Living in Muttontown, NY: Estates, Four School Districts, Taxes and Rail

Muttontown is a 4,530-acre residential village in the Town of Oyster Bay. It assesses its own property and runs its own police department. Brookville lies to the west, Oyster Bay Cove to the east, and East Norwich and Upper Brookville to the north. It is one of the North Shore towns.

Cost of living: home values, income and housing

Muttontown’s median owner-occupied home value is $1,914,800 in the Census Bureau’s ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates. The median household income estimate is at the survey’s top reported value of $250,001, so it gives no exact figure. The ACS has no median gross rent estimate for the village.

The village is almost entirely owner-occupied: of 1,152 occupied homes, 1,105 are owner-occupied and 47 are rented. The median home was built in 1977. The village counts approximately 1,200 homes and about 3,650 residents on 2019 census data. The ACS estimates 3,505 residents, close to the 2020 census count of 3,512.

The 2020 census adds the household picture: median age 47.1 years, with 20.7% of residents under 18 and 20.3% aged 65 or older. It counted 1,141 housing units (7.4% vacant; 1.5% homeowner vacancy and 15.6% rental vacancy) and 1,057 households, of which 34.5% had children under 18 and 78.0% were married-couple households. Older figures point the same way: the 2000 census median household income was above $200,000 and per capita income was $88,020. In 2009 BusinessWeek ranked Muttontown among the wealthiest towns in America.

Muttontown or Syosset?

Muttontown is considered part of the Greater Syosset area, which Syosset anchors. Muttontown lost territory to Syosset between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. The village remains its own municipality, incorporated on August 31, 1931, with its own police department. Its chief access roads are Route 106 and Route 25A.

Village taxes in Muttontown fund its police, roads, zoning and boards. Fire protection comes from three fire districts: Jericho, Syosset and East Norwich. Residents in the East Norwich fire district are billed separately on their tax bill. Water is provided by the Jericho Water District. Trash removal is by private companies that residents arrange.

Zoning, assessing and village services

The village is its own assessing unit and assesses properties as of January 1 each year. Village taxes cover police protection, public road maintenance and snow plowing, safety inspections, zoning and other local laws, the board of appeals, the planning board and the site and architectural review board. The village also receives State revenue in the form of mortgage tax, State aid and grants.

Most main roads are State and County roads. On the private roads, residents are responsible for snow removal or road repair. Village Hall sits on 2.15 acres from the 200-acre Gladwood estate, transferred to the village on May 1, 1963. The address is One Raz Tafuro Way, Muttontown, NY 11791.

Four school districts

Muttontown is served by four school districts: Jericho, Locust Valley, Oyster Bay-East Norwich and Syosset. Students attend one of the four depending on where they live in the village. The 2024-25 NYSED report card profiles give the scale of each.

The North Shore school districts guide compares the neighboring systems, and the NYSED profile for Syosset CSD is the primary source for that district.

Taxes: the Town of Oyster Bay calendar

The Town of Oyster Bay Receiver of Taxes bills property taxes on more than 100,000 parcels and collects for the State, County, Town, special districts and school districts.

The Town allows a 40-day penalty-free period after each due date, then charges 1% per month retroactive to the original due date. Grievances go to the Nassau County Assessment Review Commission. The 2026 window closed March 31, 2026, after the County extended it. The Town’s page gives the usual grievance period as January 2 to March 1. The next opportunity to file follows the County’s next tentative assessment roll. Register for STAR school tax relief when the home becomes your primary residence. Basic STAR is based on the first $30,000 of a home’s full value, with a $250,000 income limit for the exemption. Enhanced STAR for owners 65 and older has a $110,750 income limit for 2026-2027. County-wide mechanics are in Nassau County property taxes.

Preserves, estates and golf

The former Brewster Estate, now the Hoffman Center, is a 155-acre nature preserve and the site of Chelsea Mansion in the Muttontown Preserve. Chelsea Mansion was the home of the village’s first mayor, Benjamin Moore. Two former estates of New York City families are now The Muttontown Golf and Country Club and The Woodcrest Acres. The village also includes hundreds of miles of hiking and horse trails.

The name comes from early use of the land for sheep grazing. In the 1600s English and Dutch settlers found the rolling hills ideal for thousands of sheep, which supplied mutton and wool. The Matinecock lived here before European colonists settled in the 1600s. Estate history runs through the village. Zog of Albania bought the Knollwood Estate in 1951 and sold it in 1955. The Benjamin Moore Estate was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The village runs a five-year stormwater program under a New York State DEC permit to reduce runoff impacts on wetlands. Storm drains are a direct conduit to the village’s waterways and beaches. For septic systems, the village advises inspection at least every 3 years and pumping every 3 to 5 years. The Town’s S.T.O.P. household hazardous waste programs are open to village residents.

Getting to the train

Syosset station is a commuter rail station on the Port Jefferson Branch, about 30.9 miles east of Pennsylvania Station by rail. It is served by trains toward Penn Station, Grand Central or Long Island City via Hicksville. The village’s own description puts Manhattan at a 25-mile commute.