Best PlacesHector, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hector, 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.
Hector ranks 17,914th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hector
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.
Hector's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hector ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Hector ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hector
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hector home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,754, 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 Hector's effective rate of 1.58%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hector
Hector 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 Hector.
Who works in Hector, and how
Work in Hector centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Hector
Hector has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Hector and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hector, month by month
Hector sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Hector
The nearest airport, Ithaca Tompkins International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 188 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hector
Schools across Hector average an A−, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Watkins Glen Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- South Seneca Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Russell I Doig Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Dundee Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Watkins Glen Central High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hector school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hector 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 Hector against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hector
Is Hector a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hector ranks 17,914th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, low disaster risk, and an educated workforce, 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 Hector expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $299,351. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $71,754 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Hector safe?
Hector is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $351 per resident a year.
Compare Hector with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hector. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hector 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.
Hector detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hector: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hector: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hector: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hector: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hector 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.