See what Long Islanders say are the challenges of living here

Taxes, taxes, taxes. Oh, and crazy oil and electric bills. Not growing old on Long Island, just growing poor.

I'm a senior, 71, and a widow. Most widows can not afford bills and even if you want to downsize to an apartment or a condo it's 700K- 800L, not affordable. There are not enough apartments under 3k a month and will take a widow's life savings to afford, which is so unfair. Plus with the price of eggs and food, we can not live our days out comfortably.

The main problem is the lack of housing. If I want to move into a legal apartment dual income is the minimum for a studio. With the supply demand mismatch, landlords can charge very high rents/fees and avoid ever improving properties in a meaningful way or installing modern amenities. Additionally exclusionary zoning results in only mega complexes of apartments walled off from existing communities, shopping or services.

Taxes are unsustainable, looking at property down south.

State taxes are too high along with the school and property taxes, schools have to cut down. Food and clothing are too high. Now tariffs will make matters worse. We all have to tighten our financial belts. The state could cut the sales tax and stop giving high raises to public employees.

The real estate tax structure needs to be totally revamped. How is our tax structure so different from other states that have significantly lower tax rates? Schools are the biggest expenses. How can schools operate with lower budgets?

Long Island had great productivity -- new businesses, defense industry, space program, as well as great quality of life, life our beaches and parks. But we did not do enough to insure our future. All the successes we had did not give back. Banks, venture capital, business associations, education institutions, needed to do more. Businesspeople focused on the past and the now but not on the future. Entrepreneurship was not a focus. Innovation was allowed to fizzle. If we want to have lower taxes, good schools, good quality of life, we need to keep the engines running and well oiled. We need to work on our future especially when things are going well, and the money and momentum is there - not just wonder where it all went when it is gone. Austerity budgets do not accomplish this, planning and foresight do. Success doesn't just come from innovation or hard work, it also needs the fertile ground, the strong infrastructure. The people who succeeded need be thankful that the resources were there when they needed them and to give back, so their future counterparts have the same opportunities.

School and general taxes are way too high for seniors to stay. If something doesn't change I'll have to leave my current home after living here for the last 30 years, and in Nassau County for my entire life.

Rising taxes for homeowners are my largest concern. Will I be able to retire and stay in my home? More than 50% of my tax bill is school taxes. As I see student populations lowering, parents are reluctant to consolidate students to close schools.

Super high rents, the inability to easily use various forms of transportation to get around, high HOAs etc...

Many years ago, Alan King was asked what he liked about living on Long Island. He said “the taxes are good for laughs, and the Expressway is fun if you have a day to kill.” Seems like nothing has changed, at least not for the better.

Taxes are too high on my home. I am a senior citizen. Gas for cars also too high, as well as heating and electric costs.

Cost of housing is too high, especially for first time home buyers.

Getting homeowner's insurance because our house is in a flood zone in Oakdale. Most companies will not issue homeowner's insurance for our house.

The toughest thing is getting around Long Island without a car. Traffic has gotten worse and more dangerous to drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. As Long Islanders age, getting around without a car will only become more of an issue. The sprawl of suburban development is going to be difficult to overcome, but we need to come up with a basket of networked public transportation solutions. Using the LIPA power corridors to create protected bike and walking paths could help provide protected north-south access to complement the planned east-west bike paths already in development. Small electric shuttles could further help connect neighborhoods and connect to the LIRR for travel longer distances.

Taxes. We are nickled-and-dimed to death paying for every little thing, from having to buy beach parking to a parking permit to park at the LIRR all in my own town. I can't wait to leave Long Island. Property taxes are horrible, which is one reason why my family and I will be moving off Long Island. Everything has a fee - parking at the LIRR stations, beach, etc. If you use a wheelchair, you can forget about using the LIRR.

High taxes, high electric rates, high volume of traffic and the overall lack of courtesy and aggressive drivers on the roads are distressing and challenging for life on LI. I love Long Island but it has become more of a love hate relationship being here. And my children are having an almost impossible task of staying here.

You know what's tough? Listening to everyone complain! If you're here, enjoy. If you have to move, you don't have to trash talk Long Island and I wish you the best! My kids are here. I will work to stay as well. I love Long Island.

Housing for 78 year olds. I live in a room with no hot water. Aids are expensive. 

Taxes! Hands down, taxes are out of control on LI. Between more than 100 individual school districts all paying many teachers and administrators well over $100,000 annually, to cops just getting huge raises, no wonder the Island is experiencing people relocating off of it. The problem is taxes,  and with the infrastructure of schools and police with huge salaries this will never meaningfully change and why young people are leaving LI in droves.

My biggest problem living on Long Island is the difficulty getting off it. Traffic on our roads is heavy and rush hour can be intense but a trip to the city is better done on a train and visiting friends and relatives in CT or New Jersey takes major tactical planning . If I need to be somewhere at a specific time I may have to add hours to my planning and figure out ways to kill time in the destination before the event. Bridges, tunnels , all are problematic at different times. With the ferry I can make a reservation but service is limited and expensive. Too bad the S.O.B. never went to the finish line and over the non- existent bridge.

