Best PlacesChautauqua County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Chautauqua 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.
Chautauqua County ranks 1,440th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on property taxes and car insurance costs. It does better on good schools, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County
The parts of Chautauqua 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.
Lakewood
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Silver Creek & Forestville
Incomes run higher, though fewer households have young kids.
Mayville
Tree cover is thicker, though biking is worse.
Dunkirk & Fredonia
It is noisier and crime runs higher.
Falconer
Schools score lower.
Jamestown
Streets are more walkable, though local pay stretches less far.
Brocton & Westfield
Fewer adults hold degrees.
Scores across Chautauqua County run from about the 10th to the 82nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Chautauqua County's strengths and weaknesses
Chautauqua County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Good schools, heat safety, and low disaster risk carry most of that.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and taxes also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Chautauqua County to another than it does between Chautauqua County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Chautauqua County ranks high
- School gradeA−, better than 96% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- TransitBetter than 82% of counties
- Short commute19.6 minutes each way, better than 81% of counties
Where Chautauqua County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter 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
What it costs to buy a home in Chautauqua County
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chautauqua County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,199, 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 Chautauqua County's effective rate of 2.08%, 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 Chautauqua County
Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County.
Who works in Chautauqua County, and how
Work in Chautauqua County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Chautauqua County
Chautauqua County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of counties and more parkland per resident than 74% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Chautauqua County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Chautauqua County growing, and who is moving in?
Chautauqua County has lost about 6% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Buffalo, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Chautauqua County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Chautauqua County, month by month
Chautauqua County sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 79° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Chautauqua County
The nearest airport, Erie International/Tom Ridge Field, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 130 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chautauqua County
Schools across Chautauqua County average an A−, better than 96% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Panama K-6 SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Robert H Jackson Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Chautauqua Lake Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Westfield Middle SchoolA · 60% proficient
- Fredonia Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- North East MsA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Fredonia High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Southwestern Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Westfield High SchoolA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chautauqua County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chautauqua 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 Chautauqua County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Chautauqua County suits
Retirees
The weather beats 56% of counties and health care access beats 70%.
Common questions about living in Chautauqua County
Is Chautauqua County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chautauqua County ranks 1,440th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on good schools, heat safety, and low disaster risk, and lowest on property taxes and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chautauqua County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $136,940. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $63,199 median income, cost of living beats 27% of counties.
Is Chautauqua County safe?
Yes, Chautauqua County is safer than 59% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $339 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Chautauqua County?
July highs average about 79 degrees, and January highs near 33 with lows near 18. That works out to about 94 pleasant days a year, more than 56% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Chautauqua County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lakewood, Silver Creek & Forestville, and Mayville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Chautauqua County good for families?
Schools beat 96% of counties, crime safety beats 59%, and childcare runs $1,088 a month.
Is Chautauqua County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 27% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 32% of counties. About 9% of workers already work from home.
Compare Chautauqua County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chautauqua County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chautauqua 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.
Chautauqua County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chautauqua County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chautauqua County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chautauqua County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chautauqua County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chautauqua 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.