Best PlacesDarien Center, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Darien Center, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Darien Center ranks 7,930th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Darien Center
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.
Darien Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Darien Center ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of towns
Where Darien Center ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Darien Center
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Darien Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,634, 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 Darien Center's effective rate of 1.79%, 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 Darien Center
Darien Center runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Darien Center.
Who works in Darien Center, and how
Work in Darien Center centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Darien Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Darien Center.
What the weather is like in Darien Center, month by month
Darien Center sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Darien Center
The nearest airport, Buffalo Niagara International, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 192 miles away.
The best schools in and around Darien Center
Schools across Darien Center average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Alexander Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Attica Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Attica Junior High SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Alden Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Alden Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Attica Senior High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Pembroke Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Darien Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Darien Center 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 Darien Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Darien Center
Is Darien Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Darien Center ranks 7,930th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, low disaster risk, and heat safety, and lowest on property taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Darien Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $209,739. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $90,634 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Darien Center safe?
Yes, Darien Center is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $142 per resident a year.
Compare Darien Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Darien Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Darien Center 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.
Darien Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Darien Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Darien Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Darien Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Darien Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Darien Center 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.