Best PlacesShelby Basin, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shelby Basin, 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.
Shelby Basin ranks 12,374th 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 Shelby Basin
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.
Shelby Basin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shelby Basin ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 83% of towns
Where Shelby Basin ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 11% 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 Shelby Basin
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shelby Basin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,758, 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 Shelby Basin's effective rate of 2.05%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shelby Basin
Shelby Basin 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 Shelby Basin.
Who works in Shelby Basin, and how
Work in Shelby Basin centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Shelby Basin
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shelby Basin.
What the weather is like in Shelby Basin, month by month
Shelby Basin sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 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 | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Shelby Basin
The nearest airport, Buffalo Niagara International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 210 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shelby Basin
Schools across Shelby Basin average a B+, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Royalton-hartland Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Oak Orchard Primary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Royalton-hartland Middle SchoolB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Royalton-hartland High SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Medina Junior-senior High SchoolA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shelby Basin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shelby Basin 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 Shelby Basin against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shelby Basin
Is Shelby Basin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shelby Basin ranks 12,374th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and few empty homes, and lowest on property taxes and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shelby Basin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,836. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $73,758 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Shelby Basin safe?
Yes, Shelby Basin is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
Compare Shelby Basin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shelby Basin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shelby Basin 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.
Shelby Basin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shelby Basin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shelby Basin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shelby Basin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shelby Basin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shelby Basin 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.