Best PlacesLakewood, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lakewood, 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.
Lakewood ranks 12,896th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lakewood
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.
Lakewood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lakewood ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 91% of towns
Where Lakewood ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lakewood
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lakewood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,336, 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 Lakewood's effective rate of 2.19%, 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 Lakewood
Lakewood 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 Lakewood.
Who works in Lakewood, and how
Work in Lakewood centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lakewood
Lakewood has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Lakewood and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lakewood, month by month
Lakewood sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 79° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Lakewood
The nearest airport, Bradford Regional, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lakewood
Schools across Lakewood average an A−, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Panama K-6 SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Southwestern Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southwestern Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Southwestern Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Panama High SchoolA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lakewood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lakewood 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 Lakewood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lakewood
Is Lakewood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lakewood ranks 12,896th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, health care access, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes 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 Lakewood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $185,927. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $73,336 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Lakewood safe?
Yes, Lakewood is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
Compare Lakewood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lakewood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lakewood 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.
Lakewood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lakewood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lakewood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lakewood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lakewood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lakewood 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.