Best PlacesMonroe, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Monroe, 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.
Monroe ranks 8,688th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Monroe
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.
Monroe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Monroe ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$120,977 median, better than 93% of towns
Where Monroe ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute40.0 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Monroe
A household needs to earn about $138,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Monroe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $120,977, 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 Monroe's effective rate of 2.20%, 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 Monroe
Monroe runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Monroe.
Who works in Monroe, and how
Work in Monroe centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Monroe
Monroe has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns and more parkland per resident than 84% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Monroe and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Monroe, month by month
Monroe sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 30° | 23° |
| April | 60° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Monroe
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 41 miles away.
The best schools in and around Monroe
Schools across Monroe average an A−, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sanfordville Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Greenwood Lake Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Pine Tree Elementary SchoolA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Warwick Valley Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Greenwood Lake Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Monroe-woodbury Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Monroe-woodbury High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Warwick Valley High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Washingtonville Senior High SchoolA+ · 93% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Monroe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Monroe 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 Monroe against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Monroe suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Monroe
Is Monroe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Monroe ranks 8,688th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, population health, and fast internet, and lowest on property taxes and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Monroe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $441,710. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $120,977 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Monroe safe?
Monroe is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $387 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Monroe?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 23. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 34% of towns.
Is Monroe good for families?
Schools beat 90% of towns, crime safety beats 35%, and childcare runs $1,308 a month.
Compare Monroe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Monroe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Monroe 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.
Monroe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Monroe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Monroe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Monroe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Monroe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Monroe 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.