Best Places13603, NY Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 13603, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

13603 ranks 10,539th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.

#10,539
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
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The best neighborhoods in 13603

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 13603 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

13603's strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%Heat safety
Top 3%Population health
Top 3%Short commutes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 13603 with other zip codes.

Where 13603 ranks high

  • Heat safetyBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Health outlookBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Short commute11.7 minutes each way, better than 99% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than 92% of zip codes

Where 13603 ranks low

  • Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 17% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of zip codes

Who lives in 13603

13603 runs younger than the country.

Median age
24
younger than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
0%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1830%
18 to 3450%
35 to 4915%
50 to 644%
65 and older0%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 13603.


Who works in 13603, and how

Work in 13603 centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
10%
below the national average
Unemployment
7.8%
above the national average
Job growth
+40.3%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social18%
Hospitality & food17%
Finance & insurance14%
Retail trade12%
Other services6%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 79%
  • Work from home 10%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 11%

Life in 13603

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 13603.


What the weather is like in 13603, month by month

13603 sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January31°22°14°
April56°44°33°
July83°72°61°
October63°51°41°

Flying in and out of 13603

The nearest airport, Watertown International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 214 miles away.

Nearest airport
ART
Watertown International, about 11 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
328th-busiest in the US, 4 nonstop destinations
Average drive
15 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 13603

Schools across 13603 average a B+, better than 85% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 13603 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


13603 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 13603 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 13603

Is 13603 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 13603 ranks 10,539th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on heat safety, population health, and short commutes, and lowest on civic engagement and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 13603 safe?

Yes, 13603 is safer than 69% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $300 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 13603?

July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 31 with lows near 14. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 31% of zip codes.


Compare 13603 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 13603. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 13603 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

13603 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 13603: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 13603: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 13603: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 13603: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

13603 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  5. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  6. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  7. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  8. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  9. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  10. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  11. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.