Best PlacesWende, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wende, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wende ranks 2,765th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wende
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.
Wende's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wende ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of towns
Where Wende ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wende
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wende home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $112,698, 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 Wende's effective rate of 1.86%, 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 Wende
Wende 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 Wende.
Who works in Wende, and how
Work in Wende centers on finance & insurance 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 81%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Wende
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wende.
What the weather is like in Wende, month by month
Wende sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 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 | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Wende
The nearest airport, Buffalo Niagara International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 189 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wende
Schools across Wende average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Harris Hill Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Ledgeview Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clarence Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Alden Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Clarence Senior High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Alden Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wende school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wende 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 Wende against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wende
Is Wende a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wende ranks 2,765th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, few empty homes, and health care access, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wende expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $290,726. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $112,698 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Wende safe?
Yes, Wende is safer than 99% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $122 per resident a year.
Compare Wende with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wende. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wende 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.
Wende detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wende: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wende: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wende: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wende: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wende 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.