Family friendly: Best neighborhoods in New York for kids

International flavor, beautiful churches, the Mets, two brand new public schools, small and big parks, museums and the best Italian ices in the United States give this area a high ranking on the great neighborhood map. What you don’t know is that family values in this area are some of the strongest in the city, with people looking out for their neighbor’s kids and tight-knit Latino and Asian communities emphasizing multigenerational homes. Near Flushing, Citi Field and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Corona has so much life. On a Saturday in the spring, the area is teeming with Little League baseball games on brand new fields in city playgrounds, music festivals, tag sales -- and people pushing baby carriages to and from the many inexpensive Mexican restaurants, picnics and the many museums in the area including the Queens Museum of Science and the Louis Armstrong House. Many great New Yorkers have lived in Corona, including athletes such as Dizzy Gillespie and Willie Mays and musicians like Lena Horne and Cannonball Adderly. Housing prices skew low. The median house price is $419,000, with a two-family house on a side street between Roosevelt and 37th Aves. costing around $539,000. What really draws young families are the rent prices. You can find a three-bedroom for $1,300 to $1,800 in a district with newly built public schools. Only a 35-minute ride to midtown on the 7 subway, Corona is the neighborhood of choice for families seeking value and international culture. More expensive neighborhoods with international flair for growing families include the upper East Side, upper West Side, SoHo and the far West Village.