Best PlacesSchenectady, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Schenectady, 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.
Schenectady ranks 121st of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on clean air and tree cover. The weaker spots are internet speeds, property taxes, and state infrastructure.
The best neighborhoods in Schenectady
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.
The best areas in Schenectady
The parts of Schenectady, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Downtown Schenectady
Streets are more walkable, biking is better, and it is quieter.
Hamilton Hills, Vale and Eastern Avenue & Central State
Fewer adults hold degrees and local pay stretches less far.
Mt. Pleasant
Incomes run lower and crime runs higher.
Schenectady shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Schenectady's strengths and weaknesses
Schenectady lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Clean air, tree cover, and low disaster risk carry most of that.
The one real hole is internet speeds, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and state infrastructure also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Schenectady ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of cities
- School gradeB, better than 88% of cities
Where Schenectady ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Schenectady
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Schenectady home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,777, 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 Schenectady's effective rate of 2.19%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Schenectady
Schenectady's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Schenectady.
Who works in Schenectady, and how
Work in Schenectady centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Schenectady
Schenectady has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of cities and more parkland per resident than 87% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Schenectady and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Schenectady, month by month
Schenectady sees roughly 73 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 Schenectady
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Schenectady
Schools across Schenectady average a B, better than 88% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Birchwood Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Rosendale SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Charlton Heights Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Acadia Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Iroquois Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Richard H O'rourke Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Niskayuna High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Guilderland High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Shenendehowa High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Schenectady school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Schenectady 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 Schenectady against the other 444 cities.
Who Schenectady suits
Common questions about living in Schenectady
Is Schenectady a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Schenectady ranks 121st of 445 cities. It scores highest on clean air, tree cover, and low disaster risk, and lowest on internet speeds and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Schenectady expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $260,300. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $93,777 median income, cost of living beats 69% of cities.
Is Schenectady safe?
Yes, Schenectady is safer than 88% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $292 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Schenectady?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 21. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 25% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Schenectady?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Schenectady, Hamilton Hills, Vale and Eastern Avenue & Central State, and Mt. Pleasant. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Schenectady good for families?
Schools beat 88% of cities, crime safety beats 88%, and childcare runs $1,315 a month.
Is Schenectady good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 69% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 1% of cities. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Schenectady with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Schenectady. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Schenectady 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.
Schenectady detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Schenectady: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Schenectady: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Schenectady: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Schenectady: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Schenectady 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.