West Hempstead (11552) Leads Long Island Yields at 5.9%

Yields across 69 suburbs on Long Island (Nassau County) range from 5.9% in West Hempstead (11552) down to under 3% in premium North Shore enclaves. That spread is wider than the gap between short-term rental and long-term rental at the county level, which means WHERE you buy on Long Island matters more than HOW you rent it out. Nassau is fundamentally a premium market where investors accept compressed yields in exchange for proximity to Manhattan, top school districts, and steady capital growth, but the yield gap within the county is large enough that suburb selection alone can lift gross rental return by half above the county median, or cut it to a fraction of it.

This ranking shows which Nassau suburbs lead on gross yield, and why the pattern exists. The county median 3-bed house sells for $890,000 with monthly rent of $2,867, giving a blended yield of 3.9%, well below the national median of 5.3% and the New York state median of 5.3%. The leading suburbs push comfortably above that county median, while the premium villages drag it down.

West Hempstead (11552) Leads on Yield at 5.9%, Mineola and Hicksville Close Behind

Gross yields = annual income / sale price. Based on 3-bed house medians. The dashboard shows every property type and bedroom count.

Why the Top Suburbs Lead: Transit Access and Entry Price

West Hempstead (11552) tops the ranking at 5.9% because it hits the Long Island sweet spot: an entry price of $760,000, well below the county median of $890,000, combined with monthly rent of $3,764 that reflects strong commuter demand. The suburb sits on the Long Island Rail Road line into Penn Station, close enough to Manhattan employment to command renter interest, but far enough out, and without the brand-name school district, to avoid the price premium that compresses yields in nearby North Shore villages like Manhasset or Roslyn. This is the classic commuter-belt pattern: rent holds up because people need to get to work in the city, while sale prices stay moderated by the absence of top-tier amenity.

Mineola (11501) and Hicksville (11801) both post yields near 5.7%, and the mechanics are similar. Mineola (11501) is a Nassau-Suffolk border suburb with direct rail access and a dense, walkable village centre that attracts young professionals who want a short commute without Manhattan rent. Hicksville (11801) is an older, larger suburb with a deep rental pool driven by immigrant families and multi-generational households, so vacancy risk is genuinely low. Both suburbs are long-term rental markets by nature: the demand is for year-round tenants, not weekend visitors. Short-term rental potential is limited across all of Nassau given the county's regulatory posture and the absence of a meaningful tourism base, though the top suburbs do post short-term yields in the same range as long-term yields, which is unusual and reflects modest nightly rates rather than strong visitor demand.

Westbury (11590) at 5.5% and Garden City (11530) at 5.3% round out the top five. Westbury (11590) is a genuine commuter-belt yield play; Garden City (11530) is the outlier, a high-status village where a $1,250,000 entry price is justified by elite schools and civic amenity. It sits in the ranking because its $5,572 rent scales roughly with the price premium, which does not happen everywhere on the North Shore.

The Yield-Price Trade-Off: Cheaper Suburbs Yield More Because Rent Holds

The fundamental pattern in Long Island is that rent does not fall as fast as price as you move from premium to mid-tier suburbs. An investor entering at $760,000 in West Hempstead (11552) versus $890,000 at the county median, or versus well over two million in parts of the North Shore, faces a very different capital-risk profile. The top-yield suburb is close to 15% cheaper than the county median, yet its rent is roughly 30% higher. That asymmetry is what produces the yield ranking: rent is tethered to what commuters can afford and what local wages support, while sale prices are tethered to school zones, waterfront access, and proximity to the social prestige of the North Shore villages.

This is why Nassau is classically treated as an appreciation play rather than a cash-flow market. The long-run bet is that Manhattan-adjacent land in strong school districts will compound in value, not that rental income will service debt. Investors who need cash flow should concentrate in the top three or four suburbs in the ranking above; investors chasing total return are equally well placed in the premium suburbs below, though they should be honest that the yield component of their return will be thin.

