For many people, it’s New York or nowhere, but what about those who want both the hustle of New York City and the quiet pace of village life?
Enter Dobbs Ferry, a Westchester County suburb located about 27 miles north of Manhattan. It’s attracting major attention from New Yorkers wanting the best of both worlds.
One of the Westchester County “Rivertowns“—along with Hastings, Irvington, Tarrytown, and Ardsley—Dobbs Ferry sits directly on the Hudson River and fully leans into its small-town feel without being standard suburban fare.
“Think of a hilly, extremely charming village filled with small businesses flanked by a riverfront park with sweeping Hudson River and sunset views, and easy access to the water to create a daily sense of calm that’s hard to replicate,” says Francie Malina, a top real estate agent covering the Westchester County area with the Francie Malina Team at Compass, and a Rivertown resident herself. “It feels like a retreat—even on a Tuesday morning.”
With a description like that, it’s no wonder that this area is in high demand thanks to its friendly, family-centric feel that still provides easy New York City access.
History meets Hudson River charm
Named after a ferry service that carried residents across the Hudson River in the 1800s, Dobbs Ferry actually has roots that go all the way back to the Revolutionary War, when it served as an encampment for Continental Army troops commanded by Gen. George Washington.
Though it maintains this historic feel, the Dobbs Ferry of today is a blend of the nostalgic and the new.
“It has a true downtown—compact, charming, and actually usable and not filled with chain stores—local businesses where you can grab coffee, dinner, groceries, and a drink without getting in the car,” says Malina. “It’s the kind of place where people bump into each other in the best way.”
At the same time, there are major chain supermarkets and drugstores and a newly constructed shopping center all within a quick drive from downtown.
It also has a burgeoning arts scene thanks to Hudson River Landing, a waterfront building that was once the home of the Anchor Brewing Company in 1853. It has gradually become the “Art Building” in Dobbs Ferry, with much of the space rented out to local artists. It’s even a featured stop on the area’s RiverArts Studio Tour.
Another major Dobbs Ferry draw is the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail—a shaded, scenic path for walking, running, and biking that runs for 26 miles right through the village and north all the way through Westchester County.
In fact, Malina says she was first drawn to the Rivertowns by the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail: “More than 30 years ago, we drove up from NYC on a beautiful spring day and saw people walking, biking, and gathering along the path as it winds through Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, and Irvington—there was an immediate sense of connection and community.”
Decades later, she says the Aqueduct remains a central part of daily life for residents there—and a big part of what continues to make the area so special.
Heightening the appeal even further is the fact that the train station is in the downtown area and the Metro-North Hudson Line transports passengers to Grand Central in about 35–40 minutes. “You get the convenience of Manhattan access, but come home to quiet streets and fresh air,” says Malina.
Making the move from Manhattan to Rivertown
While Dobbs Ferry has a very small-town vibe, it attracts a wide berth of potential residents at all stages of life.
“We sell across the spectrum—young singles, couples, families, and empty nesters,” says Malina. “For many, it is a shorter commute to midtown Manhattan than they currently have from Brooklyn, and for others, the draw is nature, Hudson River beauty, space, and tranquility 15 miles from NYC.”
A combination of reasons prompted Joanna Golden, an entrepreneur and mother of three young kids under the age of 11, and her family to relocate to Dobbs Ferry almost nine years ago from the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
“Once my kids started trick-or-treating in our 16-story UWS building, we knew it was time to leave,” says Golden. “We wanted more room and greenery and a neighborhood full of kids.”
After doing some research on the Rivertowns with the help of Suburban Jungle (a service that helps people really dig into day-to-day routines and ask more personal questions about living in an area, typically with answers coming from moms with kids in the school systems), Golden and her husband decided on Dobbs Ferry.
“We loved Dobbs Ferry, which had a good mix of people and cultures, as we wanted diversity,” says Golden. “We moved into an adorable neighborhood with kids everywhere, and when we were looking at a potential house we liked, there was the annual neighborhood Halloween party itinerary up on a blackboard, showing each house’s scheduled Halloween-themed activities and timing (pumpkin decorating, boo-ling, bite the donut, ghostly treasure hunt, haunted house), and that’s all it took for me. I was sold!”
It also didn’t hurt that Golden had pre-vetted the schools and found out they were excellent (which she now confirms) and that the commute was unbeatable (since her husband still makes the regular trek into the city and she does intermittently).
Though Golden wishes there were more sidewalks and that the property taxes weren’t as high as they are, she adds that the residents of Dobbs Ferry outweigh any complaints she might have.
“The people are wonderful, which is important in a small town,” says Golden. “They are laid-back, kind, hardworking, interesting people who care—there is a warm sense of community here—it’s a special place.”
Scoping out the market in this suburban small town
The living situations available in Dobbs Ferry are varied and offer options for anyone exploring the area.
“The spectrum of housing includes condos, co-ops, single family attached and detached homes and some rentals,” says Malina, who adds that Dobbs Ferry has homes built in the early 1800s all the way to new construction along with lots of adaptive reuse—meaning old mansions, an 1895 printing house, and churches that have been subdivided into condo housing or converted to single family homes.
In other words, whatever your housing goal, there are possibilities. However, keep in mind that there are only 11,500 people living in Dobbs Ferry, and therefore housing inventory is limited.
“Clients often tell me how excited they are to have ‘discovered’ the Rivertowns, viewing them as up-and-coming communities; but in reality, demand in Dobbs Ferry and the surrounding Rivertowns has been strong for decades,” says Malina. “What continues to drive this demand is a fundamental imbalance: an extremely limited supply of housing paired with a steady stream of buyers and renters.”
As such, prices aren’t exactly cheap. In fact, Realtor.com® Senior Economic Research Analyst Hannah Jones says that sales data suggests there has been upward pressure on home prices in Dobbs Ferry, possibly due to demand from high-earning buyers from New York City.
She illustrates this by sharing that in 2025, there were 96 homes sold in Dobbs Ferry, 51 one of which sold for over $1 million dollars (53.1%) with the median home price in Dobbs Ferry coming in at $1.02 million—the second-highest level in the data’s history. By comparison, in 2019 just 19.5% of homes in Dobbs Ferry sold for more than $1 million.
Still, this may seem like a “deal” for some potential buyers looking in the Rivertowns.
“In Dobbs Ferry, property taxes are somewhat higher than in many comparable Westchester communities, which is reflected in slightly more accessible home pricing,” says Malina.
The bottom line, however, is that Dobbs Ferry is currently a hot market, and with good reason.
“People are drawn to the Hudson River lifestyle, access to nature, the authentic sense of community, the charm of the villages, and the convenience of proximity to New York City,” says Malina.
