Best PlacesHancock, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hancock, 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.
Hancock ranks 42,151st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hancock
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.
Hancock's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hancock ranks high
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
Where Hancock ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 12% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hancock
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hancock home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,917, 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 Hancock's effective rate of 1.57%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hancock
Hancock 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 Hancock.
Who works in Hancock, and how
Work in Hancock centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Hancock
Hancock has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Hancock and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hancock, month by month
Hancock sees roughly 71 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 Hancock
The nearest airport, Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 106 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hancock
Schools across Hancock average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Preston SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Townsend Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Sullivan West Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Walton Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Walton High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Honesdale HsA · 75% proficient
- Sullivan West High School At Lake HuntingtonA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hancock school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hancock 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 Hancock against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hancock
Is Hancock a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hancock ranks 42,151st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and big-city access, and lowest on car insurance costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hancock expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $150,319. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $51,917 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Hancock safe?
Hancock is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $494 per resident a year.
Compare Hancock with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hancock. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hancock 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.
Hancock detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hancock: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hancock: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hancock: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hancock: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hancock 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.