Living in Yonkers, NY

Westchester County

Yonkers is New York City's largest suburb by population and, per a real, close and estimate-dependent race, New York's 3rd- or 4th-largest city outright -- genuinely distinct from every other market in this Westchester/Long Island Tier A pass for one specific reason: Yonkers is one of the few New York State municipalities authorized to levy its own local income tax, a real exception to the statewide norm. Yonkers residents pay a 16.75% surcharge on their NY State tax liability (not a flat wage rate), while nonresident commuters who work in Yonkers pay a separate flat 0.5% earnings tax on Yonkers-source wages. Counterintuitively, Yonkers' own median effective property tax rate (~1.37%) runs genuinely BELOW both the Westchester County average and the New York statewide median. The city's real, current economic story runs through an active downtown/waterfront redevelopment pipeline (the $585M Hudson Piers project, ~1,300 approved units, across a 200+-acre waterfront district) alongside established anchors: Sarah Lawrence College, St. John's Riverside Hospital, and St. Joseph's Medical Center. Real, multi-station Metro-North Hudson Line access gives Yonkers a genuinely denser commuter-rail footprint than most Westchester communities.

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Housing

Median sale price$635,000

Taxes

Local effective property tax rate1.37%

Not independently sourced at the Westchester County level this session. New York's top state income tax rate is 10.90%. See the New York hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Yonkers-specific.

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The tradeoffs

Pros

Real, multi-station Metro-North Hudson Line access to Grand Central; a genuinely counterintuitive, comparatively LOW effective property tax rate for the region; an active, large-scale waterfront redevelopment pipeline (Hudson Piers, $585M); Sarah Lawrence College's real presence; and housing costs that run genuinely below comparable New York City figures while still offering NYC-adjacent urban density.

Cons

Yonkers' own real, distinctive 16.75% resident income-tax surcharge (on top of NY State's own graduated tax) is a genuine, disclosed added cost most other New York municipalities outside NYC do not carry; housing still runs well above the national median; and real, indirect hurricane-remnant flash-flood risk (documented by 2021's Hurricane Ida) is a genuine consideration for low-lying properties.

Who this fits

Best for: Best fits young professionals and families who want genuine Metro-North commuter-rail access to Manhattan at a price point below comparable New York City neighborhoods, and movers connected to Sarah Lawrence College or Yonkers' healthcare anchors.

Maybe not for you if: Probably not the best fit for buyers seeking to avoid ANY local income tax beyond New York State's own rate -- Yonkers' real 16.75% resident surcharge is a genuine, disclosed exception to how most New York suburbs (including White Plains and New Rochelle, both covered elsewhere in this pass) are taxed.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-25. Independent research; see individual metric entries above for source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.