Best PlacesThomaston, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Thomaston, 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.
Thomaston ranks 520th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Thomaston
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.
Thomaston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Thomaston ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$176,434 median, better than 99% of towns
Where Thomaston ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 2% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Short commute39.5 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Thomaston
A household needs to earn about $320,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Thomaston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $176,434, 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 Thomaston's effective rate of 1.58%, 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 Thomaston
Thomaston runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Thomaston.
Who works in Thomaston, and how
Work in Thomaston centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 46%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 30%
Life in Thomaston
The coast is about 9 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Thomaston, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Thomaston, month by month
Thomaston sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 36° | 29° |
| April | 65° | 53° | 45° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 70° | 61° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Thomaston
Laguardia sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 16.3 million passengers in 2025, with 118 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Thomaston
Schools across Thomaston average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lakeville Elementary SchoolA+ · 96% proficient
- Saddle Rock SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manhasset Middle SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Great Neck South Middle SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
Top high schools
- Great Neck South High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Manhasset Secondary SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Thomaston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Thomaston 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 Thomaston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Thomaston
Is Thomaston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Thomaston ranks 520th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, transit, and good schools, and lowest on car insurance costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Thomaston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,105,238. The overall cost of living runs about 44% above the national average. Set against a $176,434 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Thomaston safe?
Thomaston is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $311 per resident a year.
Compare Thomaston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Thomaston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Thomaston 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.
Thomaston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Thomaston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Thomaston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Thomaston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Thomaston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Thomaston 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.