Best PlacesSwain, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Swain, 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.
Swain ranks 31,860th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Swain
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.
Swain's strengths and weaknesses
Where Swain ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 81% of towns
Where Swain ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$49,840 median, better than only 12% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Swain
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Swain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,840, 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 Swain's effective rate of 2.33%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Swain
Swain 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 Swain.
Who works in Swain, and how
Work in Swain centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Swain
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Swain.
What the weather is like in Swain, month by month
Swain sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Swain
The nearest airport, Frederick Douglass/Greater Rochester International, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Swain
Schools across Swain average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dalton-nunda Primary SchoolD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dalton-nunda Intermediate SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Dalton-nunda Secondary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Swain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Swain 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 Swain against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Swain
Is Swain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Swain ranks 31,860th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, a strong job market, and tree cover, 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 Swain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $106,052. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $49,840 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Swain safe?
Yes, Swain is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $225 per resident a year.
Compare Swain with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Swain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Swain 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.
Swain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Swain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Swain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Swain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Swain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Swain 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.