Best PlacesCanton, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Canton, 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.
Canton ranks 11,973rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Canton
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.
Canton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Canton ranks high
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute16.4 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
Where Canton ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Canton
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Canton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,271, 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 Canton's effective rate of 2.22%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Canton
Canton 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 Canton.
Who works in Canton, and how
Work in Canton centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 22%
Life in Canton
Canton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Canton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Canton, month by month
Canton sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 62° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Canton
The nearest airport, Ogdensburg International, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 222 miles away.
The best schools in and around Canton
Schools across Canton average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lawrence Avenue Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Madrid-waddington Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Saint Lawrence Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- J M Mckenney Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- A A Kingston Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- J William Leary Junior High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- H C Williams Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Saint Lawrence High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Potsdam Senior High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Canton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Canton 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 Canton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Canton
Is Canton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Canton ranks 11,973rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and short commutes, 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 Canton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,639. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $63,271 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Canton safe?
Canton is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $324 per resident a year.
Compare Canton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Canton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Canton 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.
Canton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Canton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Canton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Canton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Canton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Canton 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.