Best PlacesDelaware County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Delaware 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.
Delaware County ranks 1,674th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Delaware 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.
Delaware County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Delaware County ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 90% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of counties
Where Delaware County ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Delaware County
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Delaware County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,849, 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 Delaware County's effective rate of 1.48%, 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 Delaware County
Delaware 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 Delaware County.
Who works in Delaware County, and how
Work in Delaware County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Delaware County
Delaware County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of counties and more parkland per resident than 68% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Delaware County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Delaware County growing, and who is moving in?
Delaware County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Delaware County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Delaware County, month by month
Delaware County sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 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 | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Delaware County
The nearest airport, Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Delaware County
Schools across Delaware County average an A−, better than 90% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Preston SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Livingston Manor Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Delaware Academy Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oneonta Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Unatego Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Sidney Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Unatego Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Oneonta Senior High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Sidney High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Delaware County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Delaware 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 Delaware County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Delaware County suits
Common questions about living in Delaware County
Is Delaware County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Delaware County ranks 1,674th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on tree cover, big-city access, and good schools, and lowest on empty homes and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Delaware County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,888. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $65,849 median income, cost of living beats 25% of counties.
Is Delaware County safe?
Yes, Delaware County is safer than 82% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Delaware County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 17. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of counties.
Is Delaware County good for families?
Schools beat 90% of counties, crime safety beats 82%, and childcare runs $1,088 a month.
Compare Delaware County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Delaware County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Delaware 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.
Delaware County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Delaware County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Delaware County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Delaware County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Delaware County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Delaware 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.