Best PlacesDryden, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dryden, 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.
Dryden ranks 8,662nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dryden
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.
Dryden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dryden ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 89% of towns
Where Dryden ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,298 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 16% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dryden
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dryden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,131, 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 Dryden's effective rate of 2.16%, 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 Dryden
Dryden's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Dryden.
Who works in Dryden, and how
Work in Dryden centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Dryden
Dryden has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Dryden and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dryden, month by month
Dryden sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Dryden
The nearest airport, Ithaca Tompkins International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 166 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dryden
Schools across Dryden average a B+, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dryden Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Cassavant Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Freeville Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dryden Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Dryden High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Cortland High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- George Junior Republic SchoolD− · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dryden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dryden 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 Dryden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dryden
Is Dryden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dryden ranks 8,662nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, transit, and biking, 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 Dryden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $224,424. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $77,131 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Dryden safe?
Yes, Dryden is safer than 65% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
Compare Dryden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dryden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dryden 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.
Dryden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dryden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dryden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dryden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dryden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dryden 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.