Best PlacesWayne County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wayne County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wayne County ranks 687th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wayne 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 Wayne County
The parts of Wayne 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.
Walworth, Macedon & Marion
Fewer homes sit empty, crime runs lower, and local pay stretches further.
Ontario & Williamson
More adults hold degrees, though fewer households have young kids.
Palmyra
Prices have run up less, though it is noisier.
Newark & Lyons
Biking is better, though schools score lower.
Sodus
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer residents vote.
Wolcott
Incomes run lower and health outcomes score lower.
Wayne County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 12% of the country and others in the top 5%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Wayne County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wayne County ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 91% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of counties
Where Wayne County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 12% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 13% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wayne County
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wayne County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,677, 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 Wayne County's effective rate of 2.23%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wayne County
Wayne County 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 Wayne County.
Who works in Wayne County, and how
Work in Wayne County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Wayne County
Wayne County has more parkland per resident than 67% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Wayne County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wayne County growing, and who is moving in?
Wayne County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Rochester, NY metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wayne County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wayne County, month by month
Wayne County sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Wayne County
The nearest airport, Frederick Douglass/Greater Rochester International, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 228 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wayne County
Schools across Wayne County average a B+, better than 91% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Scribner Road Elementary SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Harris Hill Elementary SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Wayne Central Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Victor Junior High SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Bay Trail Middle SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Spry Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Victor Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Palmyra-macedon Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Williamson Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wayne County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wayne 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 Wayne County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Wayne County suits
Common questions about living in Wayne County
Is Wayne County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wayne County ranks 687th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low crime, low disaster risk, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wayne County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $171,553. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $78,677 median income, cost of living beats 65% of counties.
Is Wayne County safe?
Yes, Wayne County is safer than 99% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $203 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wayne County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 20. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 32% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wayne County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Walworth, Macedon & Marion, Ontario & Williamson, and Palmyra. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Wayne County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wayne County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wayne 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.
Wayne County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wayne County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wayne County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wayne County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wayne County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wayne 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.