Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 99% of U.S. towns. Overall it grades C−, 609th among New York's 745 graded towns. It has 78 miles of trail and 34% conserved land. 34% of the land in Saranac is conserved, against 5.2% in New York’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Chazy Highlands Wild Forest, at 15,439 acres with 11 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Among 758 New York towns, just 8 have a lower January low than Saranac.
Where Saranac beats most towns.
Where Saranac’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Saranac is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 316 in 1830, 4,007 in 2010. The archive holds 3 old photos and papers going back to 1850 and 2 maps from 1913 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Saranac, 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 Saranac.
Saranac keeps more of its land conserved than most of New York and gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding).
The median property tax bill is $2,646, against $6,582 across New York, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Saranac home is worth about $196,000, up 5.2% in a year, 63% below the New York typical home. 90% of households own their home in Saranac, above both the New York town median (75%) and the median of U.S. towns (73%). The median rent in Saranac is $969 a month.
| Saranac | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 90% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $969 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Saranac Central School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Saranac High School, with 468 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saranac Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 361 | C |
| Saranac High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 468 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Its 24,743 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 97% of New York towns.
79 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. Saranac’s trail density is 0.7 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Chazy Highlands Wild Forest | 11 mi | 15,439 |
| 2. Burnt Hill State Forest | 2.5 mi | 1,201 |
| 3. Macomb State Forest | 0.5 mi | 183 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Saranac has 143 jobs for its 1,535 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 22.3 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Saranac for work: only 3% work in town. Since 2013, Saranac has lost 95 jobs, to 143 in 2023. 12% of residents live below the poverty line in Saranac.
| Saranac | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 2.7% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The Ellenburg Depot weather station, 18 miles away, records that 107 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 98% of U.S. towns. The Ellenburg Depot weather station, 18 miles away, records that about 2 days a year reach 90°, fewer than in 96% of U.S. towns.
Among 758 New York towns, just 10 have a lower July high than Saranac. Saranac has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 85% of New York towns; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1996, 7 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Saranac.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Saranac beats the New York average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7. 15% of Saranac adults smoke cigarettes.
| Saranac | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 25% | 25% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 34% | 35% |
| What stands out | Saranac | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.6% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.8% | 7.9% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.4% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Saranac. Close and well known come first.
Big draw25 mi LakeLake Champlain
38 mi MountainMount Marcy
21 mi MountainWhiteface Mountain
38 mi LakeLake Tear of the Clouds
19 mi Canyon & gorgeAusable Chasm
29 mi LandmarkJohn Brown Farm State Historic SiteLake Champlain: Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Mount Marcy: Daniel Tripp, Public domain · Whiteface Mountain: Mwanner, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake Tear of the Clouds: TheKilimanjaro, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ausable Chasm: Alan Prusila / Alanp35 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · John Brown Farm State Historic Site: Mwanner | Talk, CC BY-SA 3.0
None within 15 miles of Saranac; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Saranac residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Town in New York, United States
Saranac is a town in Clinton County, New York, United States. The town is on the western border of the county, west of Plattsburgh, and is within the Adirondack Park. The population was 3,852 at the 2020 census, down from 4,007 at the 2010 census. The town is named for the Saranac River that flows through the town.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Saranac.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its C−; Dannemora (C) is closest.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saranac | #609 | C− | B | — | C | B− |
| Black Brook | — | — | B | — | C | B |
| Dannemora | #541 | C | A− | — | C | C− |
| Schuyler Falls | #429 | B− | B | — | C+ | B+ |
| Plattsburgh | #474 | C+ | B− | — | C+ | B |
| Cadyville | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Redford | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Franklin | — | — | A− | — | B | B |
Black Brook and Franklin have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Saranac, Black Brook, Dannemora, Schuyler Falls, Plattsburgh and Franklin report no FBI crime data of their own. Cadyville and Redford aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Saranac with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Saranac grades C− overall, better than 22% of U.S. towns and #609 of 745 in New York. It grades B− for health and C for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D−.
That is 2.7 years of the area's median household income ($71,224 across the Plattsburgh, NY area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
