Newsday recently partnered with Siena College to&nbsp;survey hundreds of Long Islanders about affordability and quality of life here.&nbsp;

Long Island

SIENASURVEY_STORYGALLERY

Nicholas Spangler

Editor's note — This is the last&nbsp;in a series of stories that will explore the results of a Newsday/Siena Research Institute survey on how Long Islanders view their life satisfaction. Today's story focuses on issues of opportunity.&nbsp; 
Long Islanders are generally more optimistic than pessimistic about economic and educational opportunity in the region for themselves and their children, but there are stark differences in attitudes by generation, race, ethnicity and even home ownership status, according to a&nbsp;Newsday/Siena Research Institute Quality of Life survey 
Data from the survey showed that half of adult Long Islanders see the region as a good place to find a job, compared with&nbsp;44% who saw it as fair or poor,&nbsp;and 57% &nbsp;see it as a place where a business can be successful. Overwhelmingly, they view&nbsp;Long Island as a good place to raise children and give them a quality education — 77% and 90%, respectively. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/2dfabbb6-e65f-4bf1-9e88-76ecf21da3c3" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/2dfabbb6-e65f-4bf1-9e88-76ecf21da3c3', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/2dfabbb6-e65f-4bf1-9e88-76ecf21da3c3">STORYWIDGET: LIOPPO250825_q6</a> 
More respondents predicted positive life outcomes for young people, such as&nbsp;graduating from high school or finding a good job, than negative ones, such as getting arrested for a felony or joining a gang. 
But the data also show disparities within those attitudes, with Long Islanders who are 55 and older, whites or homeowners generally more positive in their answers than those who are 18-34, Black or Hispanic, or renters. 
"It raises the question of whether there are two Long Islands," said Siena pollster Don Levy. "If you are white, a homeowner, have a good job that’s allowing you to afford the life you enjoy, you tend to be far more sanguine about life on Long Island." 
The survey polled 802 respondents between May 27 and June 16 on questions about their quality of life on Long Island. It had a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points. 
In interviews, even some of the respondents who were optimistic about opportunity overall in the region turned, unprompted, to home ownership and the cost of living here. 
"I think there’s opportunities, but you have to seize them and work hard," said Joyce Merzbacher, 75, a retired teacher from Farmingdale, who added: "I wouldn’t want to be trying to break into this housing market." 
She and her husband bought their first house 53 years ago for $32,000, when their household income was $19,000, she said. "I don’t see our grandsons and granddaughters being able to sustain that ratio, and that’s why so many young people have to move," she said. 
The Long Island she sees today seems to produce many high achievers, regularly sending students to prestigious contests such as&nbsp;the Regeneron Science Talent Search each year, for example. It may also be more competitive, with fewer guardrails, than the one she and her husband knew growing up in Hicksville, where "everyone had a family member working at Grumman ... They took care of their workers. You could afford to live on Long Island and buy a nice house with a high school education, or coming out of the military." 
But those companies are "gone, and more and more education has been required, for all kinds of positions," she said. 
In Garden City, where the median household income of $228,807 is among the highest on Long Island, the outlook was bright for Robert Gorynski, 41, who works in finance. The public schools Gorynski’s two children attend are among the best in the nation and "everyone I’ve spoken to anticipates their child graduating high school and going to college," he said. <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="Robert Gorynski, CFO of a hedge fund, is shown in the backyard of his Garden City home on Aug. 21." data-attr-credit="" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/fab5a3bd-0e25-45bd-9fcc-79054c368c48" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/fab5a3bd-0e25-45bd-9fcc-79054c368c48', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/fab5a3bd-0e25-45bd-9fcc-79054c368c48"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/fab5a3bd-0e25-45bd-9fcc-79054c368c48/_H2A2670.jpg?w=400&amp;q=0.3">Robert Gorynski, CFO of a hedge fund, is shown in the backyard of his Garden City home on Aug. 21.</a> 
