Best PlacesTillson, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tillson, 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.
Tillson ranks 7,073rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tillson
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.
Tillson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tillson ranks high
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
Where Tillson ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tillson
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tillson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $97,263, 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 Tillson's effective rate of 1.50%, 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 Tillson
Tillson 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 Tillson.
Who works in Tillson, and how
Work in Tillson centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Tillson
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tillson.
What the weather is like in Tillson, month by month
Tillson sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 30° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Tillson
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tillson
Schools across Tillson average an A−, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Marbletown Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Paltz Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Rondout Valley Intermediate SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Rondout Valley Junior High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- New Paltz Senior High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Highland High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Rondout Valley High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tillson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tillson 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 Tillson against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tillson
Is Tillson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tillson ranks 7,073rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, an educated workforce, and big-city access, and lowest on car insurance costs and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tillson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $314,359. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $97,263 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Tillson safe?
Yes, Tillson is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $278 per resident a year.
Compare Tillson with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tillson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tillson 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.
Tillson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tillson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tillson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tillson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tillson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tillson 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.