Cheapest places to live in New York

Every New York city and town with 20,000 or more people, ranked by median home value, with rent, commute and growth beside it. All Census data.

By Sol Lakein, founder of Slower Sundays. Updated November 2026.

JamestownLowest home values$87,700 median
Lockport (town)Lowest rent$729 a month
122Places ranked20,000+ residents

The 3 cheapest in New York

#1
Jamestown
Home value
$87,700
Rent
$759
Growth
-3.6%
#2
Elmira
Home value
$93,000
Rent
$909
Growth
-1.6%
#3
Niagara Falls
Home value
$115,300
Rent
$823
Growth
-3.0%

The 15 cheapest places to live in New York

#	Place	Median home value	Median rent	Commute	Growth since 2020
1	Jamestown	$87,700	$759	15.2 min	-3.6%
2	Elmira	$93,000	$909	18.7 min	-1.6%
3	Niagara Falls	$115,300	$823	19.1 min	-3.0%
4	Binghamton	$124,800	$870	19.0 min	-3.1%
5	Syracuse	$138,400	$1,039	18.0 min	-2.5%
6	Rochester	$139,600	$1,081	19.3 min	-2.4%
7	Lockport	$139,900	$945	23.6 min	-3.0%
8	Union (town)	$149,900	$936	17.7 min	-3.9%
9	Utica	$151,300	$951	19.5 min	-3.5%
10	Auburn	$152,800	$897	19.7 min	-3.5%
11	Rome	$154,400	$909	18.0 min	-1.4%
12	Watertown	$158,600	$967	16.3 min	-4.7%
13	Salina (town)	$160,500	$1,226	17.9 min	-2.6%
14	Buffalo	$164,200	$1,046	19.9 min	-1.3%
15	Schenectady	$168,800	$1,145	22.0 min	+3.6%

Cheap often comes with a trade-off. Check the growth column: a shrinking population can mean fewer jobs nearby.

