) sits well above this project's own retirement-relevant threshold. New York State's own graduated income tax (4.0%-10.9%) applies with NO separate village income tax, and this record discloses -- via a direct East Hampton-specific citation -- that the village's own residential assessment ratio runs just 2%-4% of true market value, mechanically producing a real effective property tax rate on market value well below the Suffolk County-wide average despite the village's own extreme home values; buyers must also budget for the East End's real, distinctive Peconic Bay CPF transfer tax (2.5% combined, no allowance above $2 million). East Hampton's real hazard profile is anchored by the historically catastrophic 1938 'Long Island Express' hurricane, and the village's own direct Atlantic Ocean beach frontage carries genuinely more direct coastal exposure than Sag Harbor's own bay-side setting. East Hampton High School -- genuinely the easternmost high school in New York State -- educates students from Wainscott, Springs, Amagansett, and Montauk via real tuition contracts, and a new Stony Brook freestanding emergency department opened directly in the village around spring 2025.

Explore East Hampton in depth

• Moving to East Hampton: Pros, Cons & What to Know
• Cost of Living in East Hampton
• Housing in East Hampton
• Taxes & Insurance in East Hampton
• Climate in East Hampton
• Schools & Families in East Hampton
• Healthcare & Safety in East Hampton
• Pros and Cons of Living in East Hampton
• Retiring in East Hampton

Housing

Taxes

The tradeoffs

Who this fits

Best for: Best fits retirees and luxury buyers genuinely drawn to East Hampton's iconic, historic celebrity-resort identity, its decisively elevated senior community, and its direct Atlantic Ocean beach access -- and families specifically valuing East Hampton High School's real, distinctive regional role as the East End's easternmost high school, serving Wainscott, Springs, Amagansett, and Montauk as well as the village itself.

Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for anyone requiring an affordable South Fork housing market, given East Hampton village's real $5.625 million median home value; anyone confusing the tiny incorporated village (1,517 residents) with the much larger surrounding Town of East Hampton (~29,090 year-round) without confirming which entity a given figure describes; anyone requiring a large, diversified, non-seasonal local job market; and anyone unwilling to budget for the Peconic Bay CPF's real, buyer-paid 2.5% transfer tax, which carries no allowance at all above $2 million.