Best PlacesPiercefield, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Piercefield, 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.
Piercefield ranks 21,065th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Piercefield
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.
Piercefield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Piercefield ranks high
- Short commute18.4 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Piercefield ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Piercefield
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Piercefield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,114, 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 Piercefield's effective rate of 1.24%, 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 Piercefield
Piercefield 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 Piercefield.
Who works in Piercefield, and how
Work in Piercefield centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Piercefield
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Piercefield.
What the weather is like in Piercefield, month by month
Piercefield sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 17° | 7° |
| April | 53° | 39° | 26° |
| July | 80° | 66° | 51° |
| October | 59° | 46° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Piercefield
The nearest airport, Adirondack Regional, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 187 miles away.
The best schools in and around Piercefield
Schools across Piercefield average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Parishville-hopkinton Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Petrova Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- L P Quinn Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Saranac Lake Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Saranac Lake Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Parishville-hopkinton Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Tupper Lake Middle-high SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Piercefield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Piercefield 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 Piercefield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Piercefield
Is Piercefield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Piercefield ranks 21,065th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, quiet, and clean air, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Piercefield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $152,166. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $83,114 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Piercefield safe?
Piercefield is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $319 per resident a year.
Compare Piercefield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Piercefield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Piercefield 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.
Piercefield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Piercefield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Piercefield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Piercefield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Piercefield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Piercefield 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.