Best PlacesOrleans County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Orleans County, 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.
Orleans County ranks 1,121st of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Orleans 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 Orleans County
The parts of Orleans 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.
Kendall
Holley
Crime runs lower and local pay stretches further.
Medina
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Albion
Incomes run lower and fewer adults hold degrees.
Scores across Orleans County run from about the 14th to the 78th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Orleans County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orleans County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of counties
Where Orleans County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% 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 Orleans County
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orleans County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,348, 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 Orleans County's effective rate of 2.33%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Orleans County
Orleans 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 Orleans County.
Who works in Orleans County, and how
Work in Orleans County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Orleans County
Orleans County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of counties and more parkland per resident than 99% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Orleans County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Orleans County growing, and who is moving in?
Orleans County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Buffalo, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Orleans County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Orleans County, month by month
Orleans County sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Orleans County
The nearest airport, Frederick Douglass/Greater Rochester International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 217 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orleans County
Schools across Orleans County average an A−, better than 92% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Pratt Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Kendall Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Lyndonville Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- A D Oliver Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Royalton-hartland Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
- Carl I Bergerson Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Brockport High SchoolA+ · 97% proficient
- Royalton-hartland High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Charles D'amico High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orleans County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orleans 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 Orleans County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Orleans County suits
Common questions about living in Orleans County
Is Orleans County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orleans County ranks 1,121st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, good schools, and heat safety, 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 Orleans County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $140,947. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $70,348 median income, cost of living beats 54% of counties.
Is Orleans County safe?
Yes, Orleans County is safer than 82% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $278 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Orleans County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 20. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Orleans County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Kendall, Holley, and Medina. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Orleans County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orleans County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orleans 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.
Orleans County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orleans County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orleans County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orleans County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orleans County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orleans 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.