Best PlacesSandy Creek, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sandy Creek, 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.
Sandy Creek ranks 31,348th of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 Sandy Creek
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.
Sandy Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sandy Creek ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 75% of towns
Where Sandy Creek ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sandy Creek
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sandy Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,404, 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 Sandy Creek's effective rate of 1.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sandy Creek
Sandy Creek'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 Sandy Creek.
Who works in Sandy Creek, and how
Work in Sandy Creek centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sandy Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sandy Creek.
What the weather is like in Sandy Creek, month by month
Sandy Creek sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 23° | 13° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Sandy Creek
The nearest airport, Watertown International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 210 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sandy Creek
Schools across Sandy Creek average a B+, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sandy Creek Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Pulaski Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Maynard P Wilson Elementary SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clarke Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Sandy Creek Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Sandy Creek High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
- South Jefferson High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Pulaski Middle-high SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sandy Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sandy Creek 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 Sandy Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sandy Creek
Is Sandy Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sandy Creek ranks 31,348th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, clean air, and good schools, 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 Sandy Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $179,236. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $66,404 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Sandy Creek safe?
Sandy Creek is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Sandy Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sandy Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sandy Creek 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.
Sandy Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sandy Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sandy Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sandy Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sandy Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sandy Creek 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.