Best PlacesCranberry Lake, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cranberry Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cranberry Lake ranks 43,217th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cranberry Lake
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.
Cranberry Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cranberry Lake ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 77% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 75% of towns
Where Cranberry Lake ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Household income$46,950 median, better than only 9% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cranberry Lake
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cranberry Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $46,950, 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 Cranberry Lake's effective rate of 1.55%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cranberry Lake
Cranberry Lake 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 Cranberry Lake.
Who works in Cranberry Lake, and how
Work in Cranberry Lake centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Cranberry Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cranberry Lake.
What the weather is like in Cranberry Lake, month by month
Cranberry Lake sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 17° | 7° |
| April | 53° | 39° | 26° |
| July | 80° | 66° | 51° |
| October | 59° | 46° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Cranberry Lake
The nearest airport, Adirondack Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 192 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cranberry Lake
Schools across Cranberry Lake average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clifton-fine Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- L P Quinn Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Edwards-knox Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Edwards-knox Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
- Clifton-fine Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Tupper Lake Middle-high SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cranberry Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cranberry Lake 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 Cranberry Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cranberry Lake
Is Cranberry Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cranberry Lake ranks 43,217th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, clean air, and good schools, and lowest on a weak job market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cranberry Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $109,800. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $46,950 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Cranberry Lake safe?
Cranberry Lake is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $423 per resident a year.
Compare Cranberry Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cranberry Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cranberry Lake 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.
Cranberry Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cranberry Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cranberry Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cranberry Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cranberry Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cranberry Lake 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.