Best PlacesGhent, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ghent, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ghent ranks 7,276th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ghent
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.
Ghent's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ghent ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
Where Ghent ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ghent
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ghent home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,704, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Ghent's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 Ghent
Ghent runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ghent.
Who works in Ghent, and how
Work in Ghent centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Ghent
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ghent.
What the weather is like in Ghent, month by month
Ghent sees roughly 76 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 Ghent
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 56 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ghent
Schools across Ghent average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Taconic Hills Elementary SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Ichabod Crane Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Montgomery C Smith Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chatham Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Ichabod Crane Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Hudson Junior High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Ichabod Crane Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Chatham High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Hudson High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ghent school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ghent 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 Ghent against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ghent
Is Ghent a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ghent ranks 7,276th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, health care access, and an educated workforce, and lowest on childcare costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ghent expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $373,447. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $89,704 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Ghent safe?
Yes, Ghent is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $196 per resident a year.
Compare Ghent with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ghent. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ghent 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.
Ghent detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ghent: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ghent: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ghent: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ghent: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ghent 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.