Best PlacesTompkins County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Tompkins County, 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.
Tompkins County ranks 285th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on an educated workforce and population health. The weaker spots are property taxes, childcare costs, and car insurance costs.
The best neighborhoods in Tompkins County
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.
The best areas in Tompkins County
The parts of Tompkins County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Brooktondale
Tree cover is thicker, fewer homes sit empty, and it is quieter.
Ithaca
Streets are more walkable and biking is better.
Trumansburg
More households have young kids and crime runs lower.
Groton, Freeville & Dryden
Homes cost less, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Newfield
More residents vote, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Scores across Tompkins County run from about the 27th to the 96th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Tompkins County's strengths and weaknesses
Tompkins County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. An educated workforce is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Population health and heat safety follow.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. Childcare costs and car insurance costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Tompkins County ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- School gradeA−, better than 96% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of counties
Where Tompkins County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 6% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Tompkins County
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tompkins County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $82,790, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Tompkins County's effective rate of 2.12%, 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 Tompkins County
Tompkins County runs younger 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 Tompkins County.
Who works in Tompkins County, and how
Work in Tompkins County centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 57%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 23%
Life in Tompkins County
Tompkins County has more late-night spots per resident than 76% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Tompkins County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Tompkins County growing, and who is moving in?
Tompkins County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Tompkins County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Tompkins County, month by month
Tompkins County sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 17° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Tompkins County
The nearest airport, Ithaca Tompkins International, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 171 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tompkins County
Schools across Tompkins County average an A−, better than 96% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Northeast SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Trumansburg Elementary SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Southern Cayuga Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Russell I Doig Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Lansing Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Boynton Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Dryden High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Lansing High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Ithaca Senior High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tompkins County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tompkins County 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 Tompkins County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Tompkins County suits
Common questions about living in Tompkins County
Is Tompkins County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tompkins County ranks 285th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on an educated workforce, population health, and heat safety, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tompkins County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $310,942. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $82,790 median income, cost of living beats 62% of counties.
Is Tompkins County safe?
Tompkins County is safer than 49% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $353 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Tompkins County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 17. That works out to about 73 pleasant days a year, more than 26% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Tompkins County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Brooktondale, Ithaca, and Trumansburg. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Tompkins County good for families?
Schools beat 96% of counties, crime safety beats 49%, and childcare runs $1,317 a month.
Is Tompkins County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 62% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 40% of counties. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Tompkins County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tompkins County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tompkins County 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.
Tompkins County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tompkins County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tompkins County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tompkins County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tompkins County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tompkins County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.