Best PlacesEast Chatham, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Chatham, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
East Chatham ranks 9,080th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in East Chatham
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.
East Chatham's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Chatham ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
Where East Chatham ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in East Chatham
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Chatham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $99,073; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 East Chatham'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 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 East Chatham
East Chatham 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 East Chatham.
Who works in East Chatham, and how
Work in East Chatham centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in East Chatham
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across East Chatham.
What the weather is like in East Chatham, month by month
East Chatham sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of East Chatham
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Chatham
Schools across East Chatham average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Walter B Howard Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Mary E Dardess Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chatham Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Chatham High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- New Lebanon Junior-senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Chatham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Chatham 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 East Chatham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in East Chatham
Is East Chatham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Chatham ranks 9,080th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and tree cover, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Chatham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $367,883. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $99,073 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is East Chatham safe?
Yes, East Chatham is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $215 per resident a year.
Compare East Chatham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Chatham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Chatham 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.
East Chatham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Chatham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Chatham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Chatham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Chatham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Chatham 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.