Best PlacesWawarsing, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wawarsing, 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.
Wawarsing ranks 34,981st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wawarsing
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.
Wawarsing's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wawarsing ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 90% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
Where Wawarsing ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wawarsing
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wawarsing home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $55,680, 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 Wawarsing's effective rate of 1.42%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wawarsing
Wawarsing runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Wawarsing.
Who works in Wawarsing, and how
Work in Wawarsing centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Wawarsing
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wawarsing.
What the weather is like in Wawarsing, month by month
Wawarsing sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Wawarsing
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wawarsing
Schools across Wawarsing average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ellenville Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rondout Valley Intermediate SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Rondout Valley Junior High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Rondout Valley High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Ellenville Junior/senior High SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wawarsing school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wawarsing 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 Wawarsing against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wawarsing
Is Wawarsing a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wawarsing ranks 34,981st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, good schools, and biking, and lowest on education levels and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wawarsing expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,477. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $55,680 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Wawarsing safe?
Wawarsing is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $378 per resident a year.
Compare Wawarsing with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wawarsing. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wawarsing 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.
Wawarsing detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wawarsing: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wawarsing: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wawarsing: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wawarsing: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wawarsing 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.