Gorynski, too, saw Long Island’s high cost of living as a limiting factor when assessing opportunities for young people — "I don’t envy a young person starting out now," he said — but one that was surmountable. "Within Garden City and outside Garden City, there seems to be a lot of bustling commerce, he said. "I think there are opportunities and I think that, from the young people I meet, these qualified people, if they applied themselves, could find great opportunities here." 
In East Rockaway, Joseph DiCanio, 28, a lawyer, matched Gorynski’s optimism. "In my town, the kids I grew up with, my friends from private schools ended up in more white-collar jobs," he said. "The public school [graduated] tons of police officers, firemen, higher-level blue-collar jobs, legitimate union jobs based out of New York City." His father has for decades run a tractor trailer repair shop just over the Queens border. 
DiCanio was bullish on Long Island as a place to start a family or a business. He saw the region as composed of "good, strong communities," partly because of his own childhood in East Rockaway, where there was "plenty of Little League, CYO community events, Catholic churches, Jewish synagogues, a good sense of community, at least in my little town." 
When it came to the survey’s most open-ended question, which asked respondents the likelihood that a young person in their community could build a "successful life on Long Island," without defining exactly what success might mean, Long Islanders were deeply divided. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/85f10775-2397-41f0-a3bd-7d2d9fa26cd4" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/85f10775-2397-41f0-a3bd-7d2d9fa26cd4', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/85f10775-2397-41f0-a3bd-7d2d9fa26cd4">STORYWIDGET: LIOPPO250825_q16</a> 
Thirty-nine percent&nbsp;of respondents answered that it was likely; another 39% said it was a toss-up; and 22% said it was unlikely (1% said they didn’t know or refused to answer). For this question there was little polarization by race, age or even income, but home ownership was a powerful predictor: 41% of homeowners said it was likely, while 23% of renters did. (There was weaker polarization for respondents who answered in the negative: 20% of homeowners said it was unlikely, while 31% of renters did.) 
This polarity could be a function of one of the economic and psychological realities of Long Island’s housing market: home prices are at record highs, creating wealth for owners but locking out many would-be buyers. According to Realtor.com, to&nbsp;afford a home at the June median asking price on Long Island of $911,754, a&nbsp;buyer would need to earn $242,000.&nbsp;That's a six-figure jump from $132,000 six years earlier&nbsp;and far more money than what most households make in the region. 
Renters are more likely to be rent-burdened, spending 30% or more of household income on rent, than owners are to be cost-burdened, spending the same portion of income on ownership costs.&nbsp; 
In Suffolk County, according to the Census, 57.1% of renters are rent-burdened, compared with 37.3% of homeowners with a mortgage and 25.3% of those without a mortgage. In Nassau, 53.3% of renters are rent-burdened, compared with&nbsp;40.4% of homeowners with a mortgage and 25.7% of homeowners without a mortgage. 
Reginald Benjamin, 69, a Hempstead Village renter who is the semiretired former executive director of the ABBA Leadership Center, a faith-based organization there, listed several positive changes he’d seen in years of community work, including higher high school graduation rates, less gang activity and fewer arrests. But those don’t add up to opportunity, he said. "Most young people, once they go to college, you know the first thing they do? They leave this area, they move out ...&nbsp;We are losing the future, the brains of our community." <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/56beb890-2b11-4c80-90af-75ba3047d822" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/56beb890-2b11-4c80-90af-75ba3047d822', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/56beb890-2b11-4c80-90af-75ba3047d822">STORYWIDGET: LIOPPO250825_q33</a> 
Hempstead Village’s median household income is $82,454, a little more than a third of what it is in nearby Garden City, and for Benjamin, opportunity for businesses and individuals to thrive seemed constrained by cost. He described a village Main Street where, he said, "they open up stores, they don’t last more than six months ... because of the expenses associated with renting a commercial space." 
Long Island, he said, "is the most expensive place I know." It can be a good place to live and raise children "if you can afford it, but it’s very difficult to raise kids on Long Island with the cost of living. If you’re working class, it’s almost impossible." 
Correction: The chart displaying the answers to the survey question "how would you rate the ability of residents on Long Island to obtain suitable employment" had incorrect results in an earlier version of this story.

