Best PlacesFort Drum, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Drum, 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.
Fort Drum ranks 13,367th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Drum
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.
Fort Drum's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Drum ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute11.5 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
Where Fort Drum ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 15% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Drum
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Drum home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,196, 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 Fort Drum's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fort Drum
Fort Drum runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fort Drum.
Who works in Fort Drum, and how
Work in Fort Drum centers on finance & insurance and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Fort Drum
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fort Drum.
What the weather is like in Fort Drum, month by month
Fort Drum sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 22° | 14° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Fort Drum
The nearest airport, Watertown International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 214 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Drum
Schools across Fort Drum average a B+, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Black River SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Sherman SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Theresa Primary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Indian River Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Clarke Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Carthage Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Indian River High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Watertown Senior High SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Carthage Senior High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Drum school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Drum 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 Fort Drum against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Drum
Is Fort Drum a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Drum ranks 13,367th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, heat safety, and short commutes, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Drum expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $183,340. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $58,196 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Fort Drum safe?
Yes, Fort Drum is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $279 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Drum with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Drum. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Drum 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.
Fort Drum detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Drum: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Drum: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Drum: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Drum: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Drum 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.