Best PlacesCayuga Heights, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cayuga Heights, 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.
Cayuga Heights ranks 1,691st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cayuga Heights
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.
Cayuga Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Cayuga Heights ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute14.7 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
Where Cayuga Heights ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cayuga Heights
A household needs to earn about $143,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cayuga Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $127,345, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Cayuga Heights' effective rate of 2.20%, 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 Cayuga Heights
Cayuga Heights'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 Cayuga Heights.
Who works in Cayuga Heights, and how
Work in Cayuga Heights centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 43%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 34%
Life in Cayuga Heights
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cayuga Heights.
What the weather is like in Cayuga Heights, month by month
Cayuga Heights sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 17° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Cayuga Heights
The nearest airport, Ithaca Tompkins International, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 171 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cayuga Heights
Schools across Cayuga Heights average an A−, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cayuga Heights Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dewitt Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Ithaca Senior High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cayuga Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cayuga Heights 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 Cayuga Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cayuga Heights
Is Cayuga Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cayuga Heights ranks 1,691st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, an educated workforce, and biking, 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 Cayuga Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $459,489. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $127,345 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Cayuga Heights safe?
Cayuga Heights is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $411 per resident a year.
Compare Cayuga Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cayuga Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cayuga Heights 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.
Cayuga Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cayuga Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cayuga Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cayuga Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cayuga Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cayuga Heights 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.