Best PlacesGowanda, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gowanda, 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.
Gowanda ranks 31,613th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gowanda
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.
Gowanda's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gowanda ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 84% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 82% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 76% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of towns
Where Gowanda ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,174 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gowanda
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gowanda home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,116, 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 Gowanda's effective rate of 1.94%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gowanda
Gowanda'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 Gowanda.
Who works in Gowanda, and how
Work in Gowanda centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Gowanda
Gowanda has more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Gowanda and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gowanda, month by month
Gowanda sees roughly 93 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 Gowanda
The nearest airport, Buffalo Niagara International, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 152 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gowanda
Schools across Gowanda average a B+, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Springville Elementary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Cattaraugus-little Valley Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Pine Valley Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Griffith Institute Middle SchoolA− · 56% proficient
- Cattaraugus-little Valley Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Gowanda Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Griffith Institute High SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Gowanda High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Cattaraugus-little Valley High SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gowanda school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gowanda 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 Gowanda against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gowanda
Is Gowanda a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gowanda ranks 31,613th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gowanda expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $111,856. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $56,116 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Gowanda safe?
Gowanda is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $369 per resident a year.
Compare Gowanda with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gowanda. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gowanda 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.
Gowanda detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gowanda: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gowanda: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gowanda: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gowanda: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gowanda 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.