Frequently asked questions
Short answers to what families ask most. Don’t see yours? Reach us from the Contact page.
What is Motley?
Motley is a family-focused way to find the right NYC neighborhood and school. We cover all 262 neighborhoods of NYC, 197 of them residential, and thousands of public, charter, and private schools. You can rank the residential neighborhoods by the things your family cares about, and Smart Match (Motley Pro) ranks schools for your child.
Which neighborhoods and schools do you cover?
All 262 neighborhoods of NYC across the five boroughs, 197 of them residential, plus thousands of schools — public, charter, and private — and early-education programs including 3-K, Pre-K, and NYCEEC providers. We also cover all 32 Community School Districts.
How are neighborhoods ranked?
We score every residential neighborhood on seven scores: safety, schools, affordability, transit (weekday-morning transit time to job centers), how many families live there, neighborhood character, and air quality and child health. The Best fit sort on Neighborhoods blends them by your own weights, starting from your saved profile, and you can put the scores in your own order right on the page. It's free and works without an account. You can also weigh in weekday-morning transit time to one of the city's main job centers, filter by median rent or home price, and share any ranking as a link.
Where does your data come from?
From official public sources — New York State test results, the U.S. Census, NYC Planning, the Department of Education, the NYPD, and other city agencies — plus commercial listings for rents and places that change weekly. Our Data page names the sources behind each kind of answer.
Do I need to pay to use Motley?
No. Browsing and ranking neighborhoods, searching schools, comparing them head to head, asking Motley Intelligence, running Analyze for My Family, and saving your research are free. Motley Pro ($9 a month) adds Smart Match, the admissions tracker, the lottery simulator, PDF reports, up to 3 family profiles, monitors, automated place research, and a calendar feed.
Can I use Motley if I already live here and I'm not moving?
Yes — most of what we do is about choosing a school, not choosing an address. Save your current home, find your district and zoned school, track admissions deadlines, and compare the options around you. The neighborhood side is there when you want it.
What is Intelligence, and can it change things on its own?
Motley Intelligence is our chat: the first screen when you sign in, and you can try it without an account. It answers questions about NYC schools, neighborhoods and admissions, finds schools by name or by what you describe, ranks and compares neighborhoods, finds places in a neighborhood, and tells you what’s due. It never acts on its own — when it wants to change something it proposes the change, shows you exactly what will happen, and waits for you to confirm.
What's a zoned school, and how do you know mine?
Most NYC elementary schools admit children who live inside a drawn zone. We find yours from the home address on your profile — no lookup needed — and show it on your district page and in the lottery simulator. Middle and high school admissions mostly don't work this way.
What's the difference between a child and a family profile?
A child is one of your kids, with their own grade and admissions tracking. A family profile is a whole saved context — your current home, or a move you’re weighing — with its own saved schools and research. Free accounts get one family profile; Pro gets up to 3. Every profile can have several children.
Why does Motley ask me to finish my profile before some tools?
Smart Match, the personalized snapshot, and PDF reports rank things against your family, so they need enough to work with: a child with a grade, your ranked priorities, a borough or some neighborhoods you're interested in, your school-type preference, and whether each child needs special-education support. Nothing else is gated this way.
Do I have to check off the same document at every school?
No. Your documents list is per child, not per school. Tick off a birth certificate once and it shows as done at every school you track, including ones you add later. Marking a document as not needed at one school only affects that school.
What are monitors?
A monitor watches one school or neighborhood for news. We check daily, sort what we find into categories, and collect it in one reader on your dashboard. You can keep up to 3 monitors active at a time, and turning one off doesn't erase what it already found.
Is my family's information private?
Yes. Your profile and saved items are tied to your account and used only to personalize your results. We never sell your family’s data. See our Privacy Policyfor the full detail on what we collect and how it’s used.
How do I get help or report a problem?
Email us at hello@motley.nycand we’ll get back to you. The Contact page in this Help section has the details.