Best PlacesSparrow Bush, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sparrow Bush, 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.
Sparrow Bush ranks 22,414th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sparrow Bush
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.
Sparrow Bush's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sparrow Bush ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of towns
Where Sparrow Bush ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,306 a month, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sparrow Bush
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sparrow Bush home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,545, 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 Sparrow Bush's effective rate of 1.80%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sparrow Bush
Sparrow Bush 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 Sparrow Bush.
Who works in Sparrow Bush, and how
Work in Sparrow Bush centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Sparrow Bush
Sparrow Bush has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sparrow Bush and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sparrow Bush, month by month
Sparrow Bush sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Sparrow Bush
The nearest airport, New York Stewart International, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sparrow Bush
Schools across Sparrow Bush average a B+, better than 84% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- N A Hamilton Bicentennial SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Anna S Kuhl Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- George Ross Mackenzie Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Port Jervis Middle SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Port Jervis Senior High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Eldred Junior-senior High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sparrow Bush school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sparrow Bush 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 Sparrow Bush against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sparrow Bush
Is Sparrow Bush a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sparrow Bush ranks 22,414th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, fast internet, and tree cover, and lowest on a weak job market and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sparrow Bush expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $237,143. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $72,545 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Sparrow Bush safe?
Yes, Sparrow Bush is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $202 per resident a year.
Compare Sparrow Bush with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sparrow Bush. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sparrow Bush 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.
Sparrow Bush detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sparrow Bush: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sparrow Bush: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sparrow Bush: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sparrow Bush: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sparrow Bush 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.