Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Clarkstown grades A− overall, 201st among New York's 745 graded towns. Residents are healthier than 93% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates and its schools rank ahead of 83% of New York towns. The catch is cost: the typical home is worth about $602K, 6.1 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income. Clarkstown’s median rent is $2,185 a month, above both the New York town median ($1,098 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). Its National Register listings include Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel Number 15 and Henry Varnum Poor House. Clarkstown is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 87% of U.S. towns.
Where Clarkstown beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,808 in 1820, 86,855 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 2006 and 5 maps from 1910 on.
16 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Clarkstown is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Clarkstown. Close and well known come first.
Big draw18 mi MuseumUnited States Military Academy
Big draw24 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw27 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw26 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw25 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a yearUnited States Military Academy: USMA Public Affairs Office, Public domain · Central Park: Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Madison Square Garden: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, CC BY 2.0 · MetLife Stadium: babyknight, CC BY 2.0 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Clarkstown, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Clarkstown.
Clarkstown trades workers with New York City and other neighbors and has less food insecurity than most of New York, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New York.
40 miles of trail in 15 parks and preserves. The trail density in Clarkstown is 0.9 miles per square mile. Rockland Lake State Park, at 1,136 acres with 13.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rockland Lake State Park | 13.3 mi | 1,136 |
| 2. Hook Mountain State Park | 10.4 mi | 679 |
| 3. Kennedy - Dells County Park | 4.5 mi | 205 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− for schools comes with a D− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $602K.
Its public schools are run by the Clarkstown Central School District. Three of its 31 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Felix Festa Determination Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 679 | B− |
| Clarkstown South Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,386 | A+ |
| Clarkstown North Senior High SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,209 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with New York is food insecurity: 10.3% of its 16,335 adults worry about having enough food, against 17.2% statewide. Against the 3,862 U.S. towns with household incomes like Clarkstown’s, it is healthier than 77%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
13% of Clarkstown adults report frequent mental distress. Clarkstown beats the New York average on 18 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 16% of Clarkstown adults have been diagnosed with depression.
| Clarkstown | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 16% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 21% | 23% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.4% | 13% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Clarkstown | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.3% | 17.2% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 8.3% | 12.8% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
724 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 103 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 89% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 724 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Clarkstown.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Clarkstown has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. Clarkstown’s July high is 85°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Clarkstown has about as many jobs (35,478) as working residents, but only 7,714 people both live and work here.
Most working residents leave Clarkstown for work: only 19% work in town. 6.5% of residents live below the poverty line in Clarkstown. The top destinations are New York (28%), Ramapo (8%) and Orangetown (8%).
| Clarkstown | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $137,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 19% | 10% | 8% |
| Work from home | 15% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Reported crimes fell from 1,509 to 1,144 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
At 6.1 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home costs more against local pay than in 82% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its D− for cost of living.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
29 within 15 miles of the center of Clarkstown
About 6 of every 100 Clarkstown residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New York.
16 places in Clarkstown on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Clarkstown.
Town in New York, United States
Clarkstown is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States. The town is on the eastern border of the county, located north of the town of Orangetown, east of the town of Ramapo, south of the town of Haverstraw, and west of the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 86,855. The hamlet of New City, the county seat of Rockland County, is also the seat of town government and of the Clarkstown Police Department, the county sheriff's office, and the county correctional facility. New City makes up about 41.47% of the town's population.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Clarkstown.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clarkstown | #201 | A− | D− | B− | A− | A |
| Orangetown | #126 | A | D− | — | A− | A |
| West Nyack | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Blauvelt | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Ramapo | #503 | C+ | D− | A− | D | B+ |
| Haverstraw | #470 | C+ | D | — | C+ | A− |
| Haverstraw | #706 | D | D− | — | C | C |
| New City | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Orangetown, Haverstraw and Haverstraw report no FBI crime data of their own. West Nyack, Blauvelt and New City aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Clarkstown with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Clarkstown grades A− overall, better than 75% of U.S. towns and #201 of 745 in New York. It grades A for health, B− for safety and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $602,000, 15% above the New York typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
3 notable people were born here, including John J. Wood and David Carlucci.
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