The 10 Best Places To Buy A House In New York For 2022


Using science and data, we can tell you which places in New York have seen home prices rising and people flocking over the past year.

Editor’s note: This is not investment advice and we are not financial advisers. Article updated for 2022.

There's a the age old question everyone thinks about when they decide to move to a city in New York:

Should I buy a place or rent? Well, we aren't here today to solve that problem for you exactly. We are just assuming you'll do the right thing and a buy a place. And while we are happy to tell you the best place to live in New York, this analysis is going to tackle the question of the best place to buy a house as an investor. That is we are going to try and determine the up and coming cities in the Empire State.

To do that we are going to look at places in New York that are growing faster than average, but where home prices are below average. In every day terms, the "deals". The best deal in New York at the moment? That would be Sea Cliff according to our analysis.

Here's a look at the top ten places to buy a home in New York for 2022.

The 10 Best Places To Buy A Home In New York For 2022

  1. Sea Cliff
  2. Penn Yan
  3. Mechanicville
  4. Williamsville
  5. Elmsford
  6. Kings Point
  7. Fairport
  8. Goshen
  9. Kaser
  10. New Hempstead

What's the best place to buy a home in New York for 2022? According to our analysis, would the the ideal place to buy a home looking into the future.

The methodology that wen't into this can be a bit complicated, so we'll break it down for you in as much detail as we can below. If you're not worried about finding a deal on good places to live, check out the most expensive places to live in New York and, for those of you on a budget, the cheapest places to live in New York.

For more New York reading, check out:

The 10 Best Cities To Buy A House In New York For 2022

1. Sea Cliff

Sea Cliff, NY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 5,045
Median Home Price: $760,300
Population Change: 0.1%
Home Price Change: 5.7%
More on Sea Cliff: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

2. Penn Yan

Penn Yan, NY

Source: Wikipedia User Doug Kerr from Albany, NY | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,072
Median Home Price: $114,600
Population Change: 2.5%
Home Price Change: 10.0%
More on Penn Yan: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

3. Mechanicville

Mechanicville, NY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10

Population: 5,077
Median Home Price: $152,100
Population Change: -0.6%
Home Price Change: -10.7%
More on Mechanicville: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

4. Williamsville

Williamsville, NY

Source: Wikipedia User Adam Moss from Kenmore, N | CC BY-SA 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 5,194
Median Home Price: $191,200
Population Change: -0.7%
Home Price Change: 11.9%
More on Williamsville: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

5. Elmsford

Elmsford, NY

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 5,197
Median Home Price: $460,600
Population Change: 2.2%
Home Price Change: 6.3%
More on Elmsford: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

6. Kings Point

Kings Point, NY

Source: Flickr User LunchboxLarry | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

4
/10

Population: 5,250
Median Home Price: $2,000,001
Population Change: 0.5%
Home Price Change: 0.0%
More on Kings Point: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

7. Fairport

Fairport, NY

Source: Wikipedia User Matthew D. Wilson (LtPowe | CC BY-SA 2.5
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 5,336
Median Home Price: $198,700
Population Change: -0.2%
Home Price Change: 8.3%
More on Fairport: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

8. Goshen

Goshen, NY

Source: Wikipedia User Daniel Case | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10

Population: 5,346
Median Home Price: $293,400
Population Change: 0.0%
Home Price Change: -4.0%
More on Goshen: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

9. Kaser

Overall SnackAbility

5
/10

Population: 5,367
Median Home Price: $1,096,200
Population Change: 2.0%
Home Price Change: 1.4%
More on Kaser: Homes For Sale | Data

10. New Hempstead

New Hempstead, NY

Source: Wikipedia User Daniel Case | CC BY-SA 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

7
/10

Population: 5,426
Median Home Price: $575,900
Population Change: 0.8%
Home Price Change: 12.0%
More on New Hempstead: Photos | Homes For Sale | Data

Methodology: How do you determine the best places to buy a home in New York for 2022?

