Best PlacesAlfred, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Alfred, 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.
Alfred ranks 13,638th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Alfred
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.
Alfred's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alfred ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
Where Alfred ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Alfred
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alfred home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $52,684, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Alfred's effective rate of 2.27%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Alfred
Alfred runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Alfred.
Who works in Alfred, and how
Work in Alfred centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 55%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 30%
Life in Alfred
Alfred has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Alfred and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Alfred, month by month
Alfred sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Alfred
The nearest airport, Elmira/Corning Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 176 miles away.
The best schools in and around Alfred
Schools across Alfred average an A, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Alfred-almond Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Alfred-almond Junior-senior High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alfred school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alfred 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 Alfred against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Alfred
Is Alfred a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alfred ranks 13,638th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, heat safety, and population health, and lowest on civic engagement and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alfred expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,126. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $52,684 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Alfred safe?
Alfred is safer than 41% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $325 per resident a year.
Compare Alfred with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alfred. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alfred 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.
Alfred detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alfred: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alfred: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alfred: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alfred: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alfred detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.