Best PlacesEast Amherst, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Amherst, 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.
East Amherst ranks 248th of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 East Amherst
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.
East Amherst's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Amherst ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
Where East Amherst ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,312 a month, better than only 9% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in East Amherst
A household needs to earn about $126,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Amherst home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $143,332, 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 East Amherst's effective rate of 1.85%, 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 East Amherst
East Amherst runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for East Amherst.
Who works in East Amherst, and how
Work in East Amherst centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in East Amherst
East Amherst has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of East Amherst and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Amherst, month by month
East Amherst sees roughly 75 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 East Amherst
The nearest airport, Buffalo Niagara International, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 192 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Amherst
Schools across East Amherst average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sheridan Hill Elementary SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Ledgeview Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
- Clarence Center Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
Top middle schools
- Transit Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Clarence Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
- Casey Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Williamsville East High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Clarence Senior High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Starpoint High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Amherst school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Amherst 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 East Amherst against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in East Amherst
Is East Amherst a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Amherst ranks 248th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, health care access, and an educated workforce, 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 East Amherst expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $419,883. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $143,332 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is East Amherst safe?
Yes, East Amherst is safer than 99% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $123 per resident a year.
Compare East Amherst with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Amherst. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Amherst 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.
East Amherst detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Amherst: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Amherst: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Amherst: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Amherst: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Amherst 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.