Best PlacesBerne, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Berne, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Berne ranks 7,422nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Property taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on clean air.
The best neighborhoods in Berne
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.
Berne's strengths and weaknesses
Where Berne ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 89% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
Where Berne ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,280 a month, better than only 11% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Short commute34.6 minutes each way, better than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Berne
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Berne home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,554, 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 Berne's effective rate of 1.55%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Berne
Berne 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 Berne.
Who works in Berne, and how
Work in Berne centers on education and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Berne
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Berne.
What the weather is like in Berne, month by month
Berne sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 57° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 78° | 69° |
| October | 62° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Berne
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Berne
Schools across Berne average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Berne-knox-westerlo Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Schoharie Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Middleburgh Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greenville Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Greenville High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Middleburgh Junior/senior High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Berne-knox-westerlo Junior-senior High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Berne school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Berne 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 Berne against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Berne
Is Berne a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Berne ranks 7,422nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, good schools, and an educated workforce, and lowest on property taxes and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Berne expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $283,506. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $100,554 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Berne safe?
Yes, Berne is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $231 per resident a year.
Compare Berne with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Berne. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Berne 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.
Berne detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Berne: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Berne: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Berne: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Berne: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Berne 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.