Best PlacesMadison County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Madison County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Madison County ranks 759th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Madison County
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.
The best areas in Madison County
The parts of Madison County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Cazenovia
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and fewer homes sit empty.
Chittenango, Kirkville & Bridgeport
More residents vote, though it is noisier.
Hamilton
Prices have run up more and crime runs higher.
Oneida & Canastota
Biking is better, though tree cover is thinner.
Scores across Madison County run from about the 20th to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Madison County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Madison County ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 95% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 88% of counties
Where Madison County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 12% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Madison County
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Madison County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,184, 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 Madison County's effective rate of 2.05%, 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 Madison County
Madison County 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 Madison County.
Who works in Madison County, and how
Work in Madison County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Madison County
Madison County has more parkland per resident than 72% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Madison County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Madison County growing, and who is moving in?
Madison County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Syracuse, NY metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Madison County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Madison County, month by month
Madison County sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Madison County
The nearest airport, Syracuse Hancock International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 171 miles away.
The best schools in and around Madison County
Schools across Madison County average an A−, better than 95% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Enders Road Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Bolivar Road Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Hamilton Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Eagle Hill Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Chittenango Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Cazenovia Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Fayetteville-manlius Senior High SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- East Syracuse Minoa Central High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Mount Markham Senior High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Madison County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Madison County 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 Madison County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Madison County suits
Common questions about living in Madison County
Is Madison County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Madison County ranks 759th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, low crime, and clean air, 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 Madison County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $195,352. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $78,184 median income, cost of living beats 55% of counties.
Is Madison County safe?
Yes, Madison County is safer than 94% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $233 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Madison County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 18. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 16% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Madison County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cazenovia, Chittenango, Kirkville & Bridgeport, and Hamilton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Madison County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Madison County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Madison County 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.
Madison County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Madison County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Madison County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Madison County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Madison County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Madison County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.