All 122, cheapest first

See all 122, cheapest first

#	Place	Median home value	Median rent	Commute	Population 2025
1	Jamestown	$87,700	$759	15.2 min	27,663
2	Elmira	$93,000	$909	18.7 min	26,089
3	Niagara Falls	$115,300	$823	19.1 min	47,255
4	Binghamton	$124,800	$870	19.0 min	46,418
5	Syracuse	$138,400	$1,039	18.0 min	144,896
6	Rochester	$139,600	$1,081	19.3 min	206,108
7	Lockport	$139,900	$945	23.6 min	20,248
8	Union (town)	$149,900	$936	17.7 min	53,972
9	Utica	$151,300	$951	19.5 min	62,978
10	Auburn	$152,800	$897	19.7 min	25,947
11	Rome	$154,400	$909	18.0 min	31,682
12	Watertown	$158,600	$967	16.3 min	23,517
13	Salina (town)	$160,500	$1,226	17.9 min	32,375
14	Buffalo	$164,200	$1,046	19.9 min	274,613
15	Schenectady	$168,800	$1,145	22.0 min	69,471
16	Gates (town)	$170,500	$1,196	17.5 min	28,988
17	Irondequoit (town)	$182,500	$1,159	19.6 min	50,180
18	Cheektowaga (town)	$185,000	$1,067	20.4 min	88,160
19	Le Ray (town)	$185,600	$1,473	13.4 min	24,259
20	Greece (town)	$190,300	$1,170	20.5 min	94,484
21	Vestal (town)	$193,500	$1,199	18.8 min	32,055
22	North Tonawanda	$197,200	$934	20.4 min	29,806
23	Clay (town)	$205,900	$1,240	21.4 min	59,285
24	Chili (town)	$206,000	$1,321	21.4 min	28,897
25	Troy	$206,500	$1,175	21.1 min	50,912
26	Camillus (town)	$209,000	$1,273	21.3 min	25,088
27	Tonawanda (town)	$213,900	$1,098	20.6 min	70,853
28	Cicero (town)	$221,200	$1,017	19.9 min	30,815
29	Henrietta (town)	$223,700	$1,344	17.6 min	48,832
30	New Hartford (town)	$224,200	$1,094	17.7 min	21,945
31	Rotterdam (town)	$227,000	$1,292	22.5 min	31,065
32	West Seneca (town)	$232,800	$1,106	23.0 min	45,469
33	Lockport (town)	$234,500	$729	22.4 min	20,641
34	Albany	$234,700	$1,216	20.0 min	101,698
35	DeWitt (town)	$243,500	$1,042	17.6 min	25,487
36	Onondaga (town)	$246,200	$1,333	20.5 min	22,431
37	Newburgh	$247,900	$1,454	25.5 min	28,059
38	Hamburg (town)	$251,100	$1,106	23.0 min	60,768
39	Manlius (town)	$253,600	$1,143	21.2 min	32,864
40	Glenville (town)	$257,400	$1,247	24.2 min	29,701
41	Webster (town)	$269,000	$1,489	21.0 min	45,309
42	Lancaster (town)	$277,600	$1,079	20.4 min	45,075
43	Brighton (town)	$282,100	$1,350	16.9 min	36,695
44	Poughkeepsie	$283,700	$1,400	23.8 min	32,499
45	Lysander (town)	$288,400	$1,130	24.0 min	23,110
46	Penfield (town)	$291,500	$1,473	20.0 min	39,139
47	Middletown	$308,600	$1,661	36.0 min	30,098
48	Perinton (town)	$310,200	$1,349	20.7 min	46,823
49	Queensbury (town)	$311,100	$1,237	21.0 min	29,049
50	Amherst (town)	$311,600	$1,393	20.0 min	130,442
51	Kingston	$315,500	$1,469	23.1 min	23,942
52	Colonie (town)	$322,900	$1,436	20.0 min	86,837
53	Grand Island (town)	$327,000	$1,199	18.9 min	21,587
54	Hyde Park (town)	$331,200	$1,227	28.7 min	21,394
55	Ithaca	$342,700	$1,447	18.7 min	33,632
56	Montgomery (town)	$347,600	$1,610	33.9 min	23,425
57	Wallkill (town)	$353,200	$1,790	31.1 min	31,414
58	Poughkeepsie (town)	$354,900	$1,677	26.7 min	45,986
59	Guilderland (town)	$357,400	$1,564	21.4 min	38,216
60	Orchard Park (town)	$360,700	$1,304	21.5 min	29,804
61	Niskayuna (town)	$362,000	$1,586	20.7 min	24,211
62	Ithaca (town)	$368,700	$1,558	16.6 min	20,670
63	Bethlehem (town)	$370,400	$1,721	22.0 min	35,684
64	New Windsor (town)	$371,900	$1,606	37.3 min	27,844
65	Newburgh (town)	$375,700	$2,159	36.6 min	31,825
66	Spring Valley	$381,800	$1,695	24.2 min	34,482
67	Haverstraw (town)	$387,500	$1,906	30.1 min	40,462
68	Halfmoon (town)	$387,700	$1,559	23.7 min	26,658
69	Pittsford (town)	$389,100	$1,534	19.0 min	30,588
70	Wappinger (town)	$394,800	$1,708	28.4 min	28,215
71	Clifton Park (town)	$395,400	$1,388	26.1 min	37,775
