Best PlacesSouth Onondaga, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South Onondaga, 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.
South Onondaga ranks 9,729th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in South Onondaga
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.
South Onondaga's strengths and weaknesses
Where South Onondaga ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
Where South Onondaga ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 8% 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 South Onondaga
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Onondaga home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,662, 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 South Onondaga's effective rate of 1.83%, 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 South Onondaga
South Onondaga runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for South Onondaga.
Who works in South Onondaga, and how
Work in South Onondaga 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 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in South Onondaga
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across South Onondaga.
What the weather is like in South Onondaga, month by month
South Onondaga sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 18° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of South Onondaga
The nearest airport, Syracuse Hancock International, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 186 miles away.
The best schools in and around South Onondaga
Schools across South Onondaga average an A, better than 94% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tully Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Wheeler Elementary SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top high schools
- Onondaga Senior High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Tully Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every South Onondaga school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
South Onondaga 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 South Onondaga against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in South Onondaga
Is South Onondaga a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Onondaga ranks 9,729th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, low disaster risk, and health care access, and lowest on property taxes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is South Onondaga expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,447. The overall cost of living runs about 61% above the national average. Set against a $86,662 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is South Onondaga safe?
Yes, South Onondaga is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $144 per resident a year.
Compare South Onondaga with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Onondaga. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Onondaga 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.
South Onondaga detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South Onondaga: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South Onondaga: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South Onondaga: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South Onondaga: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South Onondaga 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.