Best PlacesOneonta, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oneonta, 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.
Oneonta ranks 6,505th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oneonta
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.
Oneonta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oneonta ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute17.0 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
Where Oneonta ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oneonta
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oneonta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,741, 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 Oneonta's effective rate of 1.88%, 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 Oneonta
Oneonta runs younger 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 Oneonta.
Who works in Oneonta, and how
Work in Oneonta centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 20%
Life in Oneonta
Oneonta has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oneonta and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oneonta, month by month
Oneonta sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Oneonta
The nearest airport, Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 127 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oneonta
Schools across Oneonta average an A−, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riverside Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Delaware Academy Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Valleyview Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oneonta Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Unatego Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Unatego Junior-senior High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- Oneonta Senior High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oneonta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oneonta 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 Oneonta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oneonta
Is Oneonta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oneonta ranks 6,505th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and short commutes, and lowest on property taxes and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oneonta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $195,302. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $81,741 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Oneonta safe?
Yes, Oneonta is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $260 per resident a year.
Compare Oneonta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oneonta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oneonta 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.
Oneonta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oneonta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oneonta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oneonta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oneonta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oneonta 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.