Best PlacesOrchard Park, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Orchard Park, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Orchard Park ranks 277th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Orchard Park
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.
Orchard Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Orchard Park ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- School gradeA, better than 95% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of cities
Where Orchard Park ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 20% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Orchard Park
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Orchard Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $117,693, 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 Orchard Park's effective rate of 2.01%, 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 Orchard Park
Orchard Park 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 Orchard Park.
Who works in Orchard Park, and how
Work in Orchard Park centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Orchard Park
Orchard Park has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Orchard Park and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Orchard Park, month by month
Orchard Park 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 Orchard Park
The nearest airport, Buffalo Niagara International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 175 miles away.
The best schools in and around Orchard Park
Schools across Orchard Park average an A, better than 95% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Harris Hill Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Ellicott Road Elementary SchoolA+ · 83% proficient
- Eggert Road Elementary SchoolA+ · 82% proficient
Top middle schools
- Maryvale Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Iroquois Middle SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Clarence Middle SchoolA · 59% proficient
Top high schools
- Orchard Park High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- Clarence Senior High SchoolA+ · 100% proficient
- East Aurora High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Orchard Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Orchard Park 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 Orchard Park against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Orchard Park suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of cities and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Orchard Park
Is Orchard Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Orchard Park ranks 277th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and low crime, and lowest on internet speeds and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Orchard Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $370,283. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $117,693 median income, cost of living beats 82% of cities.
Is Orchard Park safe?
Yes, Orchard Park is safer than 95% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Orchard Park?
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 39% of cities.
Is Orchard Park good for families?
Schools beat 95% of cities, crime safety beats 95%, and childcare runs $1,317 a month.
Compare Orchard Park with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Orchard Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Orchard Park 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.
Orchard Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Orchard Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Orchard Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Orchard Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Orchard Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Orchard Park 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.