Best PlacesBainbridge, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bainbridge, 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.
Bainbridge ranks 32,540th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Noise pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on good schools.
The best neighborhoods in Bainbridge
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.
Bainbridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bainbridge ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 83% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 79% of towns
Where Bainbridge ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bainbridge
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bainbridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,474, 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 Bainbridge's effective rate of 1.91%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bainbridge
Bainbridge runs older 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 Bainbridge.
Who works in Bainbridge, and how
Work in Bainbridge centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Bainbridge
Bainbridge has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Bainbridge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bainbridge, month by month
Bainbridge sees roughly 79 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.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Bainbridge
The nearest airport, Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 130 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bainbridge
Schools across Bainbridge average an A, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sidney Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Afton Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Greenlawn Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sidney Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Oxford Academy Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Sidney High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Oxford Academy High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Bainbridge-guilford High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bainbridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bainbridge 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 Bainbridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bainbridge
Is Bainbridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bainbridge ranks 32,540th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, clean air, and walkability, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bainbridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $126,323. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $64,474 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Bainbridge safe?
Yes, Bainbridge is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $273 per resident a year.
Compare Bainbridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bainbridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bainbridge 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.
Bainbridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bainbridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bainbridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bainbridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bainbridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bainbridge 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.