Best Places12143, NY Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 12143, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

12143 ranks 8,174th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. Property taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low disaster risk.

#8,174
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 12143

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 12143 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

12143's strengths and weaknesses

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 12143 with other zip codes.

Where 12143 ranks high

  • Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 89% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than 89% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than 86% of zip codes
  • School gradeB+, better than 86% of zip codes

Where 12143 ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 13% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,295 a month, better than only 16% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 18% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 12143

A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 12143 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,967, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$65,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,514
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $220,273 home
Median rent
$1,075
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,123
Property tax$318
Homeowners insurance$73

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 12143's effective rate of 1.73%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 12143

12143 runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
46
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
15%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1819%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4922%
50 to 6424%
65 and older15%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 12143.


Who works in 12143, and how

Work in 12143 centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.

Work from home
15%
about the national average
Unemployment
2.7%
below the national average
Job growth
+1.3%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social13%
Public administration12%
Retail trade11%
Hospitality & food10%
Education9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 79%
  • Work from home 15%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 6%

Life in 12143

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 12143.


What the weather is like in 12143, month by month

12143 sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January37°27°18°
April62°49°37°
July87°74°63°
October66°54°43°

Flying in and out of 12143

The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 69 miles away.

Nearest airport
ALB
Albany International, about 19 miles
Airport size
Small hub
86th-busiest in the US, 61 nonstop destinations
Average drive
27 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 12143

Schools across 12143 average a B+, better than 86% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 12143 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


12143 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 12143 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 12143

Is 12143 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 12143 ranks 8,174th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low crime, and clean air, and lowest on property taxes and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 12143 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $220,273. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $90,967 median income, cost of living beats 72% of zip codes.

Is 12143 safe?

Yes, 12143 is safer than 89% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $195 per resident a year.


Compare 12143 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 12143. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 12143 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

12143 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 12143: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 12143: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 12143: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 12143: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

12143 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.