Traffic. It takes too long to go anywhere on the Island. Days of my life are lost to sitting at traffic lights, stop signs, in stalled traffic, and at crosswalks (there are five of them in one block in Port Jefferson). All this because there are TOO MANY PEOPLE on Long Island not only clogging our roadways but also using up our clean water (to water lawns,  flush toilets and other purposes, some necessary, some not), polluting our drinking and surface waters, and using up the wild spaces that provide habitat for the creatures and plants that humans depend on in different ways.

The standard of living on Long Island is rapidly going downhill. We need a moratorium on new building. Traffic is becoming unbearable. We also need to force the schools to reduce their ever-increasing budgets to be more in line with the rest of the nation. School taxes are out of control. Inflation, which is affecting the whole country, is further adding to the special problems of living on Long Island.

High taxes.

Taxes. I live in a 55+ senior development and our guidelines do not allow any children to live here nor are school buses allowed in the development, yet we do not pay lower school taxes, 80% of our taxes are for the schools. So unfair.

I didn't own a home before the pandemic, and now it feels like the opportunity has fully run away from me. I'm continuing to save for a down payment, but it feels futile in the face of the dramatic annual increases in home prices each year.

I used to live on Long Island, I left 10 years ago. I miss the people, the proactive and very intelligent and helpful people. However, people are leaving droves and the cost of living is so high I could never go back. I hear businesses are going under. Ten years ago there were many choices of drug and grocery stores, a friend was telling me it is now harder to shop because of closers. I am also concerned about the safety of all the bridges and tunnels that connect Long Island. When I lived there it was a wonderful place with a great education system, to me best in the country, and I think it still is. Businesses and people are moving away from an educated area to areas where people are not well-educated and there is are worse health care systems. For many people who would love to come back but can't it is very sad!

I love living in Williston Park except for the high taxes for seniors like me. DUIs also seem to be out of control everywhere on the Island.

Taxes and terrible traffic! Besides those, so many roads and highways are in awful condition and sometimes only get quick fixes.

There were very few decent jobs for college graduates seeking basic jobs like in teaching. Local government for decades has driven up property taxes to rapacious and unsustainable levels and purposely zoned out two-to-six-family houses, garden apartments and apartment houses. 

Traffic is unbearable. It's a nightmare trying to go to the North Shore from the South Shore and vice versa and it's no fun heading east or west either. The property taxes are high, but the social services are much better than in low-tax regions.

The toughest part of living here has become a casino being forced upon us residents against our will. I can't think of a better way to degrade and ruin our environment, our families, our communities, our small businesses and our county economy than to place a casino here. The site is right between two colleges and a high school, next to residential neighborhoods in Uniondale, and smack in the middle of traffic-choked Nassau. 

The higher cost of everything.

Taxes are way too high once you retire.

Speaking on behalf of both my 67-year-old mom and myself (37), as poor (and in my case multiply disabled) Black residents of public housing, the biggest challenges here are the cost of basically everything and, for me, the inadequacy of our barely-there public transit. Since the pandemic began, the cost of groceries has gone up every year. I'm tired of having to choose between decent, adequate food and paying important bills. We can never breathe. In addition, the state of public transportation on Long Island is abysmal and has been for a very long time. Besides the fact that the climate crisis demands that we rely less on individual vehicles, many on Long Island can't afford our own vehicles. Investing in better, more extensive, affordable public transit benefits everyone, including the small businesses. 

I'm a boomer with no mortgage so I'm managing the awful inflation. The traffic is horrendous and illogical. They put the red/green lights on entrance ramps in residential neighborhoods like Round Swamp Road, yet allow the Route 110, Southern Parkway entrance to be flooded like the armies of Armageddon all day backing up the traffic. The rare moments traffic flows on that Southern "Catatonic" State parkway leaves you prey to maniacs wildly speeding between cars. A virtual death trap.

Real estate taxes are very high, higher than almost anywhere else in the country and the world. Traffic is miserable, you never know how long a short trip is going to take. Some of our infrastructure is in serious need of repair. Most of the people here are kind, considerate and generous to charity. It's only when national politics comes up do we become rambunctious.

I love living on Long Island. I value the quality of life on Long Island -- the parks and culture, the weather/change of seasons, access to outstanding medical care, diversity, access to NYC, and yes – the quality of public education. But the biggest challenge is the high property tax. School property taxes are unsustainable, and people are being driven away, especially those on fixed incomes, like many seniors. Though there are Senior Tax Exemptions, they are inadequate and entail income thresholds that many of us don’t meet. Many seniors have incomes too high to qualify for exemptions, but still too low to live comfortably, given the cost of living on Long Island. In my case, as for so many others, it’s been decades since I had kids attending public schools. One solution to compel people to stay here, is to reduce if not eliminate school property taxes for seniors who no longer have children in the public schools. Another solution to reduce property taxes, and allow people to continue to live on Long Island, is school district consolidation, perhaps no more than one for each town, city and village. 

Very high taxes and igh insurance rates.

Definitely high school taxes for a retiree! Taxes could force us out of Long Island. Traffic is horrendous, even in the HOV lane.