Best PlacesOnondaga County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Onondaga 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.
Onondaga County ranks 451st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on property taxes and childcare costs. It does better on low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Onondaga 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 Onondaga County
The parts of Onondaga 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.
Manlius, Jamesville & Fayetteville
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Skaneateles, Marcellus & Marietta
Crime runs lower and more residents vote.
Baldwinsville & Liverpool
Fewer homes sit empty, though streets are more car-dependent.
Camillus, Fairmount & Westvale
Health care is easier to reach and prices have run up less.
Cicero
Biking is worse and transit reaches fewer jobs.
Clay, Mattydale & North Syracuse
Tree cover is thinner.
East Syracuse & Minoa
It is noisier and fewer households have young kids.
Nedrow
Schools score lower and health outcomes score lower.
Syracuse
Onondaga County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Onondaga County's strengths and weaknesses
Onondaga County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Low disaster risk is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Transit and good schools follow.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. Childcare costs and car insurance costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Onondaga County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- TransitBetter than 97% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 94% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of counties
- BikingBetter than 91% of counties
Where Onondaga County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 6% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 10% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Onondaga County
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Onondaga County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,472, 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 Onondaga County's effective rate of 2.21%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Onondaga County
Onondaga County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Onondaga County.
Who works in Onondaga County, and how
Work in Onondaga County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Onondaga County
Onondaga County has more parkland per resident than 66% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 75% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Onondaga County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Onondaga County growing, and who is moving in?
Onondaga County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Onondaga County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Onondaga County, month by month
Onondaga County sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Onondaga County
The nearest airport, Syracuse Hancock International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 194 miles away.
The best schools in and around Onondaga County
Schools across Onondaga County average a B+, better than 94% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Mott Road Elementary SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
- Enders Road Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Tecumseh Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Top middle schools
- Eagle Hill Middle SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Skaneateles Middle SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Wellwood Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Fayetteville-manlius Senior High SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- Skaneateles Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Westhill High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Onondaga County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Onondaga 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 Onondaga County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Onondaga County suits
Common questions about living in Onondaga County
Is Onondaga County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Onondaga County ranks 451st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, transit, and good schools, 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 Onondaga County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $209,338. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $84,472 median income, cost of living beats 70% of counties.
Is Onondaga County safe?
Yes, Onondaga County is safer than 72% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $369 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Onondaga County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 18. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Onondaga County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Manlius, Jamesville & Fayetteville, Skaneateles, Marcellus & Marietta, and Baldwinsville & Liverpool. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Onondaga County good for families?
Schools beat 94% of counties, crime safety beats 72%, and childcare runs $1,317 a month.
Is Onondaga County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 70% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 32% of counties. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Onondaga County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Onondaga County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Onondaga 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.
Onondaga County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Onondaga County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Onondaga County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Onondaga County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Onondaga County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Onondaga 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.