Best PlacesErie County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Erie 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.
Erie County ranks 316th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on property taxes and childcare costs. It does better on low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Erie 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 Erie County
The parts of Erie 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.
East Amherst, Clarence & Clarence Center
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and more adults hold degrees.
Orchard Park, East Aurora & Springville
Tree cover is thicker and crime runs lower.
Lancaster, DePew & Alden
Biking is worse and streets are more car-dependent.
Eggertsville & Getzville
Scores close to Lancaster, DePew & Alden, except that fewer residents vote here.
Tonawanda, Grand Island & Kenmore
Scores close to Eggertsville & Getzville, except that more households have young kids here.
Lakeview, Derby & Eden
Schools score higher, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Hamburg & Lackawanna
Buffalo & Cheektowaga
Homes cost less, though health care is harder to reach.
Erie County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Erie County's strengths and weaknesses
Erie County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Low disaster risk is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Walkability and transit follow.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. Childcare costs and car insurance costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Erie County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of counties
- TransitBetter than 97% of counties
- BikingBetter than 95% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 92% of counties
Where Erie County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 5% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,317 a month, better than only 6% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 7% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 7% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Erie County
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Erie County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,612, 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 Erie County's effective rate of 1.65%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Erie County
Erie County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Erie County.
Who works in Erie County, and how
Work in Erie County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Erie County
Erie County has more parkland per resident than 75% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Erie County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Erie County growing, and who is moving in?
Erie County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Erie County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Erie County, month by month
Erie County 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 Erie County
The nearest airport, Buffalo Niagara International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Erie County
Schools across Erie County average a B, better than 88% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sheridan Hill Elementary SchoolA+ · 91% proficient
- Harris Hill Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Ledgeview Elementary SchoolA+ · 84% proficient
Top middle schools
- Transit Middle SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- William Street SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Maryvale Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Williamsville East High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Orchard Park High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Clarence Senior High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Erie County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Erie 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 Erie County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Erie County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Erie County
Is Erie County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Erie County ranks 316th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, walkability, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Erie County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,550. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $81,612 median income, cost of living beats 77% of counties.
Is Erie County safe?
Yes, Erie County is safer than 75% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $332 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Erie County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 20. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 32% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Erie County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are East Amherst, Clarence & Clarence Center, Orchard Park, East Aurora & Springville, and Lancaster, DePew & Alden. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Erie County good for families?
Schools beat 88% of counties, crime safety beats 75%, and childcare runs $1,317 a month.
Is Erie County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 67% of counties. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Erie County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Erie County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Erie 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.
Erie County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Erie County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Erie County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Erie County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Erie County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Erie 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.