Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 24,343, settled in 1799.
The typical home is worth about $462K, 4.7 years of the Kiryas Joel metro’s $98K median household income. Overall it grades C+, 496th among New York's 745 graded towns. It has 14 miles of trail and it is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns. Monroe’s typical rent is $2,186 a month, against $1,098 a month in New York’s towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. Monroe is home to Uta Mesivta of Kiryas Joel.
Where Monroe beats most towns.
39,912 counted in 2010 and 21,387 in 2020; an estimated 24,343 in 2025.
The decline has turned around: up 13.8% since 2020, after a 46.4% drop in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Monroe is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,969 in 1820, a low of 1,694 in 1890, 21,387 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 1790 and 4 maps from 1902 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Monroe. Close and well known come first.
Big draw14 mi MuseumUnited States Military Academy
Big draw38 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw40 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw39 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw38 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 Monroe, 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 Monroe.
Monroe has fewer 90° days than most of the country, though not than most of New York; it also trails even towns with similar incomes on health.
There are 14 miles of trail across 10 parks and preserves. Sterling Forest State Park, at 1,022 acres with 1.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. In Monroe, the concentration of trails is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Appalachian National Scenic Trail | 2.8 mi | 329 |
| 2. Harriman State Park | 1.6 mi | 345 |
| 3. Sterling Forest State Park | 1.5 mi | 1,022 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Two of its 6 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. The public schools here belong to the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District. Also worth knowing: the 4 public schools in Monroe teach 1,644 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Tree Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 2–5 | Grades 2–5 | 746 | C |
| Sheri Torah V'Yoel Moshe PrivateLargest high schoolGrades PK–11 | Grades PK–11 | 5,566 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Monroe’s natural-hazard score from FEMA stands at 16 of 100. Since 1978, 52 flood insurance claims have been paid out locally. Of the losses FEMA expects here, 55% come from inland flooding and 12% from hurricanes. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Monroe after 5 declared disasters, most recently in 2012.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Half of commuters travel less than 20 miles. Monroe’s average commute comes in at 36 minutes. Just 8% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. 15% of workers work remotely from home here.
| Monroe | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 36 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $112,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 15% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The West Point weather station, 14 miles away, records that about 18 days a year reach 90°: fewer than most of the country, but more than 76% of New York places with climate records.
Monroe’s typical July afternoon high is 83°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The share of residents in Monroe who are under 18: 28%. Children under 18 are 28% of residents (21% statewide). 24,343 people lived in Monroe by the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate, 14% more than in 2020. In Monroe, the median age is 36.9 years.
| Monroe | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 28% | 20% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 46% | 32% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 14% | 20% | 18% |
| Median age | 36.9 years | 43 years | 40.5 years |
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.2 points). Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Monroe | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.7% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 14.3% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.1% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.7% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.3% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.6% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.3% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 9.1% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 19.8% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 17% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.5% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 29.4% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.2% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Against the 6,832 U.S. towns with household incomes like Monroe’s, it is less healthy than 89%, so it trails even them.
40% of Monroe adults sleep under 7 hours. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Monroe is ahead of New York on 7 and behind on 15. Among adults here, 24% worry about having enough food and 28% have high blood pressure.
| Monroe | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 16% | 17% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 13% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 34% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 81% | 79% |
| What stands out | Monroe | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.2% | 7.7% |
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 9.5% | 11.5% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 13.7% | 8.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
16 within 15 miles of the center of Monroe
About 5 of every 100 Monroe residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
3 places in Monroe on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Monroe.
Town in Orange County, New York, US
Monroe is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 21,387 at the 2020 census, compared to 39,912 at the 2010 census; the significant fall in census population was due to the secession of the town of Palm Tree in 2019. The town is named after President James Monroe.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Monroe.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monroe | #496 | C+ | D− | — | B | C+ |
| Kiryas Joel | #458 | C+ | D | — | A+ | C− |
| Palm Tree | #360 | B− | D | — | A+ | C+ |
| Blooming Grove | #319 | B | D | A− | B | B+ |
| Woodbury · Woodbury | #305 | B | D | — | B | A |
| Chester | #181 | A− | C− | — | B+ | A |
| South Blooming Grove | #731 | D− | D− | — | B | C− |
| Walton Park | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Monroe, Kiryas Joel, Palm Tree, Woodbury, Chester and South Blooming Grove report no FBI crime data of their own. Walton Park isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Woodbury and Woodbury are one community, graded once. Compare Monroe with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Monroe grades C+ overall, better than 36% of U.S. towns and #496 of 745 in New York. It grades C+ for health and B for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
5 notable people were born here, including Mike Tobey and Gates W. McGarrah.
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