Best PlacesSylvan Beach, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sylvan Beach, 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.
Sylvan Beach ranks 36,923rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sylvan Beach
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.
Sylvan Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sylvan Beach ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
Where Sylvan Beach ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sylvan Beach
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sylvan Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,875, 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 Sylvan Beach's effective rate of 1.85%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sylvan Beach
Sylvan Beach 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 Sylvan Beach.
Who works in Sylvan Beach, and how
Work in Sylvan Beach centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Sylvan Beach
Sylvan Beach has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Sylvan Beach and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sylvan Beach, month by month
Sylvan Beach sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 24° | 15° |
| April | 59° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 65° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Sylvan Beach
The nearest airport, Syracuse Hancock International, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 178 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sylvan Beach
Schools across Sylvan Beach average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Durhamville SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Mcconnellsville Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Camden Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Otto L Shortell Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Camden Senior High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Oneida Senior High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sylvan Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sylvan Beach 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 Sylvan Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sylvan Beach
Is Sylvan Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sylvan Beach ranks 36,923rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, clean air, and biking, and lowest on property taxes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sylvan Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $178,800. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $56,875 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Sylvan Beach safe?
Sylvan Beach is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $603 per resident a year.
Compare Sylvan Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sylvan Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sylvan Beach 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.
Sylvan Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sylvan Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sylvan Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sylvan Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sylvan Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sylvan Beach 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.