Best PlacesBelfast, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Belfast, 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.
Belfast ranks 22,348th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Belfast
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.
Belfast's strengths and weaknesses
Where Belfast ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 83% of towns
Where Belfast ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% 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 Belfast
A household needs to earn about $31,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Belfast home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,001, 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 Belfast's effective rate of 2.20%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Belfast
Belfast 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 Belfast.
Who works in Belfast, and how
Work in Belfast centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Belfast
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Belfast.
What the weather is like in Belfast, month by month
Belfast sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 17° |
| April | 52° | 42° | 34° |
| July | 76° | 67° | 59° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Belfast
The nearest airport, Bradford Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 168 miles away.
The best schools in and around Belfast
Schools across Belfast average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cuba-rushford Elementary SchoolA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cuba-rushford Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Cuba-rushford High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Belfast school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Belfast 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 Belfast against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Belfast
Is Belfast a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Belfast ranks 22,348th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, heat safety, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Belfast expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $100,095. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $65,001 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Belfast safe?
Yes, Belfast is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $262 per resident a year.
Compare Belfast with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Belfast. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Belfast 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.
Belfast detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Belfast: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Belfast: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Belfast: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Belfast: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Belfast 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.