Best PlacesGranite, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Granite, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Granite ranks 8,475th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Granite
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.
Granite's strengths and weaknesses
Where Granite ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$107,265 median, better than 89% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
Where Granite ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Short commute35.4 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Granite
A household needs to earn about $129,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Granite home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,265, 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 Granite's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 Granite
Granite 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 Granite.
Who works in Granite, and how
Work in Granite centers on hospitality & food and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Granite
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Granite.
What the weather is like in Granite, month by month
Granite sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Granite
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Granite
Schools across Granite average a B+, better than 85% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ellenville Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Paltz Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Rondout Valley Intermediate SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Rondout Valley Junior High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- New Paltz Senior High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Rondout Valley High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Ellenville Junior/senior High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Granite school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Granite 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 Granite against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Granite
Is Granite a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Granite ranks 8,475th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, tree cover, and high incomes, and lowest on an overheated housing market 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 Granite expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $478,711. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $107,265 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Granite safe?
Yes, Granite is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $255 per resident a year.
Compare Granite with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Granite. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Granite 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.
Granite detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Granite: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Granite: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Granite: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Granite: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Granite 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.