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LI Quality of Life survey: Most see economic opportunity, but not all groups agree

'There are opportunities, but you have to seize them and work hard'

A Newsday/Siena&nbsp;survey looks at Long Islanders&#39; views on the likelihood that young people can build a successful life here.&nbsp;&nbsp;NewsdayTV&#39;s Andrew Ehinger reports.

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LI Quality of Life survey: Most see opportunity, but not everyone agrees

Garden City

Hempstead

Newsday

'I am concerned about affordability'

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Jonathan LaMantia

Editor's note — This is the second in a series of stories that will explore the results of a Newsday/Siena Research Institute survey on how Long Islanders view their life satisfaction. Today's story focuses on issues of livability. A future story will explore opportunity on Long Island. 
Long Islanders overwhelmingly believe they have a high quality of life on Long Island, but they have doubts about how long they’ll be able to afford to&nbsp;live here, according to the results of a Newsday/Siena Research Institute <a href="https://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/newsday-siena-poll-long-island-affordability-ksy4n136">Quality of Life&nbsp;survey.</a> 
Long Island performed well on many measures of livability, such as public safety, high-performing schools, access to nutritious food and quality health care. 
Most Long Islanders reported positive views on the quality of public education, with 69% responding positively to 27% who offered a negative response. Similarly, survey participants had a favorable view of the availability of health care with a 68% to 30% margin of positive-to-negative responses.&nbsp; <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/53c0f200-8934-42f7-a552-523a6defd85c" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/53c0f200-8934-42f7-a552-523a6defd85c', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/53c0f200-8934-42f7-a552-523a6defd85c">STORYWIDGET: bzSURVEY250817_11</a> 
"Long Island is a fantastic place for raising a family," said Daniel Gonzalez, 30, who lives in East Meadow. "There's access to so many things for a family, and the education system is incredible." 
But some Long Islanders questioned whether they will be able to <a href="https://www.newsday.com/business/housing-high-rent-migration-jb4l8zo3">stay here long term</a>. 
The majority of respondents rated their ability to age in place on Long Island as either fair or poor, outnumbering those who rated their ability “excellent” or “good” by a margin of 54% to 42%. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/a18d670d-116f-4b2c-bddd-b0500a7a46fe" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/a18d670d-116f-4b2c-bddd-b0500a7a46fe', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/a18d670d-116f-4b2c-bddd-b0500a7a46fe">STORYWIDGET: bzSURVEY250817_14</a> 
“You see a majority questioning whether that’s something they’re going to succeed at,” said <a href="https://scri.siena.edu/">Siena pollster</a> Don Levy. “It raises questions of affordability, social services, perhaps the weather, and housing. Is Long Island adequately planning and developing the appropriate housing that would facilitate folks who have lived [here]&nbsp;their whole lives to successfully age in place?” 
Aging in place is typically defined as the ability for seniors to stay in their homes as they get older. But some younger respondents interviewed by Newsday said they interpreted the question as a referendum on whether they could advance through stages of life here from finding a job to starting a family. 
The survey polled 802 respondents between May 27 and June 16 on questions about their quality of life on Long Island. It had a margin of error of 4.3 points. 
Catherine Krueger, 75, of Bay Shore, said she rated the quality of life on Long Island as “only fair” primarily because of the cost of living. Krueger, a special education teacher, said it’s hard to keep up with expenses for costs, such as her Medicare Advantage premiums and car repairs, as a single person on Long Island. <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="Catherine Krueger, 75, who rents a basement apartment in Bay Shore, said she's daunted by paying for housing as she ages." data-attr-credit="Newsday" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/4c3eb5f7-27cb-4698-8cc7-571c6b966eed" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/4c3eb5f7-27cb-4698-8cc7-571c6b966eed', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/4c3eb5f7-27cb-4698-8cc7-571c6b966eed"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/4c3eb5f7-27cb-4698-8cc7-571c6b966eed/6T5A3524.jpg?w=400&amp;q=0.3">Catherine Krueger, 75, who rents a basement apartment in Bay Shore, said she's daunted by paying for housing as she ages.</a> 
Krueger, who rents a basement apartment, said she's daunted by&nbsp;paying for housing as she gets older&nbsp;and as she might need more help at home. 
“I’m very thankful that I am still able to work and hope to continue doing that for some time,” she said, “but it can be difficult, especially if you’re alone.” 
Seniors weren’t the most pessimistic about aging in place. Respondents ages 35 to 54 were more likely to respond negatively about aging in place, at a margin of 59% to 39%. That compares with 49%&nbsp;of those ages 55 or older who doubted they could age in place.&nbsp; 
Renters were the group most likely to doubt their ability to age in place, at 69%. 
