Valley CottageNY
This town of 9,165 people was settled in 1873.
Is Valley Cottage a good place to live?
58% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Valley Cottage, against 32% in New York’s towns and 29% across U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Rockland Lake State Park, at 42 acres. We don’t grade Valley Cottage yet; the figures below are still real.
96% of working residents leave Valley Cottage for work
Where Valley Cottage’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Central Park and 526 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Valley Cottage. Close and well known come first.
Big draw23 mi City parkCentral Park40.0M visitors a year
Big draw19 mi MuseumUnited States Military Academy
Big draw25 mi Stadium & arenaMadison Square Garden
Big draw22 mi Stadium & arenaMetLife Stadium
Big draw24 mi TheatreStudio 54
Big draw23 mi MuseumMetropolitan Museum of Art2.0M visitors a yearPhoto credits
Central Park: Ed Yourdon from New York City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · United States Military Academy: USMA Public Affairs Office, Public domain · 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
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Moving to Valley Cottage: who provides what
Valley Cottage is unincorporated, so Rockland County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Valley Cottage.
Natural hazards: very low risk in Valley Cottage, mostly inland flooding
Of the losses FEMA expects in Valley Cottage, 53% come from inland flooding and 9% from hurricanes. On expected storm and flood damage, Valley Cottage sits below 96% of U.S. communities. Paid flood insurance claims locally since 1978: 106.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most of Valley Cottage’s workers commute out: the town has 0.6 jobs for each of them
The top destinations are New York (28%), Clarkstown (17%) and Orangetown (10%). Only 4% of working residents stay in Valley Cottage for work; the rest commute out. The town’s average commute stands at 34 minutes. Since 2013, Valley Cottage has lost 231 jobs, to 2,674 in 2023.
| Valley Cottage | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $133,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 34 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 2.8% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 16% | 12% | 11% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Valley Cottage’s typical home value is about $652K
For Valley Cottage, the going rate for rent is $2,037 a month. 89% of households are owner-occupiers here. Also worth knowing: in Valley Cottage, just over two thirds of sales closed above the list price.
| Valley Cottage | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,037 a month | $1,101 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 89% | 75% | 73% |
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Valley Cottage: four seasons and pleasant summers
Summer afternoons peak near 86° in July, and January nights bottom out around 22°; snowfall runs to about 33 inches a winter. Summers in Valley Cottage are warm, and winters chilly, snowy, with plenty of rain.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
How healthy Valley Cottage is
Valley Cottage: one in ten adults worry about having enough food. Against the New York average, Valley Cottage comes out ahead on 14 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 1. Two figures for adults locally: 13% report frequent mental distress, 8.8% smoke cigarettes.
| Valley Cottage | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 21% | 23% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 16% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 8.8% | 13% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Valley Cottage | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.4% | 17.2% |
| Fewer adults without reliable transportation | 5.7% | 8.6% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.5% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Valley Cottage has set aside 6% of its land for conservation
In 2 parks and preserves, walkers have 3.6 miles of trail. The concentration of trails in Valley Cottage is 0.8 miles per square mile.
| Valley Cottage | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 6% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rockland Lake State Park | — | 42 |
| 2. Congers Lake Memorial Park | — | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Valley Cottage
Colleges nearby
32 within 15 miles of the center of Valley Cottage
About 8 of every 100 Valley Cottage residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New York.
Valley Cottage’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Valley Cottage.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valley Cottage | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Congers | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Upper Nyack | — | — | D− | — | A− | A+ |
| Bardonia | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Nyack | #169 | A− | D− | — | A− | A |
Upper Nyack has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Upper Nyack and Nyack report no FBI crime data of their own. Valley Cottage, Congers and Bardonia aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Valley Cottage with a neighbor →
Questions about Valley Cottage
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Valley Cottage, NY a good place to live?
We don’t grade Valley Cottage yet; the figures below are still real.