Best PlacesOlean, IN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Olean, 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.
Olean ranks 13,999th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on what local pay buys.
The best neighborhoods in Olean
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.
Olean's strengths and weaknesses
Where Olean ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
- Household income$102,978 median, better than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 80% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 77% of towns
Where Olean ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 52 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 23% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Olean
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Olean home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,978, 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 Olean's effective rate of 0.53%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Olean
Olean's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Olean.
Who works in Olean, and how
Work in Olean centers on health care & social and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Olean
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Olean.
What the weather is like in Olean, month by month
Olean sees roughly 52 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Olean
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International sits about 28 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.4 million passengers in 2025, with 99 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Olean
Schools across Olean average a B−, better than 53% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Ripley Elementary SchoolB · 49% proficient
- Milan Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Ripley Junior High SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Milan Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Milan High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- South Ripley High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Olean school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Olean 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 Olean against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Olean
Is Olean a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Olean ranks 13,999th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on the weather and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Olean expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $252,193. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $102,978 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Olean safe?
Yes, Olean is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $225 per resident a year.
Compare Olean with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Olean. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Olean 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.
Olean detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Olean: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Olean: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Olean: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Olean: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Olean 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.