Best PlacesSheldrake Springs, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sheldrake Springs, 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.
Sheldrake Springs ranks 26,848th 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 Sheldrake Springs
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.
Sheldrake Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Sheldrake Springs ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 78% of towns
- QuietBetter than 74% of towns
Where Sheldrake Springs ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sheldrake Springs
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sheldrake Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,073, 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 Sheldrake Springs' effective rate of 1.58%, 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 Sheldrake Springs
Sheldrake Springs runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sheldrake Springs.
Who works in Sheldrake Springs, and how
Work in Sheldrake Springs centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Sheldrake Springs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sheldrake Springs.
What the weather is like in Sheldrake Springs, month by month
Sheldrake Springs 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 Sheldrake Springs
The nearest airport, Ithaca Tompkins International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 191 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sheldrake Springs
Schools across Sheldrake Springs average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Seneca Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Russell I Doig Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- South Seneca Middle/high SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sheldrake Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sheldrake Springs 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 Sheldrake Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sheldrake Springs
Is Sheldrake Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sheldrake Springs ranks 26,848th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, clean air, and heat safety, 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 Sheldrake Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $196,933. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $72,073 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Sheldrake Springs safe?
Yes, Sheldrake Springs is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $266 per resident a year.
Compare Sheldrake Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sheldrake Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sheldrake Springs 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.
Sheldrake Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sheldrake Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sheldrake Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sheldrake Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sheldrake Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sheldrake Springs 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.