Best PlacesPoplar Beach, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Poplar Beach, 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.
Poplar Beach ranks 22,950th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Poplar Beach
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.
Poplar Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Poplar Beach ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 84% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
Where Poplar Beach ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Poplar Beach
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Poplar Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,950, 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 Poplar Beach's effective rate of 1.57%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Poplar Beach
Poplar Beach runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Poplar Beach.
Who works in Poplar Beach, and how
Work in Poplar Beach centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Poplar Beach
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Poplar Beach.
What the weather is like in Poplar Beach, month by month
Poplar Beach sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Poplar Beach
The nearest airport, Ithaca Tompkins International, is about 22 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 Poplar Beach
Schools across Poplar Beach average a B+, better than 80% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southern Cayuga Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- South Seneca Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Southern Cayuga 7-12 Secondary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Poplar Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Poplar Beach 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 Poplar Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Poplar Beach
Is Poplar Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Poplar Beach ranks 22,950th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and clean air, and lowest on an overheated housing market and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Poplar Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $208,243. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $72,950 median income, cost of living beats 29% of towns.
Is Poplar Beach safe?
Poplar Beach is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $389 per resident a year.
Compare Poplar Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Poplar Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Poplar Beach 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.
Poplar Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Poplar Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Poplar Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Poplar Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Poplar Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Poplar Beach 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.