Best PlacesStratford, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stratford, 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.
Stratford ranks 28,579th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Stratford
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.
Stratford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stratford ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 95% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
Where Stratford ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute43.5 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stratford
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stratford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,780, 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 Stratford's effective rate of 1.70%, 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 Stratford
Stratford 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 Stratford.
Who works in Stratford, and how
Work in Stratford centers on retail trade and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Stratford
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Stratford.
What the weather is like in Stratford, month by month
Stratford sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 24° | 15° |
| April | 59° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 65° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Stratford
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 132 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stratford
Schools across Stratford average an A−, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dolgeville Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- James A Green Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stratford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stratford 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 Stratford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stratford
Is Stratford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stratford ranks 28,579th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, a strong job market, and tree cover, and lowest on cell coverage and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stratford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $160,891. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $62,780 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Stratford safe?
Yes, Stratford is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $211 per resident a year.
Compare Stratford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stratford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stratford 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.
Stratford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stratford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stratford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stratford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stratford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stratford 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.