Best PlacesBrooktondale, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brooktondale, 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.
Brooktondale ranks 5,389th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Brooktondale
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.
Brooktondale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brooktondale ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
Where Brooktondale ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,313 a month, better than only 9% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 16% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brooktondale
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brooktondale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,550, 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 Brooktondale's effective rate of 1.98%, 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.
Who lives in Brooktondale
Brooktondale's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Brooktondale.
Who works in Brooktondale, and how
Work in Brooktondale centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Brooktondale
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Brooktondale.
What the weather is like in Brooktondale, month by month
Brooktondale sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Brooktondale
The nearest airport, Ithaca Tompkins International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Brooktondale
Schools across Brooktondale average an A−, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cayuga Heights Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Dryden Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Candor Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dewitt Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Newark Valley Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Dryden Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Dryden High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Ithaca Senior High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Newark Valley Senior High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brooktondale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brooktondale 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 Brooktondale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brooktondale
Is Brooktondale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brooktondale ranks 5,389th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, population health, and heat safety, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brooktondale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $227,264. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $85,550 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Brooktondale safe?
Brooktondale is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $297 per resident a year.
Compare Brooktondale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brooktondale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brooktondale 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.
Brooktondale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brooktondale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brooktondale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brooktondale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brooktondale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brooktondale 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.