Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For a city of 161,564, Ramapo does unevenly: it grades C+, 503rd among New York's 745 graded towns. Crime is low: it reports less per resident than 78% of U.S. towns and it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 93% of U.S. towns. The trade-offs: homes are expensive, about $653K for a typical one and 6.6 times the New York metro’s $99K median household income, and its public schools trail 88% of New York towns on state tests and graduation. 27% of residents live below the poverty line in Ramapo, above both New York’s towns (9.5%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). Its National Register listings include Richard Pousette-Dart House and Studio and US Post Office-Spring Valley. Only 59 of New York’s 1,216 towns score higher on the outdoors.
Where Ramapo beats most towns.
Sloat House| College | Students |
|---|---|
| Rockland Community College | 4,974 |
| Yeshivath Viznitz | 1,148 |
| Be'er Yaakov Talmudic Seminary | 679 |
Census counts: 2,072 in 1820, 148,919 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1916 and 3 maps from 1910 on.
22 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Ramapo is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ramapo. Close and well known come first.
Big draw19 mi MuseumUnited States Military Academy
Big draw26 mi GardenCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw28 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw23 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw27 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw26 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 Ramapo, 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 Ramapo.
Ramapo keeps more of its land conserved than most of New York and is safe by national standards but not by New York’s; it also has homes that cost more against local pay than most of New York.
Its 12,407 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 97% of New York towns.
106 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. The trail density in Ramapo is 1.7 miles per square mile. The biggest place to walk is Harriman State Park, 9,881 acres with 72.6 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Harriman State Park | 72.6 mi | 9,881 |
| 2. The Powerlinez Climbing Area | 2.5 mi | 84 |
| 3. South Mountain Park | 0.7 mi | 96 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the East Ramapo Central School District. Three of its 66 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suffern Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 880 | C |
| Ramapo High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,694 | B+ |
| Suffern Senior High SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,450 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
26.5% of residents live below the poverty line, against 14% across New York, which weighs on its B− for jobs and income.
40% of Ramapo residents are under 18. Ramapo has grown 8.5% since 2020, to 161,564 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. Ramapo’s median age is 25.1 years.
| Ramapo | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 40% | 20% | 22% |
| Median age | 25.1 years | 43 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 11% | 20% | 18% |
50.0% women, 50.0% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±0.6 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women. Median age: women 25.9, men 24.4.
| Ramapo | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 22.8% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 17% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.1% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.6% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 8.6% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 7.9% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 6.3% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.7% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 17.2% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.7% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 19% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6.7% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 16.4% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
At 8.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 63% of New York’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 785 to 614 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
335 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 40 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 79% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 335 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ramapo.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
All 3 graded neighbors score healthier than its B+, from Chestnut Ridge (A−) to Orangetown (A).
Ramapo beats the New York average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 43% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Ramapo.
| Ramapo | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 37% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 32% | 33% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 21% | 23% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Ramapo | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults getting cholesterol checked | 87.6% | 89.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Ramapo has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 20° and about 36 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 51,360 working residents takes 26.1 minutes, against 32.6 across New York. Jobs based here grew from 31,167 in 2013 to 46,350.
About one in 3 of Ramapo’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Ramapo has added 15,183 jobs, to 46,350 in 2023. The top destinations are New York (20%), Clarkstown (8%) and Orangetown (3%).
| Ramapo | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 34% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 6.6 years of the New York metro’s $99K median household income, the typical home costs more against local pay than in 84% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its D− for cost of living. 66.5% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 52.1% across New York.
The median sale price was $945,000 in May 2026.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
23 within 15 miles of the center of Ramapo
About 5 of every 100 Ramapo residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
126,595 counted in 2010 and 148,919 in 2020; an estimated 161,564 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 8.5% since 2020, after 17.6% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
22 places in Ramapo on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Ramapo.
Town in New York, United States
Ramapo (English pronunciation: /ˈɹæːməpoʊ/ ) is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States. It was originally formed as New Hampstead, in 1791, and became Ramapo in 1828. It shares its name with the Ramapo River. As of the 2020 census, Ramapo had a total population of 148,919, making it the most populous town in New York outside of Long Island. If all towns in New York were cities, Ramapo would be the 12th-largest city in the state of New York. The town's name, recorded variously as Ramopuck, Ramapock, or Ramapough, is of Lenape origin, meaning either "sweet water" or "slanting rocks". Early maps referred to Ramapo as Ramepog (1695), Ramepogh (1711), and Ramapog (1775). The town is …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Ramapo.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramapo | #503 | C+ | D− | A− | D | B+ |
| Clarkstown | #201 | A− | D− | B− | A− | A |
| Chestnut Ridge | #526 | C | D− | — | D− | A− |
| New City | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hillcrest | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Nanuet | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pearl River | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Orangetown | #126 | A | D− | — | A− | A |
Chestnut Ridge and Orangetown report no FBI crime data of their own. New City, Hillcrest, Nanuet and Pearl River aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Ramapo with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Ramapo grades C+ overall, better than 36% of U.S. towns and #503 of 745 in New York. It grades B+ for health, A− for safety and D for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $653,000, 24% 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 Charles Mulford Robinson and Julia Pierson Emmet.
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