The Short Answer
Chappaqua is not a town, and it is not a village. It is a hamlet with no municipal government of its own, governed, zoned, assessed and taxed by the Town of New Castle in Westchester County, New York.
The Town of New Castle’s website welcomes visitors to “the hamlets of Chappaqua and Millwood,” and its Town Hall uses a Chappaqua address: 200 South Greeley Avenue, Chappaqua, NY 10514. There is no Chappaqua mayor, village board, village tax or village code.
Three different areas get called Chappaqua. The Census Bureau’s Chappaqua place covers about 0.9 square miles and held 1,004 homes in 2020. The 10514 ZIP code held 4,131. The Chappaqua Central School District held 5,682. None matches the Town of New Castle, with 6,160 homes on about 23.1 square miles of land.
The Trap: Treating “Chappaqua” as a Boundary
A listing that reads “Chappaqua, NY 10514” names a post office. It does not tell you which town taxes the house, which school district serves it or which fire district appears on the bill. About one in ten 10514 homes is outside New Castle, and about three in ten homes in the Chappaqua school district have another mailing address. Our Ultimate Guide to Chappaqua covers the rest of the hamlet.
Town of New Castle website, accessed October 20, 2026. US Census Bureau 2020 Census block data (housing units) and 2025 Gazetteer land areas.
What a Hamlet Is in New York
A hamlet is a name, not a government. In New York, counties, cities, towns and villages are the incorporated units of local government; a hamlet is none of these.
The Department of State’s Local Government Handbook puts it plainly: the term “hamlet” “does not define a formal community like a city, town or village.” Such places can “even have a post office that bears the community’s name,” but unless residents incorporate under the Village Law, “they do not constitute a village.”
The Census Bureau agrees. Its glossary says hamlets, “primarily in the State of New York, are usually represented as CDPs,” or census designated places, whose boundaries “have no legal status.”
So every service a village would provide comes from the Town or a special district. Westchester County’s 2026 rate table applies an outside-villages town rate only “in towns that have villages” and shows none for New Castle, and New Castle’s 2026 budget sets one rate for the “entire town.”
NYS Department of State, Local Government Handbook. US Census Bureau Geography Glossary. Westchester County 2026 town and 2025/2026 village tax rates. Town of New Castle 2026 Adopted Budget.
The Town of New Castle Governs Chappaqua
The Town of New Castle is the local government for the hamlet of Chappaqua. It became a separate town in 1791, when it was divided from North Castle.
The Town Board writes the zoning. The Assessor values every parcel for town, county, school, fire and special district taxes and even assigns house numbers, in compliance with Westchester County 911 and the New Castle Police Department. The Receiver of Taxes collects town, county and school taxes.
The town has two named hamlets. Chappaqua contains the train station and the business area the Town calls downtown. Millwood, also a census designated place, held 403 homes in 2020, all with a Millwood 10546 address.
Downtown Chappaqua
Downtown Chappaqua is a place name, not a jurisdiction. The Town’s planning documents use “downtown” for the hamlet’s business area, including the North Greeley corridor, the South Greeley area and King Street, and note that the hamlet has a commuter station and sewer and water infrastructure. Some downtown parcels carry their own district lines, such as the 12-parcel South Greeley commercial refuse district. Our Scarsdale vs. Chappaqua comparison sets this structure beside a self-governing village.
Town of New Castle history, Assessor, Receiver of Taxes and Form Based Code FAQ pages, accessed October 20, 2026. Westchester County 2026 Special District Tax Rates.
Which Towns Share ZIP 10514
About nine in ten homes with a Chappaqua 10514 address are in the Town of New Castle. The rest are in the Towns of Mount Pleasant and Yorktown, which assess and tax them on their own rolls.
ZIP codes are a mail system: regional post offices “assign ZIP Codes to delivery routes,” in the Census Bureau’s words. The Census assigns each block to the ZIP used by most of its addresses, so a few homes near the edges may differ from the 2020 figures below.
| Town | Homes With a 10514 Address (2020) | Who Assesses and Taxes Them |
|---|---|---|
| Town of New Castle | 3,722 (90.1%) | Town of New Castle |
| Town of Mount Pleasant | 392 (9.5%) | Town of Mount Pleasant |
| Town of Yorktown | 17 (0.4%) | Town of Yorktown |
Only 1,004 of the 4,131 homes in the ZIP sit inside the Census Bureau’s Chappaqua place, about one in four.
