Best PlacesSuffern, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Suffern, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Suffern ranks 6,832nd 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 Suffern
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.
Suffern's strengths and weaknesses
Where Suffern ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
Where Suffern ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Suffern
A household needs to earn about $155,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Suffern home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $104,233, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Suffern's effective rate of 2.38%, 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 Suffern
Suffern'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 Suffern.
Who works in Suffern, and how
Work in Suffern centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Suffern
Suffern has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. The coast is about 34 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Suffern and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Suffern, month by month
Suffern sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Suffern
The nearest airport, Westchester County, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 27 miles away.
The best schools in and around Suffern
Schools across Suffern average a B+, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cherry Lane Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Montebello Road SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Viola Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Suffern Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Pomona Middle SchoolF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Suffern Senior High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Ramapo High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Suffern school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Suffern 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 Suffern against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Suffern
Is Suffern a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Suffern ranks 6,832nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, fast internet, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Suffern expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $486,483. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $104,233 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Suffern safe?
Yes, Suffern is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
Compare Suffern with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Suffern. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Suffern 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.
Suffern detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Suffern: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Suffern: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Suffern: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Suffern: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Suffern 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.