Sitting along the Great South Bay on Long Island's south shore, Amityville is a compact village where the water is never far from view. Just about 33 miles from Manhattan, this Suffolk County community draws renters who want a slower pace without losing access to the city. The Long Island Rail Road connects residents to Penn Station in roughly an hour, making the commute manageable. Broadway and Merrick Road anchor the village's commercial core, where independent shops and local eateries outnumber chain storefronts by a wide margin. The name Amityville traces back to 1846, when a resident named Samuel Ireland proposed it after his boat, Amity, giving the village a backstory as distinct as its bayfront setting.

Housing here leans toward smaller apartment communities, garden-style rentals, and a mix of converted single-family homes offering rental units.