Best PlacesTroy, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Troy, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Troy ranks 1,098th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Troy
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.
Troy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Troy ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of cities
- TransitBetter than 89% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of cities
- School gradeB+, better than 84% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of cities
Where Troy ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 9% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Troy
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Troy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,941, 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 Troy's effective rate of 1.97%, 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 Troy
Troy runs younger 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 Troy.
Who works in Troy, and how
Work in Troy centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Troy
Troy has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of cities and more parkland per resident than 96% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Troy and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Troy, month by month
Troy sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Troy
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 75 miles away.
The best schools in and around Troy
Schools across Troy average a B+, better than 84% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Bell Top SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Mechanicville Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Ps 18A · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Howard L Goff SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Troy Middle SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Knickerbacker Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Averill Park High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Columbia High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Troy High SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Troy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Troy 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 Troy against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Troy suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Troy
Is Troy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Troy ranks 1,098th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, transit, and walkability, and lowest on internet speeds and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Troy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $221,396. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $73,941 median income, cost of living beats 29% of cities.
Is Troy safe?
Yes, Troy is safer than 61% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $307 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Troy?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 18. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of cities.
Is Troy good for families?
Schools beat 84% of cities, crime safety beats 61%, and childcare runs $1,317 a month.
Compare Troy with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Troy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Troy 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.
Troy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Troy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Troy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Troy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Troy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Troy 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.