Best PlacesBenson, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Benson, 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.
Benson ranks 12,203rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Benson
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.
Benson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Benson ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of towns
Where Benson ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 15% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Benson
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Benson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,207, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Benson's effective rate of 1.25%, 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.
Who lives in Benson
Benson runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Benson.
Who works in Benson, and how
Work in Benson centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Benson
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Benson.
What the weather is like in Benson, month by month
Benson sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 57° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 62° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Benson
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around Benson
Schools across Benson average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northville Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Mayfield Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Mayfield Jr/sr High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Benson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Benson 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 Benson against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Benson
Is Benson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Benson ranks 12,203rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, quiet, and clean air, and lowest on car insurance costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Benson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,412. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $80,207 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Benson safe?
Yes, Benson is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $203 per resident a year.
Compare Benson with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Benson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Benson 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.
Benson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Benson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Benson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Benson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Benson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Benson 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.