Best PlacesDownsville, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Downsville, 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.
Downsville ranks 31,615th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. A weak job market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on clean air.
The best neighborhoods in Downsville
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.
Downsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Downsville ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of towns
- QuietBetter than 85% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of towns
Where Downsville ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Downsville
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Downsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,859, 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 Downsville's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 Downsville
Downsville 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 Downsville.
Who works in Downsville, and how
Work in Downsville centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Downsville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Downsville.
What the weather is like in Downsville, month by month
Downsville sees roughly 68 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 Downsville
The nearest airport, Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Downsville
Schools across Downsville average an A−, better than 82% of towns.
Top high schools
- Downsville Central SchoolA · 58% proficient
- Roscoe Central SchoolA− · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Downsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Downsville 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 Downsville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Downsville
Is Downsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Downsville ranks 31,615th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, big-city access, and tree cover, and lowest on a weak job market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Downsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $213,438. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $73,859 median income, cost of living beats 35% of towns.
Is Downsville safe?
Downsville is safer than 55% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $291 per resident a year.
Compare Downsville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Downsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Downsville 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.
Downsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Downsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Downsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Downsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Downsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Downsville 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.