Best PlacesWassaic, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wassaic, 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.
Wassaic ranks 32,047th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wassaic
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.
Wassaic's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wassaic ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of towns
Where Wassaic ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Short commute35.5 minutes each way, better than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wassaic
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wassaic home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $76,206; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Wassaic's effective rate of 1.09%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wassaic
Wassaic 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 Wassaic.
Who works in Wassaic, and how
Work in Wassaic centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Wassaic
Wassaic has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Wassaic and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wassaic, month by month
Wassaic sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Wassaic
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wassaic
Schools across Wassaic average a B+, better than 85% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Webutuck Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dover Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Eugene Brooks Intermediate SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Webutuck High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Dover High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wassaic school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wassaic 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 Wassaic against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wassaic
Is Wassaic a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wassaic ranks 32,047th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wassaic expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $295,251. The overall cost of living runs about 49% above the national average. Set against a $76,206 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Wassaic safe?
Yes, Wassaic is safer than 67% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Wassaic with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wassaic. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wassaic 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.
Wassaic detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wassaic: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wassaic: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wassaic: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wassaic: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wassaic 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.