Best PlacesWest Harrison, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around West Harrison, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
West Harrison ranks 4,104th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in West Harrison
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.
West Harrison's strengths and weaknesses
Where West Harrison ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
Where West Harrison ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in West Harrison
A household needs to earn about $165,000 a year to comfortably buy the median West Harrison home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $111,444, 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 West Harrison's effective rate of 1.52%, 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 West Harrison
West Harrison runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for West Harrison.
Who works in West Harrison, and how
Work in West Harrison centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in West Harrison
The coast is about 8 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across West Harrison, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in West Harrison, month by month
West Harrison sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 24° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 57° | 47° |
Flying in and out of West Harrison
The nearest airport, Westchester County, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Laguardia, about 19 miles away.
The best schools in and around West Harrison
Schools across West Harrison average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wampus SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Purchase SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Samuel J Preston SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
Top middle schools
- H C Crittenden Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Westlake Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Valhalla Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Valhalla High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Harrison High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- White Plains Senior High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every West Harrison school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
West Harrison 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 West Harrison against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in West Harrison
Is West Harrison a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, West Harrison ranks 4,104th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, population health, and transit, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is West Harrison expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $575,106. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $111,444 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is West Harrison safe?
West Harrison is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $327 per resident a year.
Compare West Harrison with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to West Harrison. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in West Harrison 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.
West Harrison detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for West Harrison: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in West Harrison: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of West Harrison: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in West Harrison: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
West Harrison 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.