Best PlacesDurham, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Durham, 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.
Durham ranks 16,809th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Durham
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.
Durham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Durham ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 83% of towns
Where Durham ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Durham
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Durham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,618, 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 Durham's effective rate of 1.44%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Durham
Durham 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 Durham.
Who works in Durham, and how
Work in Durham centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Durham
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Durham.
What the weather is like in Durham, month by month
Durham sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Durham
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 83 miles away.
The best schools in and around Durham
Schools across Durham average a B, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cairo-durham Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greenville Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Cairo-durham Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Cairo-durham High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Greenville High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Durham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Durham 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 Durham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Durham
Is Durham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Durham ranks 16,809th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, big-city access, and clean air, and lowest on an overheated housing market and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Durham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $261,700. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $81,618 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Durham safe?
Yes, Durham is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $209 per resident a year.
Compare Durham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Durham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Durham 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.
Durham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Durham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Durham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Durham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Durham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Durham 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.