Gwen O’Shea, CEO at Community Development Long Island, said she wasn’t surprised that middle-age Long Islanders had such a pessimistic view given the high cost of living, which raises the stakes for anyone suffering a setback, such as a medical emergency or a layoff.&nbsp; 
“You’re spending so much of your income on your monthly costs. A big piece of that may be a mortgage or may be rent,” she said. “There’s no room for a misstep or a loss in income for the majority of Long Islanders.” 
CDLI, a Melville-based affordable housing nonprofit, offers <a href="https://www.cdli.org/homeowner-resources">several programs</a> that can help people stay in their homes, including foreclosure prevention counseling and grants to make repairs or accessibility modifications. 
O’Shea said she was struck that it was no&nbsp;t just low-income Long Islanders, but those whose households earn $100,000 or more who felt pessimistic about aging &nbsp;in place. 
“The affordability crisis is hitting everyone right now,” she said. 
Martha McKenzie, a 37-year-old lawyer, said she and her husband have appreciated the friendliness of their neighbors and the quality of health care since moving to Kings Park from Brooklyn in 2022. But as they look to buy a house, they’re considering options in Texas where she believes they will get more for their money and pay lower property taxes. 
“Our experience here has been wonderful. We love the people and the scenery,” said McKenzie, “but why does a house that’s basically a gut renovation cost $650,000?” 
Long Islanders were also critical of the responsiveness of local government, with 63% responding that it does an "only fair" or "poor" job of responding to the needs of residents.&nbsp; 
Althea Denegall said she would prefer to live in a more walkable community. Denegall, a Valley Stream resident in her late 50s, said she plans to look for job opportunities in other states when she finishes her studies in health care management at St. John’s University. 
Denegall said she doesn’t like how much she needs to drive on Long Island and that she often needs to go to big-box stores to find the best prices on groceries. 
“I have to drive everywhere. I can’t really walk to any store,” Denegall said. “So I don’t think I’m going to stay here. Once I finish my degree program, I’ll be looking for another state to live in or another city.”&nbsp; 
<h2>Strong marks for safety&nbsp;</h2> 
&nbsp; <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="Daniel Gonzalez, 30, of East Meadow, at a park near his home on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025." data-attr-credit="Newsday" data-attr-f="3x2" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/77d2791a-2274-42ea-867f-d84eb07f743d" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/77d2791a-2274-42ea-867f-d84eb07f743d', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/77d2791a-2274-42ea-867f-d84eb07f743d"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/77d2791a-2274-42ea-867f-d84eb07f743d/Screen_Shot_2025-08-10_at.jpg?f=3x2&amp;w=400&amp;q=0.3">Daniel Gonzalez, 30, of East Meadow, at a park near his home on Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025.</a> 
Long Islanders overwhelming feel safe in their communities. Of respondents, 95% said it is “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that a typical person in their community would feel safe and secure at home. 
“That is almost an unheard of score in polling,” Levy said. 
That held true across most demographics and political affiliations. Hispanic residents said people were likely to feel safe at a slightly lower rate, 90%. People who rented their homes had the lowest positive response rate, at 89%. 
The majority of Long Islanders also responded that <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/crime">police</a> do an "excellent" or "good" job keeping residents safe, by a margin of 73% to 27%. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/cbaa574e-fb70-444c-b2a6-b63c1871fba4" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/cbaa574e-fb70-444c-b2a6-b63c1871fba4', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/cbaa574e-fb70-444c-b2a6-b63c1871fba4">STORYWIDGET: bzSURVEY250817_37</a> 
Those responses differed across racial lines. Of white respondents, 82% said police were doing an "excellent" or "good" job compared with 60% of Hispanic respondents and 59% of Black respondents. 
Gonzalez said he was recently impressed when police showed up within minutes of his call to report a car crash in his neighborhood. He said he feels safe here and believes he got a high-quality education at East Meadow High School, where he played the trumpet in its award-winning marching band. 
Gonzalez, a mechanical engineer, said he would be willing to continue to endure Long Island’s traffic if he can eventually afford to buy his own home. He is living with his parents while he saves to buy a house or condo rather than spending money on rent. 
“The only unfortunate thing in terms of living on Long Island is the cost of living has continued to go up over the years,” Gonzalez said. “That would be the only driving factor to have me move away from Long Island, should I move away.” <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/c1232441-a02e-498c-9c6d-f0699ad61a67" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/c1232441-a02e-498c-9c6d-f0699ad61a67', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/c1232441-a02e-498c-9c6d-f0699ad61a67">STORYWIDGET: LISURVEY-relateds</a>

