Best Places13797, NY Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 13797, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

13797 ranks 18,142nd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.

#18,142
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
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 13797

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 13797 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.

13797's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Heat safety
Top 10%Good schools
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 13797 with other zip codes.

Where 13797 ranks high

  • Heat safetyBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • School gradeA, better than 92% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than 86% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than 74% of zip codes

Where 13797 ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 8% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than only 9% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 16% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 18% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 13797

A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 13797 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,526, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$38,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$877
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $127,900 home
Median rent
$769
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$652
Property tax$182
Homeowners insurance$43

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 13797's effective rate of 1.71%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 13797

13797's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
39
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
17%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1827%
18 to 3418%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6418%
65 and older17%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 13797.


Who works in 13797, and how

Work in 13797 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
11%
below the national average
Unemployment
7.2%
above the national average
Job growth
−2.6%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social21%
Manufacturing12%
Retail trade11%
Education10%
Construction7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 82%
  • Work from home 11%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 7%

Life in 13797

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 13797.


What the weather is like in 13797, month by month

13797 sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 17. 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
January33°25°17°
April58°45°34°
July82°70°60°
October62°51°42°

Flying in and out of 13797

The nearest airport, Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 149 miles away.

Nearest airport
BGM
Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, about 10 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
362nd-busiest in the US, 2 nonstop destinations
Average drive
14 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 13797

Schools across 13797 average an A, better than 92% 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 13797 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


13797 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 13797 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 13797

Is 13797 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 13797 ranks 18,142nd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on heat safety, good schools, and low crime, and lowest on property taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 13797 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $127,900. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $69,526 median income, cost of living beats 34% of zip codes.

Is 13797 safe?

Yes, 13797 is safer than 88% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $196 per resident a year.


Compare 13797 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 13797. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 13797 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.

13797 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 13797: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 13797: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 13797: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 13797: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

13797 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. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.