Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Cohoes is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 644th among New York's 745 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 44% of the country. Expect to pay for it: homes are expensive, about $339K for a typical one and 3.9 times the Albany metro’s $88K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 97% of U.S. towns, with 17 places on the National Register. 26% of residents live below the poverty line in Cohoes, above both the New York town median (9.5%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). Cohoes is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 92% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include Harmony Mill Historic District and Lock 18 of Enlarged Erie Canal.
Where Cohoes beats most towns.
Harmony Mill No. 3 is one of 2 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 4,229 in 1850, a peak of 24,709 in 1910, 18,147 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1760 and 6 maps from 1893 on.
17 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Cohoes is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Cohoes. Close and well known come first.
29 mi MountainMount Greylock
9 mi Stadium & arenaMVP Arena
10 mi MuseumUSS Slater
9 mi Ancient siteFort Orange
in town WaterfallCohoes Falls
10 mi MuseumSchuyler MansionMount Greylock: Jstergis, CC BY 3.0 · MVP Arena: This image or media was taken or created by Matt H. Wade. To see his entire port, CC BY-SA 3.0 · USS Slater: UpstateNYer, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Orange: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain · Cohoes Falls: bobistraveling, CC BY 2.0 · Schuyler Mansion: This image or media was taken or created by Matt H. Wade. To see his entire port, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cohoes, 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 Cohoes.
Cohoes is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has seen reported crime fall by a third or more, but it has poverty well above the New York rate.
2.7 miles of trail in 12 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Peebles Island State Park, at 33 acres. Cohoes’ trail density is 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Cohoes | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.6% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Van Schaick Park | 0.4 mi | 7 |
| 2. Cohoes Falls View Park | 0.3 mi | 2 |
| 3. Peebles Island State Park | 0.1 mi | 33 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Cohoes City School District. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Cohoes High School, with 607 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cohoes Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 427 | C− |
| Cohoes High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 607 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
40% of households own their home in Cohoes. The typical Cohoes home is worth about $339,000, up 2.1% in a year, 35% below the New York typical home.
| Cohoes | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 40% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,251 a month | $1,098 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The average commute for its 7,680 working residents takes 24.9 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Cohoes for work: only 7% work in town. The median household income in Cohoes is $61,000. The top destinations are Albany (22%), Colonie (18%) and Troy (5%).
| Cohoes | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $61,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.9% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Cohoes has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 16° and about 59 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Reported crimes fell from 324 to 219 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 58% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 19 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Cohoes.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 9,212 U.S. towns with household incomes like Cohoes’s, it is healthier than 66%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
24% of Cohoes adults have been diagnosed with depression. Cohoes beats the New York average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 37% of Cohoes adults feel lonely.
| Cohoes | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 32% | 33% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 13% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Cohoes | NY |
|---|---|---|
| More smokers | 16.2% | 11.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.6% | 6% |
| More adults with depression | 24.4% | 17.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
16 within 15 miles of the center of Cohoes
About 7 of every 100 Cohoes residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New York.
16,168 counted in 2010 and 18,147 in 2020; an estimated 18,518 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
17 places in Cohoes on the National Register of Historic Places.
14 notable people were born in Cohoes.
City in New York, United States
Cohoes ( kə-HOHZ) is an incorporated city located in the northeast corner of Albany County in the U.S. state of New York. It is called the "Spindle City" because of the importance of textile manufacturing to its growth in the 19th century. The city's factories processed cotton from the Deep South. Like other major textile manufacturing centers in the Northeast United States, the labor needs of the city's textile mills were supplied by immigrants, especially French-Canadians from Québec, who made up more than 30% of its total population by 1881. French remained widely spoken as a native language in Cohoes until the late 20th century. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 18,174. The…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Cohoes.
Green Island next door grades lower for schools (D− to Cohoes’s C−) and higher for cost of living (B to C).
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cohoes | #644 | C− | C | C+ | C− | C+ |
| Colonie | #253 | B+ | C | C− | A− | A |
| Waterford | #19 | A+ | B | A | A | A− |
| Green Island · Green Island | #639 | C− | B | — | D− | B− |
| Troy | #699 | D | C+ | D | C− | B− |
Green Island reports no FBI crime data of its own. Green Island and Green Island are one community, graded once. Compare Cohoes with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Cohoes grades C− overall, better than 18% of U.S. towns and #644 of 745 in New York. It grades C+ for health, C+ for safety and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
14 notable people were born here, including George Davis and James A. Herne.
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