Hampton Bays offers year-round coastal living with a big boating community
Brushing up against the Shinnecock Canal, Hampton Bays is a boating town surrounded by water on three sides. “Wherever you are in town, you can dock your boat behind your house or at the marina,” says Chris Chapin, a licensed real estate salesperson with Douglas Elliman and Hamptons local. “You can explore Great Peconic or Shinnecock Bay and enter the open Atlantic Ocean. You can even sail to nearby New London, Connecticut or Greenport, Rhode Island.”
Hampton Bays typically has slightly more year-round residents than seasonal, offering a small-town ambiance. “Hampton Bays is more relaxed than any of the other Hamptons,” says Vicky Reynolds, an associate broker at Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty who has sold homes here for 35 years and is a fourth-generation Hamptons local. “To me, September, October, even November, are beautiful out here. I really love it.” Although Reynolds says more people are staying later in the year or even year-round since the pandemic, Hampton Bays gets quieter from November through February. A few seasonal restaurants in town shut down, making it quieter, and there’s less traffic.
Enjoy the view at Quogue Wildlife Refuge in nearby Quogue.
Ponquogue Beach is a short drive from Hampton Bays.
1/2
Waterfront activities like boating, fishing and swimming
Boating and sailing are incredibly popular here; fishers cast off from boats at least as often as they do land or piers. “If you’re into fishing, they have quick access to the ocean and for the deep sea fish,” Reynolds says. Hampton Bays has a beach on the Great Peconic Bay, and Ponquogue Beach offers swimming and surfing in the Atlantic Ocean about 3 miles away. Hampton Bays has a skate park with other athletic courts, and Good Ground Park’s outdoor amphitheater hosts afternoon community events throughout the year. Nearby, the 1,815-acre Hubbard County Park offers hiking, hunting and kayaking. The North Fork and its vineyards are 11 miles away.
Drop your boat in one of the local boat ramps around town and spend the afternoon on the water in Hampton Bays.
Hampton Bays has a few big Marinas around the neighborhood.
1/2
Unique architecture alongside typical Long Island housing styles
With so many custom-built homes, it’s easy to find unique architectural styles like cottages, 1980s contemporaries and modern houses alongside standard ranch-style and colonial homes. The median home price here is $940,000, which is much higher than the National Association of Realtor’s reported national median of $406,100, and Reynolds says that home prices are on the rise. Still, the median here is far less than in other nearby Hamptons like Southampton, where the median is $2.77 million. Hampton Bays’ waterfront homes start at around $1.5 million and can climb to $8 million. “Some houses are on the ocean bay, but they have a vista of the ocean, too, in the distance,” Reynolds says. “That’s how close it is to the ocean.” The area’s handful of condos and co-ops typically cost between $200,000 and $700,000.
Hampton Bays has plenty of waterfront homes and unique architecture.
Large colonial are also common in Hampton Bays.
1/2
Hurricane season, below average crime score
According to climate risk data organization First Street, hurricane season brings a severe risk of high wind to Hampton Bays. Despite being a waterfront community, though, the group reports only a minor risk of flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s flood maps show that oceanfront homes are most at risk of flooding.
The community’s CAP Index crime score is 3 out of 10, below the national average of 4.
Italian eats at the San Gennaro Feast
During the San Gennaro Feast of the Hamptons, residents and visitors fill the streets along Good Ground Road while live music and the smells of fresh Italian cuisine and pastries waft through the air. Every fall, the weekend-long Italian festival features carnival rides, artisan vendors and meatball-eating contests.
Fresh seafood along the waterfront
“The community feels like a small town from the 1940s, where children ride their bikes in the street, and everything you need is within walking distance,” Chapin says. Seafood reigns supreme here, from waterfront restaurants like Cowfish to beloved spots like Out of the Blue where meals are served on paper plates at outdoor picnic tables. “You get to see all the boats coming in, and you get to see all the fishermen come in with the catch,” Reynolds says of dockside spots, adding that Out of the Blue has such good seafood that it supplies Manhattan sushi restaurants. Most of these restaurants are year-round, but not all; when the weather warms, people flock to Oakland’s for its open-air bar and live music right by the water.
Hampton Bays Plaza is home to major retailers like Macy’s and Petco, and the community has a movie theater. There are two grocery stores and a daily, year-round farm stand for fresh produce.
Enjoy some fresh lobster from Out of The Blue Seafood in Hampton Bays.
Be sure to dig in on the delicious fish and chips at happy hour at Buckley's Inn Between in Hampton Bays.
1/2
Education at Hampton Bays schools
The Hampton Bays Union Free District gets a B from Niche and has a student-to-teacher ratio of 12-to-1.
Hampton Bays Middle School has been fully operational since the 08-09 school year.
Hampton Bays High School provides a full complement of AP and college-level courses.
1/2
Sunrise Highway, LIRR to Montauk or NYC
Sunrise Highway passes through the neighborhood, but Montauk Highway, which is dotted with bus stops, serves as its main thoroughfare to reach shopping and dining. According to Reynolds, having these two roads running parallel keeps most of the traffic on Sunrise Highway, keeping the main street relatively quiet. Many locals drive to work nearby, as the U.S. Census Bureau reports that 20.7% of residents work in education, health care and social assistance. Stony Brook Southampton Hospital is the nearest hospital at just over 8 miles away. From the Long Island Rail Road’s Hampton Bays Station, it takes 55 minutes to reach Montauk and at least two hours to reach New York City.
I'm an expert real estate agent with Blue Shark Realty Group Inc in Ronkonkoma, NY and the nearby area, providing home-buyers and sellers with professional, responsive and attentive real estate services. Want an agent who'll really listen to what you want in a home? Need an agent who knows how to effectively market your home so it sells? Give me a call! I'm eager to help and would love to talk to you.
Disclaimer: Certain information contained herein is derived from information provided by parties other than Homes.com. Our sources include: Accuweather, Public Records and Neustar. All information provided is deemed reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate and should be independently verified.