The Reverse Is Also True
About four in ten New Castle homes, 2,438 of 6,160, do not have a Chappaqua address. The largest group, 1,286 homes, uses Mount Kisco 10549; another 542 use Ossining 10562 and 521 Millwood 10546.
Mount Kisco is a separate coterminous town and village, one of five in New York according to the Department of State. Census data place all 1,286 of those homes in New Castle, so their town tax comes from New Castle’s roll, not Mount Kisco’s.
US Census Bureau 2020 ZCTA relationship and Block Assignment Files, with 2020 block housing counts. Census ZCTA guidance, revised August 10, 2023. NYS Department of State Legal Memorandum LG06.
The Chappaqua School District Line
The Chappaqua Central School District follows its own boundary, not the ZIP code and not the town line. In 2020 Census data it held 5,682 homes, and 1,635 of them, about 29 percent, do not have a Chappaqua 10514 address.
| Mailing Address | Homes in the Chappaqua Central School District (2020) |
|---|---|
| Chappaqua 10514 | 4,047 (71.2%) |
| Mount Kisco 10549, all in New Castle | 934 |
| Millwood 10546 | 521 |
| Pleasantville 10570 | 83 |
| Briarcliff Manor 10510 | 75 |
| Armonk 10504 | 22 |
The district also crosses the town line, with 5,250 homes in New Castle and 432 in Mount Pleasant. Meanwhile 910 New Castle homes are in other districts: 545 in the Ossining Union Free School District, 201 in Bedford, 151 in Yorktown, 12 in Byram Hills and 1 in Pleasantville. And 84 homes with a 10514 address sit outside the Chappaqua district.
This page states only which district serves which area. The district’s Registrar confirms whether an address falls within the district, and which elementary or middle school it is zoned for, at (914) 238-7200 x10007.
US Census Bureau 2020 Block Assignment Files (unified school districts) joined to 2020 block housing counts. Chappaqua Central School District Registrar page, accessed October 20, 2026.
What a Chappaqua Tax Bill Contains
A Chappaqua home in New Castle pays no village tax, because there is no village. The Town’s Receiver of Taxes sends two bills a year.
- Town and county bill. Mailed April 1 and due April 30, with the town tax, the Westchester County tax and the special districts for the address.
- School bill. Mailed September 1, with halves due September 30 and January 31, for the district that serves the parcel plus, inside the Chappaqua district, the Chappaqua Library levy.
| Levy | Set By | Rate per $1,000 of Assessed Value |
|---|---|---|
| Town general and highway | Town of New Castle, one rate town-wide | $16.53 (2026) |
| Fire | Fire district for the address | $4.28 New Castle, $6.52 Millwood, $6.25 Northern (2026) |
| Refuse | New Castle Refuse District | $687.27 per unit (2026) |
| School and library | District serving the parcel | Chappaqua CSD $122.38 plus $3.64 library (2025-26) |
| Village | None in New Castle | None |
Water, sewer, ambulance and lighting districts apply only where a parcel sits inside them, though the consolidated water district and the advanced life support district each reach most parcels.
Why the Rates Look So High
New Castle assesses at a small fraction of market value. The 2025 final roll, which carries the 2026 town rate above, states a uniform 13.95 percent, and the 2026 final roll, printed September 15, 2026, states 12.50 percent, so a rate per $1,000 of assessed value looks far larger than it would at full value.
Same District, Two Very Different Rates
For 2025-26 the Chappaqua district’s rate was $122.38 per $1,000 of assessed value on the New Castle roll and $1,608.24 on the Mount Pleasant roll. The district splits one levy by state equalization rates. Its 2026-27 budget estimate used the State equalization rates of 13.95 percent for New Castle and 1.07 percent for Mount Pleasant, assigning an estimated 91.40 percent of the levy to New Castle. Compare actual bills, never raw rates across rolls.
The School District Changes the Bill
Inside New Castle every district uses the same roll, so rates do compare. For 2025-26 the Ossining district’s New Castle rate was $135.10 plus $5.77 for its library, against $122.38 plus $3.64 in the Chappaqua district. On a home assessed at $200,000, that is about $2,970 a year more in school and library tax, by our arithmetic. Our Westchester County property tax guide covers exemptions and grievances.
Town of New Castle Receiver of Taxes page and 2025 and 2026 Final Roll Totals. Westchester County 2026 town and special district rates and 2025/2026 school rates, the latest posted as of October 20, 2026 (the Town’s adopted budget shows a $16.57 town rate). Chappaqua CSD 2026-27 Adopted Budget, estimated. The $200,000 example is our arithmetic. General information, not tax or legal advice; confirm with a real estate attorney or the New Castle Assessor.