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Long Island Quality of Life Survey: While most feel safe, many are pessimistic about aging in place

While most feel safe, those making $100G-plus are pessimistic about aging in place, LI Quality of Life survey says

While the majority of respondents in a&nbsp;recent Newsday/Siena survey gave high marks to quailty of life on Long Island, many voiced concerns about the high cost of housing and the ability to age in place here. NewsdayTV&#39;s Virginia Huie reports.

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LI Quality of Life Survey: High marks for safety, health care, but fears over 'aging in place'

Bay Shore

East Meadow

'It's not affordable. It's not possible.'

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Peter Gill

Traffic jams are part of the reason Luke Heaton, a software developer from West Babylon, believes&nbsp;the quality of life is declining on Long Island. 
"Every time I get in the car, I'm sitting in traffic. It doesn't matter where I'm going, what time — it’s stop and go," he told Newsday. 
Heaton, 67, is one of many Long Islanders who rate the region poorly for traffic congestion, traffic safety and public transportation, according to Newsday’s recent survey with the Siena Research Institute. 
A majority of residents (62%) believe traffic congestion is worse here than other places they are familiar with, the survey found. 
And residents of Suffolk County are particularly dissatisfied with public transit and traffic safety — rating them "worse" rather than "better" by double-digit margins. 
Taj Nemley-Edlow, 27, said she struggles to get from home in Amityville to work in Manorville because the Long Island Rail Road runs infrequently and Suffolk County Transit doesn’t offer buses for where she needs to go. <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="Taj Nemley-Edlow, of Amityville, at the Amityville LIRR station on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. Taj struggles to get from home in Amityville to work in Manorville because the Long Island Rail Road runs infrequently and Suffolk County Transit doesn’t offer buses for where she needs to go. &quot;When you don't have a car on Long Island, it's not convenient at all. It just makes things a million times harder.&quot; she said.	 		" data-attr-credit="Newsday" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/a211ac25-c0c2-4db2-905d-75a44a39a293" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/a211ac25-c0c2-4db2-905d-75a44a39a293', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/a211ac25-c0c2-4db2-905d-75a44a39a293"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/a211ac25-c0c2-4db2-905d-75a44a39a293/LITRANS250821.jpg?w=400&amp;q=0.3">Taj Nemley-Edlow, of Amityville, at the Amityville LIRR station on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. Taj struggles to get from home in Amityville to work in Manorville because the Long Island Rail Road runs infrequently and Suffolk County Transit doesn’t offer buses for where she needs to go. "When you don't have a car on Long Island, it's not convenient at all. It just makes things a million times harder." she said. </a> 
"When you don't have a car on Long Island, it's not convenient at all. It just makes things a million times harder," she said. 
The survey polled 802 respondents between May 27 and June 16 on questions about their quality of life on Long Island. It had a margin of error of 4.3 points. 
Roger Fluhr, 77, a lifelong Long Island resident from Wading River, said roadway aggression has contributed to a decline in the quality of life. 
"What I'm seeing is ... a lot of people trying to bully people on the road," said Fluhr, a retired high school biology teacher. "On the expressway and the highways, people [are] using it as a slalom course, and you don't see police picking these people up." 
<h2>Congestion</h2> 
Siena pollster Don Levy said Long Islanders’ dissatisfaction with traffic congestion is pronounced, even compared with&nbsp;other national-level surveys he’s conducted. 
"And that doesn't surprise me. Long Island obviously is a more dense area than many places," he said. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/0418d363-8909-491f-9583-e0bb5e7a20a8" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/0418d363-8909-491f-9583-e0bb5e7a20a8', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/0418d363-8909-491f-9583-e0bb5e7a20a8">STORYWIDGET: LITRANS250817_q25</a> 
Sam Schwartz, a traffic engineer and former New York City traffic commissioner, said traffic congestion is not easy to fix in a place like Long Island. 
"You're constrained by water on two sides, and you're adjacent to the busiest metropolitan area in the United States," he said. "Long Island has pretty much the same road infrastructure it's had for 25 years, and except for very few cases, it isn't much improved from the 1970s." 
Heaton said part of the problem he sees driving in West Babylon is too much new housing going up. 
"We've reached a saturation point in terms of the roads that we have and the ability to accommodate all the people that are driving," he said. 
But Schwartz said&nbsp;new development that is oriented around public transit is needed. 
"The prospect for relief is not there unless Long Island decides to do something different, and that would include a lot of transit-oriented development near train stations, so people don't have to rely on their cars, and to improve the transit services that they have," he said. 
Rocky Moretti of TRIP, a Washington-based transportation research nonprofit, pointed to some smaller-scale changes to roadways that could reduce congestion. 
"Improvements can be really modest, from improved traffic signalization to adding turn lanes or switching to double turn lanes on busy intersections and also improving [crash] incident management," he said. 
<h2>Public transit</h2> 
Suffolk residents gave public transit low marks in the poll, rating it "worse than other places" by a 17-point margin. In Nassau, where the Long Island Rail Road is more frequent and the NICE bus system is more expansive than Suffolk County Transit, the "worse" and "better" votes were roughly tied. 
Nemley-Edlow said she appreciates that Suffolk County buses are usually on-time and now offer free Wi-Fi, but she wishes they went more places. 
<h2>Safety</h2> 
When it comes to traffic safety, Suffolk residents also rated the Island poorly — 40% said it’s worse, compared with&nbsp;23% who said it’s better than elsewhere. As Newsday has previously reported, Suffolk often <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/transportation/suffolk-deadly-roads-causes-od2ff0fo">leads the state</a> in annual traffic deaths, and in 2023 had a per capita traffic death rate nearly four times New York City’s. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/f1b6ac81-4f6c-4786-9555-709fe5a81625" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/f1b6ac81-4f6c-4786-9555-709fe5a81625', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/f1b6ac81-4f6c-4786-9555-709fe5a81625">STORYWIDGET: LITRANS250817_q26</a> 
In Nassau, which had a rate half Suffolk’s, roughly equal numbers of residents said traffic safety is "worse" and "better" than other places. 
Across the Island, <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/transportation/dangerous-roads-crashes-x0sjti6e">crashes killed 2,100 people</a> and seriously injured another 16,000 over the decade ending in 2023. In just one year, <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/transportation/long-island-car-crash-costs-t1vdadeq">crashes cost over $3.4 billion</a> in health care and automobile expenses, insurance, legal fees and lost time and wages, Newsday has reported in its ongoing <a href="https://www.newsday.com/projects/dangerous-roads">Dangerous Roads series</a>. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/df3bf7fe-1416-4a7c-a67c-57568505b7c3" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/df3bf7fe-1416-4a7c-a67c-57568505b7c3', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/df3bf7fe-1416-4a7c-a67c-57568505b7c3">STORYWIDGET: LITRANS_relateds</a>

