Best PlacesPort Dickinson, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Dickinson, 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.
Port Dickinson ranks 24,628th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Port Dickinson
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.
Port Dickinson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Dickinson ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of towns
Where Port Dickinson ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Port Dickinson
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Dickinson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,945, 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 Port Dickinson's effective rate of 2.37%, 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 Port Dickinson
Port Dickinson'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 Port Dickinson.
Who works in Port Dickinson, and how
Work in Port Dickinson centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Port Dickinson
Port Dickinson has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Port Dickinson and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Dickinson, month by month
Port Dickinson sees roughly 79 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 Port Dickinson
The nearest airport, Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 134 miles away.
The best schools in and around Port Dickinson
Schools across Port Dickinson average an A−, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Chenango Bridge Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Calvin Coolidge SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chenango Valley Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- East Middle SchoolF · 9% proficient
Top high schools
- Chenango Valley High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Binghamton High SchoolA · 76% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Dickinson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Dickinson 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 Port Dickinson against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Port Dickinson
Is Port Dickinson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Dickinson ranks 24,628th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, good schools, and a strong job market, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Port Dickinson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $131,424. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $62,945 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Port Dickinson safe?
Port Dickinson is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $445 per resident a year.
Compare Port Dickinson with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Dickinson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Dickinson 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.
Port Dickinson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Dickinson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Dickinson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Dickinson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Dickinson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Dickinson 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.