72	Peekskill	$395,600	$2,036	37.2 min	25,891
73	Clarence (town)	$408,500	$1,279	23.0 min	33,198
74	Fishkill (town)	$419,600	$1,877	36.1 min	22,937
75	Ossining (village)	$449,100	$2,154	36.1 min	27,579
76	Warwick (town)	$458,800	$1,496	39.9 min	31,685
77	Hempstead (village)	$459,500	$1,622	33.3 min	59,819
78	Monroe (town)	$462,100	$2,186	36.4 min	24,343
79	Saratoga Springs	$478,100	$1,470	27.2 min	28,768
80	East Fishkill (town)	$478,400	$1,788	36.2 min	29,801
81	Mount Vernon	$484,000	$1,629	35.0 min	72,304
82	Riverhead (town)	$486,600	$1,974	27.5 min	36,394
83	Brookhaven (town)	$489,200	$2,314	32.3 min	496,410
84	Carmel (town)	$495,100	$1,683	41.2 min	34,442
85	Yonkers	$501,600	$1,784	35.6 min	212,603
86	Freeport	$505,900	$2,077	35.8 min	44,174
87	Lindenhurst	$521,500	$1,885	32.2 min	27,258
88	Babylon (town)	$522,100	$2,168	31.0 min	219,766
89	Islip (town)	$535,300	$2,209	28.3 min	340,867
90	Ossining (town)	$552,900	$2,203	36.5 min	39,964
91	Cortlandt (town)	$579,500	$2,030	37.8 min	42,413
92	Port Chester	$582,600	$2,028	26.9 min	32,303
93	Clarkstown (town)	$602,100	$2,185	31.7 min	89,659
94	Yorktown (town)	$606,800	$1,908	37.7 min	35,944
95	Lynbrook	$611,900	$2,230	35.2 min	20,855
96	Valley Stream	$616,100	$2,124	40.7 min	40,379
97	White Plains	$620,800	$2,269	27.4 min	62,871
98	Orangetown (town)	$638,100	$2,015	33.2 min	50,377
99	Hempstead (town)	$640,800	$2,101	36.6 min	795,734
100	Somers (town)	$646,000	$3,500+	36.4 min	21,374
101	Mineola	$651,200	$2,415	32.1 min	21,376
102	Ramapo (town)	$653,100	$1,787	26.1 min	161,564
103	Smithtown (town)	$669,900	$2,233	32.2 min	116,847
104	Rye (town)	$689,400	$2,066	28.2 min	50,011
105	Long Beach	$696,400	$2,515	41.3 min	34,918
106	Greenburgh (town)	$697,100	$2,316	34.4 min	94,537
107	Glen Cove	$698,900	$2,398	29.4 min	28,190
108	New Rochelle	$702,500	$1,917	32.5 min	85,864
109	Oyster Bay (town)	$708,600	$2,572	34.9 min	301,115
110	Huntington (town)	$715,600	$2,358	35.2 min	205,891
111	Kiryas Joel	$758,800	$1,604	18.9 min	47,147
112	New York City	$777,600	$1,821	40.3 min	8,584,629
113	Mount Pleasant (town)	$788,900	$1,941	30.9 min	45,444
114	Eastchester (town)	$806,300	$2,302	35.9 min	34,015
115	Rockville Centre	$818,700	$1,881	37.3 min	25,770
116	Southold (town)	$859,300	$2,135	26.6 min	24,260
117	North Hempstead (town)	$888,000	$2,318	35.5 min	238,982
118	Southampton (town)	$928,100	$2,363	29.8 min	71,601
119	Harrison	$1,010,700	$2,616	29.2 min	32,273
120	Garden City	$1,075,900	$3,265	34.9 min	23,043
121	Mamaroneck (town)	$1,076,700	$2,202	36.5 min	31,479
122	East Hampton (town)	$1,178,500	$2,578	21.9 min	29,400

Home values are owner estimates averaged over 2020 to 2024 (American Community Survey 5-year), so they run below today's listing prices. Use them to compare places, not to price a home.

Questions people ask

What is the cheapest place to live in New York?

Of the 122 New York cities and towns with 20,000 or more people, Jamestown has the lowest median home value at $87,700, followed by Elmira ($93,000) and Niagara Falls ($115,300) (American Community Survey 2020-2024).

Where is rent cheapest in New York?

Lockport (town), with a median gross rent of $729 a month including utilities.

What is the most expensive place to live in New York?

Of the places we rank, East Hampton (town), with a median home value of $1,178,500.

What taxes do you pay in New York?

Income tax: 10.90% (top rate, 2026). Property tax: 1.42% of home value, statewide effective rate (Census ACS 2025). Sales tax: 8.54% combined state and average local (Tax Foundation 2026).

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