Best PlacesWest Lebanon, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around West Lebanon, 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.
West Lebanon ranks 11,445th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in West Lebanon
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 Lebanon's strengths and weaknesses
Where West Lebanon ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
Where West Lebanon ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in West Lebanon
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median West Lebanon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,727, 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 West Lebanon's effective rate of 1.48%, 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 West Lebanon
West Lebanon 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 West Lebanon.
Who works in West Lebanon, and how
Work in West Lebanon centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in West Lebanon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across West Lebanon.
What the weather is like in West Lebanon, month by month
West Lebanon sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of West Lebanon
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 56 miles away.
The best schools in and around West Lebanon
Schools across West Lebanon average an A, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Berlin Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Walter B Howard Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- New Lebanon Junior-senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Berlin Middle School/high SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every West Lebanon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
West Lebanon 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 Lebanon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in West Lebanon
Is West Lebanon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, West Lebanon ranks 11,445th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, big-city access, and clean air, and lowest on childcare costs and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is West Lebanon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $272,706. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $83,727 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is West Lebanon safe?
Yes, West Lebanon is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $199 per resident a year.
Compare West Lebanon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to West Lebanon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in West Lebanon 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 Lebanon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for West Lebanon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in West Lebanon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of West Lebanon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in West Lebanon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
West Lebanon 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.