Best PlacesChenango County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Chenango County, 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.
Chenango County ranks 1,520th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Chenango County
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.
The best areas in Chenango County
The parts of Chenango County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Greene
Crime runs lower, more households have young kids, and it is quieter.
Oxford
Prices have run up less.
Norwich
Streets are more walkable, though tree cover is thinner.
Sherburne
Disaster risk is lower.
Bainbridge
Fewer homes sit empty, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Chenango County run from about the 10th to the 76th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Chenango County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chenango County ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 93% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 89% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 85% of counties
Where Chenango County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 12% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Chenango County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chenango County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,944, 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 Chenango County's effective rate of 2.12%, 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 Chenango County
Chenango County 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 Chenango County.
Who works in Chenango County, and how
Work in Chenango County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Chenango County
Chenango County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 65% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Chenango County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Chenango County growing, and who is moving in?
Chenango County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Syracuse, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Chenango County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Chenango County, month by month
Chenango County sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Chenango County
The nearest airport, Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 143 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chenango County
Schools across Chenango County average an A−, better than 93% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Cincinnatus Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Greene Intermediate SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Sidney Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greene Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Cincinnatus Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Chenango Forks Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Chenango Forks High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Greene High SchoolA+ · 96% proficient
- Sidney High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chenango County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chenango County 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 Chenango County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Chenango County suits
Common questions about living in Chenango County
Is Chenango County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chenango County ranks 1,520th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, heat safety, and clean air, 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 Chenango County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $136,663. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $65,944 median income, cost of living beats 41% of counties.
Is Chenango County safe?
Yes, Chenango County is safer than 80% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Chenango County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 17. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 35% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Chenango County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Greene, Oxford, and Norwich. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Chenango County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chenango County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chenango County 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.
Chenango County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chenango County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chenango County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chenango County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chenango County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chenango County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.