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LI Quality of Life Survey: Many dissatisfied with frequent traffic jams, road safety

LIers give poor marks to traffic congestion, road safety, survey finds

Brianne Ledda

Editor's note —&nbsp;This is the first in a series of stories that will explore the results of a Newsday/Siena College survey on how Long Islanders view their life satisfaction. Today's story focuses on perceptions of their overall quality of life and respondents’ concerns about affordability and the cost of living. Future stories will look at issues of livability and opportunity. 
Most Long Islanders love that they live near beaches and downtowns, well-maintained parks and top-notch schools and hospitals. But these amenities come at a cost. 
In a recent Newsday/Siena survey, three-quarters of respondents highly rated their quality of life on Long Island,&nbsp;but just as many expressed worry about the growing affordability crisis in the region, and nearly half said the quality of life has been getting worse. 
"People like Long Island. They think that the overall quality of life is excellent or good. But they are struggling to afford it," said Siena pollster Don Levy. 
Between May 27 and June 16, pollsters for Siena College, in conjunction with Newsday, contacted 802 respondents across Nassau and Suffolk. Answers have a margin of error of 4.3 points, which means their percentages could veer that much higher or lower. 
While Long Islanders described a higher quality of life than respondents elsewhere in the state, "the sense that things were getting better was markedly lower" across demographics, Levy said. "A noteworthy 42% said things are getting somewhat or much worse on Long Island." 
One top concern for Long Islanders was the increasing cost of living, especially when it comes to housing. The overall affordability of life on Long Island has grown worse, 77% of respondents said. 
"Only 8% think of Long Island’s cost of living as better, more affordable than other places," Levy said. "Clearly the respondents in the survey are telling us that there is a cost associated with living on Long Island, and that cost shows up in the overall cost of living being worse or being higher than in other places they are familiar with." <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/ca7027d1-b7c9-4995-b1b4-3bb2ecf84eea" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/ca7027d1-b7c9-4995-b1b4-3bb2ecf84eea', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/ca7027d1-b7c9-4995-b1b4-3bb2ecf84eea">STORYWIDGET: BZAFFORD250727_q27</a> 
Increasing living costs, especially for housing, have <a href="https://www.newsday.com/business/housing-high-rent-migration-jb4l8zo3">driven thousands of Long Islanders to flee</a> to other states, including Valerie Pazmino’s two children, who moved to Florida. 
"So many people, especially that age group between 28 and 40, are leaving because they can’t afford anything here," the Bellmore resident said. Some of her children’s friends have left for other states, or they’re renting apartments with roommates. <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="&quot;So many people, especially that age group between 28 and 40, are leaving because they can’t afford anything here,&quot; said Bellmore resident Valerie Pazmino." data-attr-credit="Newsday" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/df115ac7-caf2-4c4d-aa7d-2ac65fb40a91" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/df115ac7-caf2-4c4d-aa7d-2ac65fb40a91', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/df115ac7-caf2-4c4d-aa7d-2ac65fb40a91"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/df115ac7-caf2-4c4d-aa7d-2ac65fb40a91/bzAFFORD2507273.jpg?w=400&amp;q=0.3">"So many people, especially that age group between 28 and 40, are leaving because they can’t afford anything here," said Bellmore resident Valerie Pazmino.</a> 
The affordability&nbsp;crisis facing the region prompted more than 434,000 people to move away from Long Island between 2017 and 2021, according to a <a href="https://www.newsday.com/long-island/long-island-association-report-population-losing-residents-lv6ofz4d">2024 report</a> from the Long Island Association's Research Institute. The LIA is the region’s leading business group. 
Tight markets for homebuyers and renters haven’t gone unnoticed by Long Islanders. Most survey respondents, 85%, said there was low availability of affordable housing in the region and 60% said they’re unlikely to be able to afford quality housing. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/2da7a282-c8d0-48fa-87e1-b33091958303" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/2da7a282-c8d0-48fa-87e1-b33091958303', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/2da7a282-c8d0-48fa-87e1-b33091958303">STORYWIDGET: bzAFFORD250727_q12</a> 
The concern about housing costs was far more pronounced on Long Island than from respondents to similar polls near Albany and on a national level, Levy said. 
In June, the median price for a home hit $700,000 in Suffolk&nbsp;and $850,000 in Nassau — records for both counties, <a href="https://www.newsday.com/business/long-island-home-prices-june-vnwp4jrm">Newsday has reported</a>. 
It seems everything is "much more expensive" and taxes are high, said Pazmino, 61, who participated in the survey. 
