Best PlacesPoughkeepsie, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Poughkeepsie, 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.
Poughkeepsie ranks 34,829th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Poughkeepsie
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.
Poughkeepsie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Poughkeepsie ranks high
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
Where Poughkeepsie ranks low
- Short commute40.2 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Poughkeepsie
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Poughkeepsie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,773, 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 Poughkeepsie's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Poughkeepsie.
Who works in Poughkeepsie, and how
Work in Poughkeepsie centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Poughkeepsie
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Poughkeepsie.
What the weather is like in Poughkeepsie, month by month
Poughkeepsie sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 37° | 27° |
| April | 72° | 58° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 75° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Poughkeepsie
The nearest airport, Boone County, is about 96 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Poughkeepsie
Schools across Poughkeepsie average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hillcrest Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Cherokee Elementary SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Cave City Elementary SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cave City Middle School Career And Collegiate PreparatoryB− · 41% proficient
- Highland Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Highland High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Hillcrest High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Cave City High Career & Collegiate Preparatory SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Poughkeepsie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Poughkeepsie 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 Poughkeepsie against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Poughkeepsie
Is Poughkeepsie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Poughkeepsie ranks 34,829th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and low property taxes, and lowest on long commutes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Poughkeepsie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $187,959. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $81,773 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Poughkeepsie safe?
Poughkeepsie is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $536 per resident a year.
Compare Poughkeepsie with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Poughkeepsie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Poughkeepsie 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.
Poughkeepsie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Poughkeepsie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Poughkeepsie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Poughkeepsie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Poughkeepsie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Poughkeepsie 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.