Where Should You Live If You Work at ORDA?

Where should you live if you work at ORDA? Most ORDA jobs at the Olympic Center, Olympic Jumping Complex, and Mt. Van Hoevenberg are in Lake Placid, with Whiteface Mountain about 13 miles away in Wilmington, so the real choice is usually between living in Lake Placid itself or commuting 15–25 minutes from Wilmington, Saranac Lake, or Keene for more space and lower prices.

If you've taken a job with the Olympic Regional Development Authority, or you're weighing an offer, the venue you'll be working at matters more than the employer name. ORDA runs facilities in three separate parts of New York State, and they don't share a housing market. This guide covers the towns around ORDA's northern Adirondack venues, Lake Placid, Wilmington, Saranac Lake, and Keene, since that's where the large majority of ORDA's year-round and seasonal positions are based, and it's the area Tina Leonard Real Estate serves directly.

First: Confirm Which ORDA Venues You'd Actually Be Working At

ORDA is headquartered at 37 Church Street in Lake Placid and operates venues in three distinct regions:

• Lake Placid/Wilmington area (Northern Adirondacks): Olympic Center, Olympic Jumping Complex, Mt. Van Hoevenberg, and Whiteface Mountain, located at 5021 Route 86 in Wilmington. This cluster is what the rest of this article addresses.
• Gore Mountain, near North Creek in the southern Adirondacks, roughly 80 miles south of Lake Placid, in a different county with its own separate housing market and commute patterns.
• Belleayre Mountain, in the Catskills, a different region of the state entirely, unrelated to Adirondack housing.

If your offer is for Gore Mountain or Belleayre, the town comparisons below won't apply to your situation, you're looking at a different regional real estate market, and we'd point you toward an agent local to that area instead. Everything from here on assumes a position at one of the Lake Placid-area venues.

The Four Towns Most ORDA Employees Weigh

Town	Distance/Time to Lake Placid Venues	Mid-2026 Price Range (Approx.)	Character
Lake Placid	In town	Roughly $530K–$800K village-wide	Village center, walkable, Olympic heritage, tightest inventory
Wilmington	~13 miles / ~20 minutes	High $300s–mid $400s (median ~$427K)	Home mountain town of Whiteface; river valley; friendlier short-term rental rules
Saranac Lake	~10 miles / ~15 minutes	Typical value ~$231K; village median sold ~$248K	Larger year-round village; arts scene; more entry-level inventory
Keene	~14 miles / 18–25 minutes via Route 73	Low $400s–mid $600s	Small High Peaks hamlets; close-knit; nearly half of housing is seasonal-use

These figures come from Tina Leonard Real Estate's own community pages and reflect mid-2026 data, Adirondack inventory shifts fast, so treat them as a starting point and check current listings and the Market Snapshot tool for a specific town before assuming a price range still holds.

Lake Placid: Living Where You Work

If your role is at the Olympic Center, the Jumping Complex, or Mt. Van Hoevenberg, Lake Placid itself means no commute at all, a real advantage in an Adirondack winter. It's also the smallest, most competitive market of the four, with village-wide pricing running roughly $530,000 to $800,000 depending on source and averaging around 43 days on market in mid-2026. Lake Placid also restricts short-term rental permits more tightly than some neighboring towns, which matters if you're weighing whether a property could ever generate rental income.

Wilmington: The Whiteface Commute

If you're working at Whiteface Mountain specifically, Wilmington puts you close to the mountain and about 20 minutes from Lake Placid's other venues via Route 86. It's a noticeably more affordable market, a median sale price near $427,000 over the 12 months through May 2026, with listings ranging from $150,000 to $835,000, though inventory is thin, with only about 20 active listings townwide as of mid-2026. Most of Wilmington falls in the Lake Placid Central School District, with a portion in AuSable Valley Central School District. Wilmington also has friendlier short-term rental permitting than Lake Placid, which draws ski-house and rental-property buyers.