Similar feelings are more pronounced for minorities than white people, according&nbsp;to survey results.&nbsp;Compared with 79% of white respondents, 61% of Black Long Islanders and 59% of Hispanic Long Islanders described a positive quality of life in the region. <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/8b25e39f-4284-46da-ba11-6e8c0be7b4b2" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/8b25e39f-4284-46da-ba11-6e8c0be7b4b2', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/8b25e39f-4284-46da-ba11-6e8c0be7b4b2">STORYWIDGET: BZAFFORD250727_q1</a> 
Positives to life on Long Island include living near parks and beaches and being just a train&nbsp;ride away from Manhattan, Pazmino said, features praised by other respondents as well, including Massapequa resident Jennifer Bova. 
As an educator, Bova also believes the schools on Long Island are better than in other parts of the country. 
But it’s expensive to live here, and it’s not getting cheaper, she said. Besides a rising cost of living, her property taxes are "overwhelming" at $16,000 per year. <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="Jennifer Bova inside her Massapequa home. She described her property taxes as &quot;overwhelming.&quot;" data-attr-credit="Newsday" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/946f9a90-5840-480d-98fd-63efe869a7b1" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/946f9a90-5840-480d-98fd-63efe869a7b1', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/946f9a90-5840-480d-98fd-63efe869a7b1"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/946f9a90-5840-480d-98fd-63efe869a7b1/6T5A2657.jpg?w=400&amp;q=0.3">Jennifer Bova inside her Massapequa home. She described her property taxes as "overwhelming."</a> 
That's in line with median property taxes on Long Island, which surpass $10,000 per year and are&nbsp;among the highest in the country, <a href="https://www.newsday.com/business/housing-high-rent-migration-jb4l8zo3">Newsday has reported</a>. Twelve percent of respondents to the Newsday/Siena survey&nbsp;listed taxation as the worst thing about life on Long Island. 
"I have one son who is disabled and another one who is unemployed right now, so I am supporting all three of us on a fixed income," Bova said. "I work part time, and it still never seems to be enough." 
The region also has become more crowded since the pandemic, Pazmino said, causing a drastic increase in traffic congestion. Nearly a third of respondents to the Newsday/Siena survey&nbsp;listed overdevelopment, congestion and infrastructure strain as the worst part of living on Long Island. 
Demand for homes on Long Island <a href="https://www.newsday.com/news/covid-pandemic-economy-jobs-c37487">exploded post-pandemic</a>, driven by interest in the suburbs surrounding New York City, experts have said. Limited by strict zoning that restricts density, supply has struggled to keep&nbsp;up, <a href="https://www.newsday.com/beta/business/income-afford-house-long-island-home-prices-me0ix21o">Newsday has reported</a>. 
And, according to Long Islanders themselves, the 118-mile Island offers many amenities and resources, including proximity to nature, a sense of community, jobs that offer both advancement and a livable wage, and food that is both affordable and high&nbsp;quality. <a class="p-smartembed" data-attr-caption="Paul Gianelli, of South Jamesport, loves the easy access to the Peconic Bay and rated his quality of life as excellent." data-attr-credit="" data-attr-has-caption="true" data-attr-has-credit="true" data-attr-q="0.3" data-attr-w="400" data-onecms-id="contentid/8dc441e0-5019-417a-941f-44dbf2f92167" data-onecms-type="image" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/8dc441e0-5019-417a-941f-44dbf2f92167', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/8dc441e0-5019-417a-941f-44dbf2f92167"><img src="/image-service/alias/contentid/8dc441e0-5019-417a-941f-44dbf2f92167/bzafford250727-9006.jpg?w=400&amp;q=0.3">Paul Gianelli, of South Jamesport, loves the easy access to the Peconic Bay and rated his quality of life as excellent.</a> 
Paul Gianelli, 80, of South Jamesport, loves his life on the North Fork. He likes easy access to the Peconic Bay and farmstands, although traffic issues seem to be on a rapid rise. 
"I own our house and affordability is not a factor in remaining here and enjoying it, although the taxes are high," said Gianelli, who rated his quality of life in the survey as excellent, and remaining steady. 
But, expensive as it may be to live on Long Island, nearly three-quarters, or 71%, of survey respondents said it was likely they’d be employed at a job that provides a living wage, and 75% said there’s good access to affordable adult education, including job training. 
"There is a sense that if you want a job that pays a wage at which people can successfully live, that’s available on Long Island in general," Levy said. But, among renters on Long Island, just 54% felt it was likely that a person seeking a living wage could obtain it, indicating "a pronounced economic struggle for folks who rent." 
Anthony Perrone, 25, a recent college graduate working to launch his career, has&nbsp;had to consider whether or not he’ll be able to afford to stay on Long Island. 
"The area is nice," said the West Islip resident, who graduated from Farmingdale State College in December with a degree in sports management. 
But, he added, "the cost of living is high."

