Mount Vernon City Snapshot

This Mount Vernon City Snapshot is the third in our City Snapshots Series. If you missed the first two City Snapshots, take a look at the Yonkers and New Rochelle fact sheets. Throughout the rest of July, we’ll be sharing two more City Snapshots for White Plains and Peekskill.

Our goal is to shed some light on what it’s like to raise a child in each of these cities in Westchester County. The data we’ve chosen covers key areas such as demographics, economics, education, community resources, health and safety, and family. While there is much more data that we could have included, we think the data we’ve chosen provides a well-rounded picture of the environments that our children and youth are developing in. All the City Snapshots will contain the same data indicators for comparisons between cities.

You can download a pdf of the Mount Vernon City Snapshot or use the interactive viewing window below.


Mount Vernon Highlights

NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, all comparisons are made between the five selected cities, not between all municipalities in Westchester County.
  • Demographics: Relative to the other five cities, Mount Vernon has the smallest percentage of Hispanics and whites, as well as the largest percentage of blacks.
  • Limited English proficiency: Together with New Rochelle, Mount Vernon has the highest percentage of students who are proficient in English, with only 9% of students having limited English proficiency.
  • Student proficiency rates: The Mount Vernon School District has the lowest passing rates for eighth grade Math and English Language Arts (ELA). Mount Vernon shares the lowest third grade ELA passing rates with Peekskill and Yonkers. We see this trend continue with graduation and college readiness rates: Mount Vernon has the lowest high school graduation and college readiness rates in Westchester County.
  • Violent and Disruptive School Incidents: Out of the five cities, Mount Vernon reported the lowest rate of violent and disruptive incidents (13.9 per 1,000 students). By far, however, the district had the highest percentage of incidents that were violent (33.6%). The fact that no bullying incidents were reported merits further investigation into the school’s policies on reporting and responding to bullying.
  • Monthly housing costs: Renters in Mount Vernon dish out less on housing than renters in the other four cities, with a median monthly housing cost of $1,147. Also, a larger percentage of housing units are rented rather than owned in Mount Vernon.
  • Unemployment rate: A larger percentage of residents (14%) are unemployed in Mount Vernon than in the rest of Westchester’s municipalities.
  • Infant health: Mount Vernon has both the highest percentage of infants born underweight (13%) and the highest percentage of infants born with delayed or no prenatal care (40%).
  • S.T.E.M. Saturdays: Mount Vernon middle school students can participate in S.T.E.M Saturdays. As part of the summer Safe Haven program, S.T.E.M. Saturdays encourages youth to explore the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Take some time to explore the rest of the data in the Mount Vernon City Snapshot below. We also encourage you to download the fact sheet as a reference, or send it to a friend or colleague using the share buttons at the bottom of the post.