Saranac Lake: More House for the Money

Saranac Lake sits about 10 miles (roughly 15 minutes) from Lake Placid on Route 86, and it's the most affordable of the four by a wide margin, a typical home value around $231,000 as of mid-2026, up sharply year-over-year, with a median sold price near $248,000 in the village's core ZIP code. It's also a larger, more self-sufficient year-round community, with its own hospital, a community college, and a downtown arts scene, rather than a satellite of Lake Placid. Homes there sit on the market longer than in Lake Placid or Keene, around 111 to 135 days recently, which can mean more negotiating room. The Saranac Lake Central School District serves the village and surrounding hamlets, including Bloomingdale, about 10 minutes further north, where entry-level pricing runs even lower within the same district.

Keene: High Peaks Access, Smaller Scale

Keene is about 14 miles from Lake Placid, an 18-to-25-minute drive via Route 73 depending on conditions. Pricing sits between Wilmington and Lake Placid, typically low $400,000s to mid $600,000s, with roughly 33 homes selling townwide per year and inventory tight at around 15 active listings in mid-2026. Keene is meaningfully smaller and more seasonal than the other three towns, close to half of its housing stock is used seasonally rather than year-round, which shapes the year-round community differently than Saranac Lake or Wilmington. Keene Central School District runs a single PK-12 campus with roughly 170 students.

What the Price Range Doesn't Tell You: Winter Commuting

Every commute time above reflects normal driving conditions. Route 73 between Keene and Lake Placid, and Route 86 between Wilmington and Lake Placid, are mountain roads, and winter weather can extend a 20-minute drive on a given day. 511NY, New York State's official traveler information site, shows current winter road conditions and travel times for these routes if you want to check before a commute. If you haven't driven Adirondack roads in snow before, it's worth asking someone who has, including your future coworkers at ORDA, what a bad-weather commute actually looks like before you commit to living 15–25 minutes away rather than in Lake Placid itself. Our earlier post on the habits new Adirondack residents develop gets into what winter-ready homeownership looks like here beyond just the commute.

Schools, Objectively

If you're relocating with school-age kids, the district lines don't always match the town lines:

• Lake Placid Central School District serves Lake Placid and most of Wilmington.
• Saranac Lake Central School District serves Saranac Lake and surrounding hamlets, including Bloomingdale.
• Keene Central School District operates a single PK-12 building for the town.
• AuSable Valley Central School District serves a portion of Wilmington and neighboring towns like Jay.

Because district boundaries within a town can vary by street, confirm the specific district for any address you're considering before you assume which schools your children would attend.

Renting First vs. Buying Right Away

Adirondack inventory in this cluster of towns is thin across the board, Wilmington and Keene each show roughly 15–20 active listings townwide in mid-2026, and Lake Placid's market moves quickly. If your ORDA start date is tight, it's worth talking through with a local agent whether a short-term rental while you search makes more sense than rushing a purchase in an unfamiliar market. That's a conversation, not a formula, it depends on your timeline, your down payment, and how quickly you need to be settled.

Who Tends to Prefer Which Option

None of these towns is objectively "better", they suit different priorities:

• Living in Lake Placid itself removes the commute question entirely and puts you closest to the Olympic Center, Jumping Complex, and Mt. Van Hoevenberg, at the highest price point and tightest inventory.
• Wilmington suits Whiteface-based employees and anyone prioritizing affordability and short-term rental flexibility over village walkability.
• Saranac Lake suits people who want a larger, more self-contained year-round community and the most house for the money, at a modest commute.
• Keene suits people drawn to High Peaks access and a smaller-scale community, with a commute in the same range as Saranac Lake's.

Talk Through Your Specific Situation

A town comparison can narrow the search, but it can't tell you whether a specific house on a specific road makes sense for your commute, your budget, and your timeline with ORDA. If you're relocating for a role at one of ORDA's Lake Placid-area venues, reach out to Tina Leonard Real Estate, we can walk you through current listings in Lake Placid, Wilmington, Saranac Lake, and Keene, or you can start browsing on your own.