I live more north, so I'm not as familiar with the affordability of neighborhoods close to JFK/LGA. I've heard Astoria is cool and has a lot of younger families, but I think the rent prices there have gone up a lot recently. You can look in Westchester county area like White Plains. I know several people that live up there, and I don't think it's very expensive by comparison. It's about an hour to JFK and about 40 mins to LGA depending on traffic. You can find cheap places in Yonkers, but it's kind of a hole. The Bronx is ghetto central and driving/parking there is a circus. Sorry I don't have more specific insight, but that's somewhat of an overview.