Premium North Shore Suburbs: Lower Yields, Different Thesis

For context, here is how some of Long Island's most in-demand suburbs compare. These are the established Nassau suburbs where investors typically accept lower yields in exchange for capital growth, renter quality, and liquidity on exit.

High-demand suburbs for context. Same methodology as the yield ranking above.

These premium suburbs yield less on long-term rental because buyers are paying for school district, waterfront access, village amenity, and historical capital appreciation, not for income. The short-term rental yield does not meaningfully change the picture for most of them: New York's regulatory environment is restrictive, tourism demand outside the Hamptons is limited, and the same premium pricing that compresses long-term yields also compresses short-term yields when measured against sale price. Investors buying at the premium end of Nassau should treat rental income as an operating offset to carrying costs, not as the primary return driver.

What the Ranking Does Not Show

A high gross yield can signal depressed prices rather than strong rents. Some of the top-yielding suburbs hold up because rent is robust, but others appear toward the top because sale prices have lagged and may not recover at the same rate as the rest of the county. Capital growth is the flip side of the yield ranking: over a ten-year horizon, premium North Shore suburbs have typically delivered total returns that exceed pure-yield suburbs once appreciation is included. Yield-first buyers need to be honest that they are trading growth exposure for income, not getting both.

The ranking also masks vacancy risk and data age. Some high-yield Nassau suburbs have thinner rental pools than the premium villages, meaning a single vacant month can meaningfully dent the annual return. Medians can also lag in fast-moving markets, so a suburb that appears cheap on the latest data may already be repricing. The dashboard shows the full suburb-level data, including bedroom-count breakdowns and apartment versus house splits, which is where these nuances become visible.

View Long Island in the dashboard → Free preview · every bedroom count and property type

Regional Context: Long Island Lags New York State and the National Median on Yield

The county-level yield of 3.9% sits below the New York state median of 5.3% and below the national median of 5.3%, which is typical of premium metro-adjacent markets. The top Nassau suburb at 5.9% roughly matches the state and national medians, so investors who concentrate in the leading suburbs are not accepting a yield discount relative to the rest of the country; they are simply skipping the premium villages that pull the county average down. Upstate New York markets like Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo post gross yields of roughly 7-9%, but those markets carry very different population, school-district, and capital-growth profiles. The Nassau thesis is appreciation plus steady income; the upstate thesis is income first, with appreciation as a bonus.

Short-term rental economics on Long Island are constrained by regulation and limited tourism demand outside the Hamptons. Nassau suburbs are not natural short-term rental markets, and the short-term yields in the tables above reflect that: in most cases the short-term yield is close to or only marginally above the long-term yield, which is not enough to justify the furnishing, management, and regulatory overhead. For Long Island, the investable strategy is long-term rental with a suburb choice driven by the yield-growth trade-off.

How to Use This Ranking

If cash flow is the priority, concentrate your search in the top three or four suburbs in the main ranking above: West Hempstead (11552), Mineola (11501), Hicksville (11801), and Westbury (11590). Entry prices are meaningfully below the county median of $890,000, rental demand is anchored by Manhattan commuters, and the yields clear the national median. If total return matters more than income, the premium suburbs make sense, but plan for rental income to cover carrying costs rather than service debt aggressively. Either way, the dashboard is the right next stop: city medians and suburb rankings hide meaningful variation by bedroom count, property type, and the specific street. Explore rental data in the dashboard to see the full suburb-level picture, and see the market score methodology and data sources for how the rankings are built.

For an adjacent New York comparison, Queens Long-Term Rentals Yield 3.7%, Short-Term Rentals Banned covers the same question for a different part of the state.

Closing costs and transfer taxes apply to any Nassau purchase, and New York's stack of state and local transfer taxes plus mortgage recording tax is heavier than most states. Check with your attorney or closing agent for the specific amounts on your purchase. Data reflects market conditions as of April 2026.

This information is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial or legal advice. Regulations and market conditions change frequently. Verify current rules with local authorities before making investment decisions.