BZAFFORD250727

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LI Quality of Life Survey: We like it here, but affordability is a growing concern

How Long Islanders view affordability and cost of living

A Newsday/Siena College survey looks at the availability of affordable housing on Long Island and the cost of living compared to other places. NewsdayTV&#39;s Andrew Ehinger reports.

bzAFFORD250727_video

LI Quality of Life Survey: We like it here, but cost of living is concern

Massapequa

West Babylon

West Islip

'Parents' basement is good, but not permanent'

bzafford.jpg

Newsday Staff

A recent Newsday/Siena survey found&nbsp;three-quarters of respondents highly rated their quality of life on Long Island, but just as many expressed worry about the growing affordability crisis in the region, and nearly half said the quality of life has been getting worse. 
"People like Long Island. They think that the overall quality of life is excellent or good. But they are struggling to afford it," said Siena pollster Don Levy. 
Between May 27 and June 16, pollsters for Siena College, in conjunction with Newsday, contacted 802 respondents across Nassau and Suffolk. Answers have a margin of error of 4.3 points, which means their percentages could veer that much higher or lower. 
Here are their responses to questions related to job opportunities, culture, affordability and qualify of life on Long Island.&nbsp; <a class="p-smartembed" data-onecms-id="contentid/ea79b922-9552-40c0-84e9-faa54e84b297" data-onecms-type="storywidget" href="javascript:window.parent.actionEventData({$contentId:'contentid/ea79b922-9552-40c0-84e9-faa54e84b297', $action:'view', $target:'work'})" polopoly:contentid="contentid/ea79b922-9552-40c0-84e9-faa54e84b297">STORYWIDGET: bZAFFORD250727_allaffordabilityqs</a>

LIQUALITY250727

Quality of life on Long Island survey by Newsday/Siena: See the results

LI Quality of Life Survey: See full responses to questions about opportunities, culture

Complete coverage: Quality of life on Long Island survey by Newsday/Siena survey

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Complete coverage: Quality of life survey on LI

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