working in NY and stone brook. where to stay (New York: for rent, how much)

[jwookie]

I have stayed in NJ, West New York for 3 years now and commute to Manhattan. My wife would start her doctoral program in Stony Brook University. I have never been on Long Island and my wife is now in Oklahoma. Well we don't know much about long island.
We are searching for a place where commute to NY Penn station is around 45 mins. How is Mineola and Hicksville? Maybe above 45 mins is also fine. How about New Hyde Park, the drive to Stony brook would be one hour and I would reach manhattan 59 th street in an hours time. Gosh this is confusing

[AndreaII]

Huntington Village (the hamlet - not just any town contained in the Township of Huntington) is 45 minutes away (rush hour or not) from SUNY at Stony Brook, and is a 55-minute commute (by car) to NYC not in rush hour only. Otherwise if you drive from Huntington to NYC in rush hour I have no idea how long it would take to sit in a slowly moving parking lot on either the LIE or Northern Parkway (not sure how 25A stacks up in rush hour) - hours. Best bet from Huntington to NYC to work is the LIRR - supposedly a 55 minute run - the earlier the train the more on time, and sometimes early.

[AlexisT]

NHP is too far west. It will not be 1hr to Stony Brook unless there's no traffic, which there never is. Stick to areas on the Nassau/Suffolk border. Do you have kids?

[jwookie]

Don't yet have kids now. Recently got married. Since I have been in NY(3 yrs) and NJ (2 yrs) I don't have a car, but will surely buy one once we move out together in LI. Till now most time I spend in NY city
My wife is ready to drive for about an hour. I don't want to commute for more than an hour. Currently while staying in NJ, I commute for an hour and I find that fine.
Looking at lirr map, Hicksville seems like between two places, so morning/evening commute to Penn Station about 50 mins and drive to SUNY SB around 45 mins. I was looking at posts for Hicksville and did not get good comments

[AndreaII]

Stony Brook U. maybe anywhere from 45 - 60 minutes driving time from Hicksville depending where you would be located in Hicksville. The LIE exit is just off 106/107 which is the main street in Hicksville - if your wife takes it to exit 62 Nicolls Road and then heads north, the main entrance to the U. will be on her left.

Hicksville maybe your best compromise for a while, but it's nowhere as nice as Huntington.

[jwookie]

I think I really need to rent a car and drive down to both places and see the neighborhood. Hicksville seems to have illegal immigrants, near the LIRR station and broadway.
Huntington LIRR to penn station is taking more than an hour and then from there N,R,W to 59th street would take another 20 mins. Door to door travel everyday to work would be 1 hr 45 mins

[AlexisT]

It's really hard to keep door to door commute under an hour. You'd need to live in Western Nassau for that, and that would make your wife's commute very long.

Hicksville is OK, nothing special, but not awful either. Some of the surrounding communities are nice, but further from the train.

[LIgirl74]

Not sure if you'd be interested in Bethpage or Farmingdale but those also run along the Hicksville LIRR train branch. Farmingdale borders Nassau and Suffolk County and Bethpage is in between Farmingdale and Hicksville.

HTH.

[StephM]

How much is your budget for rent? That greatly influences where you can live

[Crookhaven]

I'd do Babylon Village.

Blows Hicksville and Mineola away.

Think Huntington with less attitude and more accessibilty (and a lot less drama on the outskirts).

40 to SUNY
Under one hr. express to Penn

GREAT QOL.

Crooks