Best PlacesFranklin County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Franklin County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Franklin County ranks 1,730th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Franklin County
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.
The best areas in Franklin County
The parts of Franklin County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Tupper Lake
Crime runs lower, commutes are shorter, and big-city amenities are closer.
Saranac Lake
Fewer households have young kids and more homes sit empty.
Malone
Tree cover is thinner and fewer adults hold degrees.
Hogansburg
Incomes run lower and local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Franklin County run from about the 11th to the 64th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Franklin County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Franklin County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 91% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of counties
- QuietBetter than 84% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of counties
Where Franklin County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 12% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Franklin County
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Franklin County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,029, 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 Franklin County's effective rate of 1.52%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Franklin County
Franklin County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Franklin County.
Who works in Franklin County, and how
Work in Franklin County 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 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Franklin County
Franklin County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Franklin County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Franklin County growing, and who is moving in?
Franklin County has lost about 8% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Franklin County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Franklin County, month by month
Franklin County sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 20° | 10° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 32° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 58° |
| October | 63° | 50° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Franklin County
The nearest airport, Adirondack Regional, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 210 miles away.
The best schools in and around Franklin County
Schools across Franklin County average a B, better than 81% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Placid Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Saint Lawrence Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Chateaugay Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Saranac Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- St Lawrence Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Saranac Lake Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Saranac High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Saranac Lake Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Saint Lawrence High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Franklin County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Franklin County 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 Franklin County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Franklin County suits
Common questions about living in Franklin County
Is Franklin County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Franklin County ranks 1,730th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, heat safety, and low disaster risk, and lowest on property taxes and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Franklin County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $149,852. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $67,029 median income, cost of living beats 34% of counties.
Is Franklin County safe?
Franklin County is safer than 36% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $385 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Franklin County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 10. That works out to about 69 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Franklin County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake, and Malone. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Franklin County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Franklin County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Franklin County 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.
Franklin County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Franklin County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Franklin County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Franklin County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Franklin County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Franklin County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.