Best PlacesWatervliet, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Watervliet, 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.
Watervliet ranks 11,910th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Watervliet
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.
Watervliet's strengths and weaknesses
Where Watervliet ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
Where Watervliet ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,308 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Watervliet
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Watervliet home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,724, 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 Watervliet's effective rate of 1.69%, 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 Watervliet
Watervliet's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Watervliet.
Who works in Watervliet, and how
Work in Watervliet centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Watervliet
Watervliet has more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Watervliet and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Watervliet, month by month
Watervliet sees roughly 66 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 Watervliet
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Watervliet
Schools across Watervliet average a B+, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Loudonville SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Latham Ridge SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Ps 18A · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shaker Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
- Cohoes Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Shaker High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Lansingburgh Senior High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Cohoes High SchoolA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Watervliet school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Watervliet 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 Watervliet against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Watervliet
Is Watervliet a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Watervliet ranks 11,910th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Watervliet expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $247,856. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $74,724 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Watervliet safe?
Yes, Watervliet is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $276 per resident a year.
Compare Watervliet with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Watervliet. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Watervliet 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.
Watervliet detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Watervliet: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Watervliet: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Watervliet: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Watervliet: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Watervliet 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.