Best Places12754, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 12754, 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.
12754 ranks 21,360th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 12754
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.
12754's strengths and weaknesses
Where 12754 ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 90% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of zip codes
- BikingBetter than 85% of zip codes
Where 12754 ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 12754
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 12754 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $64,345, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 12754's effective rate of 2.51%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 12754
12754 runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 12754.
Who works in 12754, and how
Work in 12754 centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in 12754
12754 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 90% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 12754 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 12754, month by month
12754 sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of 12754
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around 12754
Schools across 12754 average a B−, better than 71% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Tri-valley Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Liberty Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liberty Middle SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Liberty High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Livingston Manor High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Sullivan West High School At Lake HuntingtonA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 12754 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
12754 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 12754 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 12754
Is 12754 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 12754 ranks 21,360th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on heat safety, tree cover, and clean air, and lowest on property taxes and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 12754 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $233,484. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $64,345 median income, cost of living beats 36% of zip codes.
Is 12754 safe?
12754 is safer than 29% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $418 per resident a year.
Compare 12754 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 12754. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 12754 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.
12754 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 12754: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 12754: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 12754: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 12754: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
12754 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.