Best PlacesNorth Lawrence, NY Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around North Lawrence, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

North Lawrence ranks 21,323rd 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.

#21,323
of 50,333 towns
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 50,333 towns
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in North Lawrence

Map of the best neighborhoods in the North Lawrence area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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 Lawrence's strengths and weaknesses

Top 5%Low disaster risk
Top 10%A strong job market
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare North Lawrence with other towns.

Where North Lawrence ranks high

  • Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of towns
  • Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
  • School gradeA−, better than 90% of towns
  • TransitBetter than 88% of towns
  • Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns

Where North Lawrence ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 16% of towns
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 16% of towns
  • Big-city accessBetter than only 17% of towns

What it costs to buy a home in North Lawrence

A household needs to earn about $30,000 a year to comfortably buy the median North Lawrence home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,300, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$30,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$697
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $99,157 home
Median rent
$835
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$506
Property tax$158
Homeowners insurance$33

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 Lawrence's effective rate of 1.91%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in North Lawrence

North Lawrence's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
39
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
20%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1825%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6417%
65 and older20%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for North Lawrence.


Who works in North Lawrence, and how

Work in North Lawrence centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
6%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.7%
below the national average
Job growth
+25.7%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social18%
Education17%
Manufacturing12%
Retail trade9%
Public administration9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 90%
  • Work from home 6%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in North Lawrence

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across North Lawrence.


What the weather is like in North Lawrence, month by month

North Lawrence sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January29°20°10°
April56°44°32°
July84°71°58°
October63°50°38°

Flying in and out of North Lawrence

The nearest airport, Massena International-Richards Field, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 220 miles away.

Nearest airport
MSS
Massena International-Richards Field, about 14 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
1 nonstop destinations
Average drive
20 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around North Lawrence

Schools across North Lawrence average an A−, better than 90% of towns.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every North Lawrence school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


North Lawrence 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 Lawrence against the other 50,332 towns.


Common questions about living in North Lawrence

Is North Lawrence a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, North Lawrence ranks 21,323rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, a strong job market, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is North Lawrence expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $99,157. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $64,300 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.

Is North Lawrence safe?

Yes, North Lawrence is safer than 81% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $217 per resident a year.


Compare North Lawrence with other towns


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to North Lawrence. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in North Lawrence 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 Lawrence detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for North Lawrence: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in North Lawrence: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of North Lawrence: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in North Lawrence: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

North Lawrence detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.