Best PlacesNorth Lansing, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around North Lansing, 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 Lansing ranks 6,352nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in North Lansing
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 Lansing's strengths and weaknesses
Where North Lansing ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
Where North Lansing ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,240 a month, better than only 13% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 16% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in North Lansing
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Lansing home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,396, 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 Lansing's effective rate of 2.03%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in North Lansing
North Lansing runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for North Lansing.
Who works in North Lansing, and how
Work in North Lansing centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in North Lansing
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across North Lansing.
What the weather is like in North Lansing, month by month
North Lansing sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 17° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of North Lansing
The nearest airport, Ithaca Tompkins International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 180 miles away.
The best schools in and around North Lansing
Schools across North Lansing average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southern Cayuga Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Raymond C Buckley Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lansing Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Lansing High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Southern Cayuga 7-12 Secondary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Lansing school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
North Lansing 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 Lansing against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in North Lansing
Is North Lansing a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Lansing ranks 6,352nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, good schools, and low crime, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is North Lansing expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $218,713. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $89,396 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is North Lansing safe?
Yes, North Lansing is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $170 per resident a year.
Compare North Lansing with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Lansing. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Lansing 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 Lansing detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for North Lansing: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in North Lansing: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of North Lansing: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in North Lansing: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
North Lansing 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.