Best PlacesIra, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ira, 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.
Ira ranks 8,285th 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 Ira
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.
Ira's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ira ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 91% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
Where Ira ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ira
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ira home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,297, 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 Ira's effective rate of 1.74%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Ira
Ira runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ira.
Who works in Ira, and how
Work in Ira centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Ira
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ira.
What the weather is like in Ira, month by month
Ira sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Ira
The nearest airport, Syracuse Hancock International, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 213 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ira
Schools across Ira average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cato-meridian Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Cato-meridian Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ira school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ira 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 Ira against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ira
Is Ira a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ira ranks 8,285th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, low disaster risk, and clean air, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ira expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $151,207. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $92,297 median income, cost of living beats 76% of towns.
Is Ira safe?
Yes, Ira is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $195 per resident a year.
Compare Ira with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ira. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ira 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.
Ira detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ira: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ira: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ira: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ira: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ira 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.