Best PlacesCollins, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Collins, 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.
Collins ranks 34,058th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Collins
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.
Collins' strengths and weaknesses
Where Collins ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 83% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 75% of towns
Where Collins ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Collins
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Collins home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,672, 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 Collins' effective rate of 1.60%, 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 Collins
Collins 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 Collins.
Who works in Collins, and how
Work in Collins centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 46%
- Work from home 49%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Collins
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Collins.
What the weather is like in Collins, month by month
Collins sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 22° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Collins
The nearest airport, Buffalo Niagara International, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 154 miles away.
The best schools in and around Collins
Schools across Collins average a B+, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Springville Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- North Collins Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Gowanda Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Griffith Institute Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Gowanda Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Griffith Institute High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Gowanda High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- North Collins Junior-senior High SchoolA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Collins school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Collins 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 Collins against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Collins
Is Collins a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Collins ranks 34,058th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and cell coverage, and lowest on car insurance costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Collins expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $159,489. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $65,672 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Collins safe?
Collins is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $432 per resident a year.
Compare Collins with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Collins. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Collins 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.
Collins detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Collins: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Collins: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Collins: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Collins: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Collins 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.