We were in real estate for almost five years and have been working on this site for another three. Suffice is to say, we've put a lot of thought into what goes into finding a good place to buy a home.

So all that thinking has come to this moment where we get to spell out how we'd approach finding an up-and-coming place to live in New York. Put differently, the analysis will try to find places in New York with undervalued homes relative to pent up demand.

Richest Cities In New York

To do that we looked at the most recent American Community Survey Census data for 2016-2020 and compared it to the previous vintage (2012-2016). Specifically, we used the following criteria:

  • Y-o-Y Change In Population (People want to live here)
  • Y-o-Y Change In Median Home Prices (People are willing to pay for it)
  • Home Prices Relative To The State Average (It's still kinda cheap)

We want places that are growing, have seen home prices increase in recent years, and are still "cheap" for New York with the following caveats:

So of the 0 cities and towns in New York, only 169 places made it through our initial filters to even be considered.

We then ranked each place from 1 to 169 for the criteria mentioned above with 1 being the best for that criteria. We averaged the rankings to create a "best place to buy" index with the place having the lowest index being the best. You can download the data here.

Turns out that Sea Cliff is the best potential gem in the not-so-rough in the Empire State.

Read on for more on these places.

Summary: The Best Places To Purchase A House In New York for 2022

There's our analysis of the best places to buy a house in New York. And, to be clear, we aren't necessarily saying these places are the best places to live, just that it looks like they might be in a couple of years based on the data.

In fact, every place in the following table meets our criteria, so even though it may not look super long, remember we started off with all 0 places in the state.

So if we'd could rent or buy in these cities, we'd definitely buy.

For more New York reading, check out:

