Best PlacesStow, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Stow, 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.
Stow ranks 21,885th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Stow
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.
Stow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Stow ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
Where Stow ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Stow
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Stow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $67,792; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Stow's effective rate of 1.61%, 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 Stow
Stow 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 Stow.
Who works in Stow, and how
Work in Stow centers on construction and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Stow
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Stow.
What the weather is like in Stow, month by month
Stow sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 79° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Stow
The nearest airport, Erie International/Tom Ridge Field, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Stow
Schools across Stow average an A+, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Panama K-6 SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Bemus Point Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
Top high schools
- Chautauqua Lake Secondary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Panama High SchoolA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Stow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Stow 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 Stow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Stow
Is Stow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Stow ranks 21,885th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, good schools, and civic engagement, and lowest on property taxes and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Stow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $232,519. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $67,792 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Stow safe?
Yes, Stow is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $229 per resident a year.
Compare Stow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Stow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Stow 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.
Stow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Stow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Stow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Stow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Stow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Stow 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.