Chappaqua Station and the Harlem Line
Chappaqua has its own Metro-North station on the Harlem Line, between Pleasantville and Mount Kisco, about 30 miles from Grand Central in a straight line. On the current weekday timetable, 14 trains reach Grand Central between 6 and 10 a.m., taking 53 to 62 minutes, with a median of 57.
Chappaqua is in fare Zone 5: a monthly ticket costs $313.00 and a peak one-way ticket $16.00, under fares effective January 4, 2026. The railroad reached Chappaqua in 1846, and the present station opened in 1902.
The Town of New Castle runs the station parking, on a parking year from June 15, 2026 to June 14, 2027. A full-year resident permit costs $600 and a non-resident permit $1,450, with no space guaranteed. The resident form asks for a driver’s license with a New Castle address, so for a Mount Pleasant or Yorktown house, ask the Town Clerk which rate applies. Our guide to Westchester towns for NYC commuters compares other stations.
MTA Metro-North Harlem Line timetable effective October 4, 2026, trains arriving at Grand Central 6 to 10 a.m. MTA fare table. Distance from MTA station coordinates. Town of New Castle history and 2026 parking pages.
How to Verify Any Chappaqua Address
The assessment roll and the two tax bills answer the question for any parcel.
- Find the town. Westchester County links to each assessor’s records, and its GIS viewer shows tax parcels countywide.
- Read the SWIS code. The roll’s six-digit State code identifies the county, town and any village: 553600 is New Castle, 553400 Mount Pleasant and 555400 Yorktown.
- Read the school district. New York rolls list each parcel’s school district and code; Chappaqua Central’s is 553604.
- Get both bills. Ask for the April town and county bill, with its fire, water, sewer and refuse lines, and the September school bill.
- Call the district. The Chappaqua Registrar answers at (914) 238-7200 x10007; for another district, call that district’s office.
- Ask about sewer. Public sewer districts cover fewer than half of New Castle’s parcels, so confirm sewer or septic on the first visit.
Westchester County Online Assessment Data. NYS Department of Taxation and Finance, Overview of the assessment roll, updated February 18, 2026. Westchester County 2026 tax tables; New Castle 2026 Final Roll Totals.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Chappaqua is a hamlet in the Town of New Castle, Westchester County, New York, with no government of its own. The Town of New Castle handles its zoning, assessment and tax collection, and its website names “the hamlets of Chappaqua and Millwood.”
Neither. Chappaqua is not incorporated as a city, town or village. The Department of State notes that the term hamlet “does not define a formal community like a city, town or village,” and the Census Bureau counts Chappaqua as a census designated place of about 0.9 square miles.
Westchester County. Chappaqua is in the Town of New Castle, one of Westchester’s towns, and New Castle’s Receiver of Taxes collects the county tax on the April town and county bill.
In the Town of New Castle in Westchester County, on Metro-North’s Harlem Line between Pleasantville and Mount Kisco, about 30 miles from Grand Central in a straight line.
10514. In 2020 Census data three towns share it: New Castle with 3,722 homes, Mount Pleasant with 392 and Yorktown with 17. Other parts of New Castle use Mount Kisco 10549, Ossining 10562 or Millwood 10546.
No, about one in ten is not. In 2020 Census data, 392 homes with a 10514 address are in the Town of Mount Pleasant and 17 in Yorktown, each taxed by its own town. The roll’s SWIS code tells you which: New Castle is 553600.
Usually, not always. In 2020 Census data, 84 homes with a 10514 address are in the Byram Hills, Yorktown or Pleasantville districts, and about 29 percent of Chappaqua Central School District homes use another ZIP. Confirm any address with the district Registrar at (914) 238-7200 x10007.
Not in New Castle. The town contains no village, so a Chappaqua home in New Castle receives a town and county bill each April and a school bill each September. Fire, water, sewer and refuse district taxes appear on the April bill.
No. Millwood is the Town of New Castle’s other hamlet, with its own 10546 ZIP code, and the Town governs both. In 2020 Census data the Millwood census designated place held 403 homes, all in the Chappaqua Central School District.
On the current weekday timetable, 14 morning trains reach Grand Central between 6 and 10 a.m., taking 53 to 62 minutes, with a median of 57. Chappaqua is in fare Zone 5, where a monthly ticket costs $313.00.
More on Chappaqua and Westchester Addresses
Is That 10514 House in New Castle and the Chappaqua District?
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