Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Port Chester's standout: few places in the country are easier to get around without a car. Overall it grades C+, 467th of 745 graded towns in New York. Its weakest subject is cost of living: homes are expensive, about $747K for a typical one and 7.5 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 92% of U.S. towns. Port Chester’s median rent is $2,028 a month, above both the New York town median ($1,098 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). Only 71 of New York’s 1,187 towns score lower on civic life. The biggest park or preserve is John Lyon Park, at 22 acres.
Where Port Chester beats most towns.
Its founding year, 1660, comes before those of 97% of the New York towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 3,797 in 1870, 31,693 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1889 and 4 maps from 1944 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Port Chester is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 2%), so the C+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Port Chester. Close and well known come first.
Big draw22 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw25 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw25 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw22 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a year
Big draw23 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw31 mi MuseumUnited States Military AcademyCentral 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 · Metropolitan Museum of Art: Hugo Schneider, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Studio 54: Americasroof (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0 · United States Military Academy: USMA Public Affairs Office, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Port Chester, 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 Port Chester.
Port Chester is safe by national standards but not by New York’s; it also carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding) and has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New York.
2.3 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. The trail density in Port Chester is 1.0 miles per square mile.
| Port Chester | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.0 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.9% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. John Lyon Park | 0.9 mi | 22 |
| 2. Columbus Park | 0.6 mi | 10 |
| 3. Edgewood Park | 0.3 mi | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 7.5 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home (about $747K) costs more against local pay than in 87% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its D− for cost of living.
47% of households own their home in Port Chester. Typical home values rose 7.6% in the year to September 2026.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Most working residents leave Port Chester for work: only 10% work in town. 13% of Port Chester residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Port Chester fell to 6,762 in 2023, 586 fewer than in 2013.
| Port Chester | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $92,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 11.3 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 54% of New York’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 346 to 207 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Port Chester’s violent crime rate is 0.3 per 1,000 residents.
| Port Chester | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.3 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 6.4 per 1,000 residents | 7.6 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Port Chester beats the New York average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 10. Among 755 New York towns, just 3 have a higher share of adults 18 to 64 who have no health insurance than Port Chester.
| Port Chester | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 21% | 23% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 5.9% | 8.1% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 34% | 35% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Port Chester | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.9% | 7.7% |
| Fewer adults with COPD | 4.9% | 6% |
| More uninsured adults | 16.4% | 7.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Port Chester has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 24° and about 33 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 87% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $239 per resident a year; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on. 145 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 17 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1978, 145 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Port Chester.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Adults 35 to 64 are 43% of residents (39% statewide). 37% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 40% across New York. 22% never finished high school.
| Port Chester | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 14% | 20% | 18% |
| Median age | 39 years | 43 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 19% | 20% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 37% | 32% | 29% |
47% women, 53% men
About 111 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1.9 points). Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Port Chester | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.2% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.6% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.7% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.7% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 15.2% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.4% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.1% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.1% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 21.6% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 22.8% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 11.7% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 7.3% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 21.7% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.9% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
22 within 15 miles of the center of Port Chester
About 6 of every 100 Port Chester residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New York.
Where Port Chester’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
34 notable people were born in Port Chester.
Village in New York, United States
Port Chester is a village in the U.S. state of New York and the largest part of the town of Rye in Westchester County by population. As of the 2020 census, Port Chester had a population of 31,693. Port Chester is part of the New York City metropolitan statistical area. Located in southeast Westchester County, Port Chester borders Connecticut and the town of Greenwich to the east. It is one of only 12 villages in New York still incorporated under a charter; other villages either incorporated or reincorporated under the provisions of Village Law. The village of Port Chester is nicknamed the "Gateway to New England" and serves as a transportation hub between New Englanders and New York. Its ec…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Port Chester.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its C+; Rye (B) is closest.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Chester | #467 | C+ | D− | B+ | C | B+ |
| Rye | #353 | B | D− | — | B | A− |
| Rye | #11 | A+ | D− | A+ | A+ | A+ |
| Rye Brook | #25 | A+ | D− | A | A+ | A+ |
Rye reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Port Chester with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Port Chester grades C+ overall, better than 41% of U.S. towns and #467 of 745 in New York. It grades B+ for health, B+ for safety and C 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−.
34 notable people were born here, including John Abercrombie and Andy Newmark.
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