Best PlacesMessengerville, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Messengerville, 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.
Messengerville ranks 20,447th 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 Messengerville
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.
Messengerville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Messengerville ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
Where Messengerville ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% 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 Messengerville
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Messengerville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,212, 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 Messengerville's effective rate of 1.93%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Messengerville
Messengerville runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Messengerville.
Who works in Messengerville, and how
Work in Messengerville centers on education and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Messengerville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Messengerville.
What the weather is like in Messengerville, month by month
Messengerville sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 81° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Messengerville
The nearest airport, Ithaca Tompkins International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 158 miles away.
The best schools in and around Messengerville
Schools across Messengerville average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- William Appleby Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Marathon High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Messengerville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Messengerville 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 Messengerville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Messengerville
Is Messengerville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Messengerville ranks 20,447th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, low crime, and tree cover, and lowest on property taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Messengerville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $170,131. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $67,212 median income, cost of living beats 35% of towns.
Is Messengerville safe?
Yes, Messengerville is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $140 per resident a year.
Compare Messengerville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Messengerville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Messengerville 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.
Messengerville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Messengerville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Messengerville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Messengerville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Messengerville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Messengerville 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.