Best PlacesLatham, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Latham, 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.
Latham ranks 1,072nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Latham
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.
Latham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Latham ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
Where Latham ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Latham
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Latham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $117,113, 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 Latham's effective rate of 1.32%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Latham
Latham runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Latham.
Who works in Latham, and how
Work in Latham centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Latham
Latham has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns and more late-night spots per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Latham and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Latham, month by month
Latham sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Latham
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 78 miles away.
The best schools in and around Latham
Schools across Latham average an A, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Birchwood Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Boght Hills SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Loudonville SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shaker Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Iroquois Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Sand Creek Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Niskayuna High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Shaker High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Colonie Central High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Latham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Latham 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 Latham against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Latham suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 87% of towns and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Latham
Is Latham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Latham ranks 1,072nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, transit, and population health, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Latham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $356,901. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $117,113 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Latham safe?
Yes, Latham is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $213 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Latham?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 18. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 22% of towns.
Is Latham good for families?
Schools beat 98% of towns, crime safety beats 90%, and childcare runs $1,308 a month.
Compare Latham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Latham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Latham 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.
Latham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Latham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Latham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Latham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Latham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Latham 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.