Best PlacesClay, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clay, 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.
Clay ranks 3,067th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Clay
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.
Clay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clay ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$122,886 median, better than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
Where Clay ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,315 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 15% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clay
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $122,886, 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 Clay's effective rate of 2.39%, 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 Clay
Clay's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clay.
Who works in Clay, and how
Work in Clay centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Clay
Clay has more parkland per resident than 86% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Clay and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Clay, month by month
Clay sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Clay
The nearest airport, Syracuse Hancock International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 197 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clay
Schools across Clay average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Morgan Road Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Brewerton Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Cicero Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liverpool Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Emerson J Dillon Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Soule Road Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Cicero-north Syracuse High SchoolA+ · 96% proficient
- Charles W Baker High SchoolA+ · 96% proficient
- Liverpool High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clay 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 Clay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Clay
Is Clay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clay ranks 3,067th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, low disaster risk, and low crime, 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 Clay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $242,281. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $122,886 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Clay safe?
Yes, Clay is safer than 95% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $187 per resident a year.
Compare Clay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clay 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.
Clay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clay 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.