Best PlacesNiagara County, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Niagara 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.
Niagara County ranks 505th 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 low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Niagara 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 Niagara County
The parts of Niagara 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.
Lewiston & Youngstown
More adults hold degrees, tree cover is thicker, and schools score higher.
Ransomville & Wilson
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
North Tonawanda
Crime runs lower, though fewer households have young kids.
Lockport & South Lockport
Prices have run up less and fewer homes sit empty.
Newfane, Gasport & Middleport
Streets are more car-dependent and commutes are longer.
Sanborn
Homes cost more.
Niagara Falls
Fewer residents vote and incomes run lower.
Niagara County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 6% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Niagara County's strengths and weaknesses
Niagara 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 1% of counties. Good schools and low crime follow.
The one real hole is property taxes, near the bottom of the country. Car insurance costs and taxes also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Niagara County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 93% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- TransitBetter than 90% of counties
- BikingBetter than 90% of counties
Where Niagara County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 8% 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 Niagara County
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Niagara County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,521, 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 Niagara County's effective rate of 1.87%, 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 Niagara County
Niagara 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 Niagara County.
Who works in Niagara County, and how
Work in Niagara 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 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Niagara County
Niagara County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of counties and more parkland per resident than 99% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Niagara County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Niagara County growing, and who is moving in?
Niagara County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Buffalo, NY metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Niagara County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Niagara County, month by month
Niagara County sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 28° | 21° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 63° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Niagara County
The nearest airport, Niagara Falls International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cleveland-Hopkins International, about 194 miles away.
The best schools in and around Niagara County
Schools across Niagara County average a B+, better than 93% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Errick Road Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- West Street Elementary SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Intermediate Education CenterA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lewiston Porter Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Akron Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- North Tonawanda Intermediate SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Starpoint High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Akron High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- Lewiston Porter Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Niagara County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Niagara 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 Niagara County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Niagara County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Niagara County
Is Niagara County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Niagara County ranks 505th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, good schools, and low crime, 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 Niagara County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,712. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $75,521 median income, cost of living beats 65% of counties.
Is Niagara County safe?
Yes, Niagara County is safer than 92% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $274 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Niagara County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 21. That works out to about 79 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Niagara County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lewiston & Youngstown, Ransomville & Wilson, and North Tonawanda. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Niagara County good for families?
Schools beat 93% of counties, crime safety beats 92%, and childcare runs $1,088 a month.
Is Niagara County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 65% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 71% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Niagara County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Niagara County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Niagara 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.
Niagara County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Niagara County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Niagara County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Niagara County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Niagara County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Niagara 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.