Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Red Hook grades A− overall, 188th among New York's 745 graded towns. It is healthier than 92% of U.S. towns. What holds it back is price: the typical home is worth about $430K, 4.4 years of the Kiryas Joel metro’s $98K median household income. 26% of the land in Red Hook is conserved, above both the New York town median (5.2%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). On civic life, just 44 of New York’s 1,187 towns do better. Red Hook is home to Bard College.
Where Red Hook beats most towns.
Rokeby
Census counts: 2,714 in 1820, 9,953 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1797 and 2 maps from 1898 on.
9 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Red Hook is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Red Hook. Close and well known come first.
17 mi National Historic SiteHome of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site102K visitors a year
15 mi National Historic SiteVanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site295K visitors a year
14 mi MuseumOlana State Historic Site
15 mi WaterfallKaaterskill Falls17 mi MuseumFranklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museumin town MuseumOld Rhinebeck AerodromeHome of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site: Crunch, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site: Daderot, Public domain · Olana State Historic Site: Netniks, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kaaterskill Falls: Mwanner, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Red Hook, 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 Red Hook.
Red Hook trades workers with New York City and other neighbors and has less food insecurity than most of New York.
Its widest gap with New York is food insecurity: 9.1% of its 6,173 adults worry about having enough food, against 17.2% statewide.
Among adults in Red Hook, 20% have been diagnosed with depression. 14% of Red Hook adults report frequent mental distress, against 16% in New York’s towns and 17% across U.S. towns. CDC measures, 32 in all: Red Hook beats New York on 13 and trails on 2.
| Red Hook | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 33% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 25% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Red Hook | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.1% | 17.2% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 8.3% | 14.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.2% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Two of the 4 schools are below, and why each made the list. The largest public high school is Red Hook Senior High School, with 549 students. The Red Hook Central School District runs its public schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mill Road-Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 636 | C |
| Red Hook Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 549 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Tivoli Bays Wildlife Management Area, at 1,394 acres with 6.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Walkers can cover 18 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. Red Hook’s trail network density stands at 0.5 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tivoli Bays Wildlife Management Area | 6.7 mi | 1,394 |
| 2. Red Hook Recreation Park | 0.7 mi | 23 |
| 3. Clermont State Historic Site | 0.4 mi | 43 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Federal disaster aid has reached households in Red Hook after 5 declared disasters, most recently in 2017. FEMA expects less storm and flood damage here than in 75% of U.S. communities. Also worth knowing: 17 flood insurance claims have been paid here since 1996. Expected losses in Red Hook break down as 73% from inland flooding and 10% from hurricanes.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
A winter brings about 31 inches of snow, with January nights at 17° and July afternoons at 85°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Red Hook has about as many jobs (4,635) as working residents, but only 1,141 people both live and work here. The average commute takes 26 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
The top destinations are New York (12%), Rhinebeck (9%) and Poughkeepsie (5%). Roughly one working resident in four has a job in Red Hook itself. Jobs based in Red Hook grew to 4,635 in 2023, 1,168 more than in 2013.
| Red Hook | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 23% | 12% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 25% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $112,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Red Hook’s going rate for rent is $1,436 a month. 77% of households own their home here.
| Red Hook | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,436 a month | $1,098 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 77% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Red Hook
College town 15 of every 100 Red Hook residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
9 places in Red Hook on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Red Hook.
Town in New York, United States
Red Hook is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 9,953 at the time of the 2020 census, down from 11,319 in 2010. The name is supposedly derived from the red foliage on trees on a small strip of land on the Hudson River. The town contains two villages, Red Hook and Tivoli. The town is in the northwest part of Dutchess County. The town also contains two hamlets. Bard College is in the hamlet of Annandale-on-Hudson. The Unification Theological Seminary is in the hamlet of Barrytown. Both hamlets are located within the Hudson River Historic District.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Red Hook.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Saugerties (B) comes closest.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hook | #188 | A− | D | — | B+ | A |
| Saugerties | #299 | B | C− | A− | B− | A− |
| Glasco | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Ulster | #643 | C− | C− | C+ | C− | B+ |
| Milan | — | — | D | — | B | A |
| Saugerties South | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Saugerties | #680 | D | D | — | B− | C |
| Clermont | — | — | C− | — | B+ | A− |
Milan and Clermont have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Red Hook, Milan, Saugerties and Clermont report no FBI crime data of their own. Glasco and Saugerties South aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Red Hook with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Red Hook grades A− overall, better than 77% of U.S. towns and #188 of 745 in New York. It grades A for health and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $430,000, 18% below 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.
7 notable people were born here, including Amos P. Catlin and Kyle Murphy.
