Best PlacesYates County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Yates County, 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.
Yates County ranks 1,120th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Yates 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.
Yates County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Yates County ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 98% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 79% of counties
Where Yates County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 12% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Yates County
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Yates County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,684, 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 Yates County's effective rate of 1.44%, 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 Yates County
Yates County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Yates County.
Who works in Yates County, and how
Work in Yates County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Yates County
Yates County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Yates County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Yates County growing, and who is moving in?
Yates County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Rochester, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Yates County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Yates County, month by month
Yates County sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Yates County
The nearest airport, Ithaca Tompkins International, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 201 miles away.
The best schools in and around Yates County
Schools across Yates County average an A, better than 98% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Penn Yan Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Naples Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Dundee Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Penn Yan Middle SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Marcus Whitman Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Geneva Middle SchoolC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Marcus Whitman High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Penn Yan AcademyA+ · 98% proficient
- Geneva High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Yates County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Yates 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 Yates County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Yates County suits
Retirees
The weather beats 58% of counties, health care access beats 79%, and it is quieter than 75%.
Common questions about living in Yates County
Is Yates County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Yates County ranks 1,120th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, heat safety, and clean air, 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 Yates County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $226,803. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $73,684 median income, cost of living beats 18% of counties.
Is Yates County safe?
Yes, Yates County is safer than 82% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $272 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Yates County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 19. That works out to about 97 pleasant days a year, more than 58% of counties.
Is Yates County good for families?
Schools beat 98% of counties, crime safety beats 82%, and childcare runs $1,088 a month.
Compare Yates County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Yates County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Yates 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.
Yates County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Yates County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Yates County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Yates County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Yates County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Yates 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.