Best PlacesScotchtown, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Scotchtown, 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.
Scotchtown ranks 8,503rd 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 Scotchtown
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.
Scotchtown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Scotchtown ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
Where Scotchtown ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Scotchtown
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Scotchtown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $99,194; 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 Scotchtown's effective rate of 1.97%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Scotchtown
Scotchtown runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Scotchtown.
Who works in Scotchtown, and how
Work in Scotchtown centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Scotchtown
Scotchtown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns and more parkland per resident than 89% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Scotchtown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Scotchtown, month by month
Scotchtown sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Scotchtown
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Scotchtown
Schools across Scotchtown average a B−, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pakanasink Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Presidential Park Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- William A Carter SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- C J Hooker Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Middletown Twin Towers Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Circleville Middle SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Goshen Central High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Middletown High SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Scotchtown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Scotchtown 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 Scotchtown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Scotchtown
Is Scotchtown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Scotchtown ranks 8,503rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, population health, and fast internet, and lowest on property taxes and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Scotchtown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $350,993. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $99,194 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Scotchtown safe?
Yes, Scotchtown is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $216 per resident a year.
Compare Scotchtown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Scotchtown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Scotchtown 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.
Scotchtown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Scotchtown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Scotchtown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Scotchtown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Scotchtown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Scotchtown 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.