Home Prices By City In New York

City Rank Median Home Price Population Change Home Price Increase
Sea Cliff 1 $760,300 0.1% 5.7%
Penn Yan 2 $114,600 2.5% 10.0%
Mechanicville 3 $152,100 -0.6% -10.7%
Williamsville 4 $191,200 -0.7% 11.9%
Elmsford 5 $460,600 2.2% 6.3%
Kings Point 6 $2,000,001 0.5% 0.0%
Fairport 7 $198,700 -0.2% 8.3%
Goshen 8 $293,400 0.0% -4.0%
Kaser 9 $1,096,200 2.0% 1.4%
New Hempstead 10 $575,900 0.8% 12.0%
Salamanca 11 $66,400 -0.6% 3.6%
Bath 12 $87,600 -0.9% 2.7%
Pelham Manor 13 $885,500 -0.6% -0.9%
Saranac Lake 14 $162,600 -2.7% 3.9%
Albion 15 $68,400 2.5% -9.3%
Wappingers Falls 16 $244,400 -0.2% 7.1%
Malone 17 $89,200 -0.3% 6.7%
Webster 18 $153,300 1.1% 0.5%
Ballston Spa 19 $231,200 5.1% 2.2%
Washingtonville 20 $258,600 0.1% 0.9%
Hilton 21 $137,200 -0.4% -2.3%
Medina 22 $81,800 -0.3% 7.2%
North Hills 23 $1,185,300 1.2% 12.1%
Wesley Hills 24 $643,500 0.1% -3.4%
Hudson 25 $211,800 -2.1% -4.1%
Larchmont 26 $1,183,500 1.0% 3.0%
East Aurora 27 $250,100 -0.2% 13.0%
Solvay 28 $114,900 -0.4% 1.0%
Horseheads 29 $117,600 -0.9% 1.4%
Monticello 30 $135,900 -0.1% 27.1%
Bronxville 31 $1,126,500 0.6% -1.2%
Canton 32 $171,000 -0.3% 0.9%
Irvington 33 $694,300 -0.5% -3.2%
Lawrence 34 $980,800 -0.4% 5.8%
East Rochester 35 $105,400 -0.5% 1.1%
Tuckahoe 36 $488,200 -0.5% -6.7%
Norwich 37 $96,400 -1.3% 2.8%
Cedarhurst 38 $591,300 0.0% 3.5%
Walden 39 $252,300 -0.6% 19.0%
Bayville 40 $566,600 -0.2% 1.2%
Manorhaven 41 $530,200 1.5% -1.0%
North Syracuse 42 $117,400 -0.4% 2.5%
Warwick 43 $348,500 -0.2% 2.3%
Herkimer 44 $87,900 4.5% 12.7%
Pelham 45 $698,100 0.2% 0.9%
Great Neck Plaza 46 $380,400 0.3% 4.4%
Hudson Falls 47 $128,400 -0.7% 3.8%
Nyack 48 $494,100 -0.6% 3.9%
New Paltz 49 $287,000 0.1% 4.4%
East Hills 50 $1,139,300 0.6% 8.0%
Pleasantville 51 $694,400 0.5% 10.5%
Williston Park 52 $591,700 -0.2% 4.7%
Northport 53 $636,000 -0.4% 1.4%
Scotia 54 $150,500 -0.2% 5.5%
Colonie 55 $228,700 -0.7% 5.1%
Briarcliff Manor 56 $744,600 1.0% 1.0%
Baldwinsville 57 $146,000 1.1% 4.5%
Ilion 58 $80,900 -0.6% -1.2%
Hastings-On-Hudson 59 $667,900 0.6% 0.5%
Port Jefferson 60 $531,200 1.0% 3.4%
Chestnut Ridge 61 $536,700 -0.2% 8.5%
Croton-On-Hudson 62 $584,300 -0.4% 6.9%
Brockport 63 $103,700 -1.8% -8.9%
Geneseo 64 $165,800 1.5% 3.7%
Johnstown 65 $108,300 -0.5% 14.7%
Hornell 66 $67,100 -0.1% -0.6%
Malverne 67 $484,600 -0.0% 4.2%
Port Jervis 68 $137,800 -0.6% -5.0%
Monroe 69 $330,200 -0.2% 1.7%
New Square 70 $561,700 2.6% 13.9%
Airmont 71 $556,400 0.0% 9.4%
Newark 72 $97,500 -0.5% 3.3%
Farmingdale 73 $418,800 -0.4% 4.0%
Potsdam 74 $117,300 -1.6% 3.7%
Rensselaer 75 $155,200 -0.4% 8.3%
Amityville 76 $401,700 -0.0% -1.9%
Rye Brook 77 $784,200 0.7% 8.1%
Massena 78 $80,900 -4.7% 5.9%
Hamburg 79 $184,000 0.4% 8.2%
New Hyde Park 80 $605,800 -1.0% 4.4%
East Rockaway 81 $473,700 -0.1% 0.7%
Watervliet 82 $154,100 -0.7% 6.1%
Lancaster 83 $128,400 -0.6% 3.8%
Sleepy Hollow 84 $693,900 -0.3% 0.1%
Great Neck 85 $864,700 -0.3% 2.5%
West Haverstraw 86 $265,800 -0.3% -0.0%
Canandaigua 87 $177,200 -0.4% 7.8%
Fredonia 88 $144,800 -1.5% 10.8%
Ogdensburg 89 $71,100 -0.7% 4.7%
Corning 90 $118,400 -0.5% 5.0%
Woodbury 91 $343,100 -1.0% 7.4%
Oneida 92 $113,900 -0.3% -0.6%
Suffern 93 $308,500 0.0% -0.8%
Mount Kisco 94 $411,900 0.8% -4.2%
Dobbs Ferry 95 $655,000 -1.0% -2.5%
Lake Grove 96 $427,000 -0.2% 2.2%
Fulton 97 $79,100 -0.8% -2.0%
Tarr 98 $581,400 -0.4% -4.6%
Dunkirk 99 $67,700 -0.4% 0.6%
Babylon 100 $485,700 -0.4% 2.2%
Download The Entire New York Ranking Data

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About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

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