Best PlacesNorth Gainesville, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Gainesville, 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.
North Gainesville ranks 17,116th of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 North Gainesville
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.
North Gainesville's strengths and weaknesses
Where North Gainesville ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
- Short commute19.6 minutes each way, better than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 83% of towns
Where North Gainesville ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% 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 North Gainesville
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Gainesville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,566, 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 North Gainesville's effective rate of 2.15%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in North Gainesville
North Gainesville 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 North Gainesville.
Who works in North Gainesville, and how
Work in North Gainesville centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in North Gainesville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across North Gainesville.
What the weather is like in North Gainesville, month by month
North Gainesville sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of North Gainesville
The nearest airport, Buffalo Niagara International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 186 miles away.
The best schools in and around North Gainesville
Schools across North Gainesville average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Warsaw Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Letchworth Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Letchworth Senior High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Gainesville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Gainesville 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 North Gainesville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North Gainesville
Is North Gainesville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Gainesville ranks 17,116th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, a strong job market, and short commutes, and lowest on property taxes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is North Gainesville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $142,900. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $72,566 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is North Gainesville safe?
North Gainesville is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $293 per resident a year.
Compare North Gainesville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Gainesville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Gainesville 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.
North Gainesville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Gainesville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Gainesville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Gainesville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Gainesville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Gainesville 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.