Best PlacesElmira, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elmira, 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.
Elmira ranks 36,957th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Elmira
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.
Elmira's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elmira ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 138 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
Where Elmira ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute41.1 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,462 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elmira
A household needs to earn about $198,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elmira home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,351, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Elmira's effective rate of 0.91%, 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 Elmira
Elmira runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Elmira.
Who works in Elmira, and how
Work in Elmira centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Elmira
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Elmira.
What the weather is like in Elmira, month by month
Elmira sees roughly 138 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 49° | 38° |
| April | 77° | 61° | 45° |
| July | 98° | 78° | 59° |
| October | 83° | 65° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Elmira
Sacramento International sits about 29 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Elmira
Schools across Elmira average a C, better than 42% of towns.
Top middle schools
- John Knight MiddleD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Dixon HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elmira school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elmira 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 Elmira against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elmira
Is Elmira a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elmira ranks 36,957th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, cell coverage, and population health, and lowest on civic engagement and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elmira expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $747,011. The overall cost of living runs about 24% above the national average. Set against a $89,351 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Elmira safe?
Elmira is safer than 29% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $404 per resident a year.
Compare Elmira with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elmira. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elmira 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.
Elmira detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elmira: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elmira: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elmira: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elmira: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elmira 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.