Best PlacesLake Desolation, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lake Desolation, 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.
Lake Desolation ranks 10,760th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lake Desolation
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.
Lake Desolation's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake Desolation ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
Where Lake Desolation ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Short commute35.0 minutes each way, better than only 14% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lake Desolation
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake Desolation home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $73,099; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Lake Desolation's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Lake Desolation
Lake Desolation 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 Lake Desolation.
Who works in Lake Desolation, and how
Work in Lake Desolation centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lake Desolation
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lake Desolation.
What the weather is like in Lake Desolation, month by month
Lake Desolation sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 57° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 62° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Lake Desolation
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 105 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake Desolation
Schools across Lake Desolation average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Greenfield Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Joseph Henry Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Corinth Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Maple Avenue Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Corinth Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Saratoga Springs High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Corinth High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Galway Junior/senior High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake Desolation school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake Desolation 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 Lake Desolation against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lake Desolation
Is Lake Desolation a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake Desolation ranks 10,760th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, tree cover, and clean air, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake Desolation expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $298,269. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $73,099 median income, cost of living beats 36% of towns.
Is Lake Desolation safe?
Yes, Lake Desolation is safer than 92% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $174 per resident a year.
Compare Lake Desolation with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake Desolation. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake Desolation 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.
Lake Desolation detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake Desolation: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake Desolation: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake Desolation: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake Desolation: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake Desolation 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.