Best PlacesFranklin Falls, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Franklin Falls, 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.
Franklin Falls ranks 17,196th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Franklin Falls
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.
Franklin Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Where Franklin Falls ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of towns
Where Franklin Falls ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Franklin Falls
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Franklin Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,173, 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 Falls' effective rate of 1.32%, 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 Franklin Falls
Franklin Falls 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 Franklin Falls.
Who works in Franklin Falls, and how
Work in Franklin Falls centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Franklin Falls
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Franklin Falls.
What the weather is like in Franklin Falls, month by month
Franklin Falls sees roughly 64 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 Franklin Falls
The nearest airport, Adirondack Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 184 miles away.
The best schools in and around Franklin Falls
Schools across Franklin Falls average a B, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ausable Forks Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Bloomingdale SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Saranac Lake Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Ausable Valley Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Saranac Lake Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Ausable Valley High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Lake Placid Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Franklin Falls school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Franklin Falls 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 Falls against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Franklin Falls
Is Franklin Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Franklin Falls ranks 17,196th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, quiet, and tree cover, and lowest on biking and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Franklin Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $232,798. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $85,173 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Franklin Falls safe?
Yes, Franklin Falls is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $227 per resident a year.
Compare Franklin Falls with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Franklin Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Franklin Falls 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 Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Franklin Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Franklin Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Franklin Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Franklin Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Franklin Falls 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.