Best PlacesSterling Forest, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sterling Forest, 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.
Sterling Forest ranks 1,822nd 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 Sterling Forest
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.
Sterling Forest's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sterling Forest ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 98% of towns
- Household income$154,397 median, better than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
Where Sterling Forest ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute39.1 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sterling Forest
A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sterling Forest home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $154,397, 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 Sterling Forest's effective rate of 2.22%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sterling Forest
Sterling Forest runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sterling Forest.
Who works in Sterling Forest, and how
Work in Sterling Forest centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Sterling Forest
Sterling Forest has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sterling Forest and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sterling Forest, month by month
Sterling Forest sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Sterling Forest
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 36 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sterling Forest
Schools across Sterling Forest average an A, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sanfordville Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Greenwood Lake Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- George Grant Mason Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Warwick Valley Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Greenwood Lake Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Warwick Valley High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- George F Baker High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sterling Forest school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sterling Forest 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 Sterling Forest against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sterling Forest
Is Sterling Forest a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sterling Forest ranks 1,822nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, fast internet, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sterling Forest expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $471,138. The overall cost of living runs about 23% above the national average. Set against a $154,397 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Sterling Forest safe?
Yes, Sterling Forest is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $185 per resident a year.
Compare Sterling Forest with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sterling Forest. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sterling Forest 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.
Sterling Forest detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sterling Forest: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sterling Forest: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sterling Forest: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sterling Forest: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sterling Forest 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.