Best PlacesGlens Falls, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Glens Falls metro, 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.
Photo by Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via commons
Glens Falls ranks 131st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on cell coverage and empty homes. It does better on good schools, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Glens Falls metro
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 Glens Falls
The towns and districts of the Glens Falls metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Glens Falls North, West Glens Falls & Lake George
More adults hold degrees, biking is better, and more residents vote.
Downtown Glens Falls
Fewer homes sit empty, though tree cover is thinner.
Cambridge & Salem
It is quieter, though commutes are longer.
Warrensburg
Prices have run up more and streets are more car-dependent.
Fort Edward & Greenwich
More households have young kids, though crime runs higher.
Granville
Homes cost less, though incomes run lower.
Whitehall & Comstock
Local pay stretches less far and health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Glens Falls run from about the 16th to the 97th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Glens Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Glens Falls lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Good schools is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Tree cover and health care access follow.
The one real hole is cell coverage, near the bottom of the country. Empty homes and internet speeds also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Glens Falls ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 98% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of metro areas
Where Glens Falls ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 15% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Glens Falls
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Glens Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,898, 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 Glens Falls' effective rate of 1.57%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Glens Falls
Glens 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 Glens Falls.
Who works in Glens Falls, and how
Work in Glens Falls centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, 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 Glens Falls
Glens Falls has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 79% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Glens Falls and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Glens Falls growing, and who is moving in?
Glens Falls has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Albany, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Glens Falls go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Glens Falls, month by month
Glens Falls sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 24° | 14° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 58° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Glens Falls
The nearest airport, Rutland/Southern Vermont Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 107 miles away.
The best schools in and around Glens Falls
Schools across Glens Falls average an A−, better than 98% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Kensington Road SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Queensbury Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Big Cross Street SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- William H Barton Intermediate SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Oliver W Winch Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Glens Falls Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Glens Falls Senior High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Queensbury Senior High SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Glens Falls school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Glens 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 Glens Falls against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Glens Falls suits
Common questions about living in Glens Falls
Is Glens Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Glens Falls ranks 131st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on good schools, tree cover, and health care access, and lowest on cell coverage and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Glens Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $238,213. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $78,898 median income, cost of living beats 34% of metro areas.
Is Glens Falls safe?
Yes, Glens Falls is safer than 92% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $237 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Glens Falls?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 14. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Glens Falls?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Glens Falls North, West Glens Falls & Lake George, Downtown Glens Falls, and Cambridge & Salem. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Glens Falls good for families?
Schools beat 98% of metro areas, crime safety beats 92%, and childcare runs $1,206 a month.
Is Glens Falls good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 34% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 5% of metro areas. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Glens Falls with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Glens Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Glens 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.
Glens Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Glens Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Glens Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Glens Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Glens Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Glens 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.
- 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.