Nyack, NY

Nyack, NY

Population: 6,765
Median home value: $416,951
Median household income: $47,979
% of the population with white collar jobs: 88%
% of the adult population who are college graduates: 40%
Individuals below the poverty level: 8.8%
Racial Makeup / Most prominent races: 63% White, 24% Black, 14% Hispanic or Latino (of any race), 4% Asian
Residents would hang out with NYC folk from: upper, Upper West Side (90th-116th)

Nyack is a village primarily in the town of Orangetown, with a very small western portion in Clarkstown in Rockland County, NY, on the west side of the Hudson River.

There is no direct train from Nyack to NYC. The recommended best route would be to drive across the Tappan Zee Bridge to Tarrytown and then take the Metro-North train. Minutes to Grand Central Station from Nyack: 15min drive to the station, and then a 41-62 minute train ride, depending on time of day.

By car to Grand Central Station: 27 miles, or 45 minutes, without traffic

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Looking to buy a house in Nyack? A 3 bed / 2 bath isn’t too hard to find for $410K.

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Looking for schools? Here’s what GreatSchools.org has to say:

SCHOOL	GREATSCHOOLS.ORG RATING	COMMUNITY RATING
Liberty Elementary School	6/10	10/10
Nyack Middle School	7/10	6/10
Nyack Senior High School	5/10	8/10

So we finally crossed the Hudson in our search. Every city and town we have visited has been on the east side of the river, but Sunday, we ventured over the Tappan Zee Bridge. My friend Jackie had told me that Nyack was one of her favorite villages outside of NYC. And I have to say, I agree. Plus, our friends, Michelle and Alex just moved there last weekend, and after doing some research of their own, had only good things to say. We spent the afternoon in Nyack, wandering the village, speaking with a realtor, picking the brains of a couple of moms I met in shops, and having a snack at the local pub.

O’Donoghue’s Menu
Not too pricey, right??

As I’ve expressed in the past, the downtown area of a town or village is one of our top priorities. We want a downtown that has good shops, walkability, and friendly foot traffic. And Nyack has one of the best downtowns we’ve seen (great downtowns are also in Cold Spring, Dobbs Ferry, and Larchmont.) Almost all of the multitude of shops were independently owned, though they still had room for a Starbucks, much to the satisfaction of desperate coffee drinkers who all said, “Thank God for Starbucks”.

Aside from the Starbucks, you almost feel like you’re in a small, country town… that is, until you have to pay for parking. Yes, Nyack has enough busyness and business to warrant some parking enforcement.

I stopped by The Sweet Spot, an adorable and trendy candy shop in town. I bought a hefty bag of all my favorites (raspberry gummies, Sour Patch Kids, and Swedish Fish) for a very fair price. The owner worked behind the counter, and I loved the idea that Nyack is the kind of smaller town people move to from the city and open up their own local business.

Now, let’s get politically incorrect. You ready? Here we go. I met a few mothers while we were in Nyack, and here are some things they told me about the area: Nyack is the most diverse of all the towns and villages in the area. Pearl River is nicknamed “Pearly White River” while New City is nicknamed “Jew City”. Tappan is almost all white, and surprisingly “red” (“conservative” for you political laymen) and very blue collar. Clarkstown, the town next door to Orangetown (again, Nyack is in Orangetown) is also very white and blue collar. Nyack has the most minorities- only 63% white. There is a relatively strong gay community, and it has the most NYC cosmopolitan types.

Hey, it’s a gay-friendly pub!

However, while Nyack’s demographics are the most mixed, the schools are the worst of all those villages and towns named above. To summarize- you can either live with blue collar whites in a great school district with little-to-no downtown area, or you can live in the excellent and racially diverse village of Nyack with “meh” schools. Regarding the schools more specifically, the feeling I got from the mothers I spoke to is that the schools in Nyack are “fine.” They’re not awful, or even bad. They’re just “fine”, though “some people do send their kids to private school.”

The housing prices are better in Nyack than they are in the Westchester towns right across the river, as are the taxes. However, the commute to Nyack from NYC is far less convenient. Nyack also does not have a direct train to NYC. You’d have to drive all the way across the Tappan Zee Bridge into one of the river towns to catch Metro North.

Tappan Zee Bridge
(trivia: the widest part of the Hudson River!)

 

Or, of course, you could drive to NYC instead of taking public transportation, which allegedly can take you 90minutes in rush hour traffic, each way. Ugh. I loved Nyack, but as the clock ticked on during our drive back into Manhattan (at 4pm on a Sunday when there was no traffic) my love for Nyack began to wane.

May I introduce to you… Nyack!