Best PlacesOneida County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Oneida 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.
Oneida County ranks 661st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on property taxes and car insurance costs. It does better on good schools, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Oneida 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 Oneida County
The parts of Oneida 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.
New Hartford & Clinton
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Sherrill & Vernon
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Boonville
Tree cover is thicker, though streets are more car-dependent.
Remsen
More homes sit empty and biking is worse.
Marcy
Scores close to Remsen, except that commutes are shorter here.
Camden, Lee Center & Taberg
Crime runs lower, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Whitesboro & Oriskany
Schools score higher.
Utica
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Rome
Prices have run up more and health outcomes score lower.
Oneida County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 8% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Oneida County's strengths and weaknesses
Oneida County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Good schools, walkability, and transit carry most of that.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and taxes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Oneida County ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 94% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of counties
- TransitBetter than 93% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of counties
Where Oneida County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% 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 Oneida County
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oneida County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,679, 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 Oneida County's effective rate of 1.79%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Oneida County
Oneida 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 Oneida County.
Who works in Oneida County, and how
Work in Oneida County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Oneida County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oneida County.
Is Oneida County growing, and who is moving in?
Oneida County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Oneida County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Oneida County, month by month
Oneida County sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 24° | 15° |
| April | 59° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 65° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Oneida County
The nearest airport, Syracuse Hancock International, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 160 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oneida County
Schools across Oneida County average an A−, better than 94% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Harts Hill SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Deerfield Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Hughes Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Whitesboro Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Clinton Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Sauquoit Valley Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Clinton Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- New Hartford Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Whitesboro High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oneida County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oneida 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 Oneida County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Oneida County suits
Common questions about living in Oneida County
Is Oneida County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oneida County ranks 661st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, walkability, and transit, 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 Oneida County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $184,490. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $76,679 median income, cost of living beats 63% of counties.
Is Oneida County safe?
Yes, Oneida County is safer than 78% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $297 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oneida County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 15. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Oneida County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are New Hartford & Clinton, Sherrill & Vernon, and Boonville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Oneida County good for families?
Schools beat 94% of counties, crime safety beats 78%, and childcare runs $1,088 a month.
Is Oneida County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 63% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 39% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Oneida County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oneida County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oneida 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.
Oneida County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oneida County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oneida County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oneida County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oneida County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oneida 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.