Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A good place to live, if you can afford it. Where it does best is walkability: it is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns. The catch is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $464K, 5.4 years of the Kingston metro’s $86K median household income. Overall, that makes a B+, good for 218th of 745 in New York. Set against the rest, it does better than 73% of U.S. towns. New Paltz has 7 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Huguenot Street Historic District and Jean Hasbrouck House. Two thirds of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in the town, against 32% in New York’s towns and 29% across U.S. towns. The town’s concentration of trails is 1.6 miles per square mile, above both the New York town median (0.4) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4).
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places · OpenStreetMap.
Where New Paltz beats most towns.
Huguenot Street Historic District is one of 2 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier.
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1875 and 2 maps from 1943 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far New Paltz is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around New Paltz. Close and well known come first.
Big draw27 mi MuseumUnited States Military Academy
7 mi National Historic SiteHome of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site102K visitors a year
8 mi National Historic SiteVanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site295K visitors a year8 mi MuseumFranklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum11 mi Park & preserveMinnewaska State Park Preserve
27 mi Stadium & arenaMichie StadiumUnited States Military Academy: USMA Public Affairs Office, Public domain · Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site: Crunch, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site: Daderot, Public domain · Michie Stadium: John Pellino, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in New Paltz, 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 New Paltz.
New Paltz is shaped by its college students, has commutes shorter than most of New York and is safe by national standards but not by New York’s.
Walkers can cover 54 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Mohonk Preserve, 1,830 acres with 17.1 miles of trail. Parks and preserves in New Paltz: 7, covering 2,151 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mohonk Preserve | 17.1 mi | 1,830 |
| 2. Mill Brook Preserve | 3.4 mi | 137 |
| 3. Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary | 2.3 mi | 50 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The largest public high school is New Paltz Senior High School, with 622 students. The public schools here belong to the New Paltz Central School District. 4 public schools serve New Paltz, with 1,673 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Paltz Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 381 | C+ |
| New Paltz Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 622 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Flood insurance has paid out on 49 claims in New Paltz since 1979. Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in 81% of U.S. communities. FEMA puts 56% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 13% to tornadoes. Federal disaster aid has reached households in New Paltz after 6 declared disasters, most recently in 2017.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
On the CDC’s 32 measures, New Paltz is ahead of New York on 6 and behind on 3. In New Paltz, 11% of adults smoke cigarettes.
| New Paltz | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 16% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.8% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | New Paltz | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults lacking emotional support | 22.2% | 26.4% |
| More adults with depression | 21.1% | 17.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 9.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 62% of New York’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 154 to 85 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate for New Paltz comes to 6.7 per 1,000 residents. The violent crime rate for New Paltz comes to 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
| New Paltz | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 6.7 per 1,000 residents | 9.4 | 11.5 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.7 |
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 18° and about 59 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 4,874 working residents takes 26.1 minutes, against 32.6 across New York. 25.6% of workers work from home, against 14.9% across New York.
For working residents in New Paltz, the share who work locally is 20%. The top destinations are New York (16%), Poughkeepsie (5%) and Kingston (5%). Its typical journey to work comes in at 26 minutes.
| New Paltz | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 26% | 12% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 22% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 20% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
6 within 15 miles of the center of New Paltz
College town 35 of every 100 New Paltz residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
16.8% of the town is conserved land, across 7 parks and preserves.
7 places in New Paltz on the National Register of Historic Places.
6 towns share a border with New Paltz.
It grades higher overall than all 6 graded towns on its borders; Lloyd (B) comes closest.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Paltz | #218 | B+ | D | A− | B+ | A− |
| Lloyd | #294 | B | D | B+ | B | A |
| Rosendale | #442 | C+ | D | A+ | C− | A− |
| Marbletown | #512 | C | C− | — | C | A− |
| Gardiner | #490 | C+ | D | — | B+ | B− |
| Esopus | #590 | C− | C− | — | C | B+ |
| Rochester | #576 | C | C− | — | C | B+ |
Marbletown, Gardiner, Esopus and Rochester report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare New Paltz with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. New Paltz grades B+ overall, better than 73% of U.S. towns and #218 of 745 in New York. It grades A− for health, A− for safety 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.
