Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Canisteo gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $117K for a typical one, or 1.8 years of the Corning area’s $66K median household income. It grades C+ overall, ranked 476th of 745 in New York. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 78% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top, and the median household income is $63K, and 11% of residents live below the poverty line. Only 52 of New York’s 1,216 towns score lower on the outdoors. Canisteo’s July high is 79°F, against 81°F in New York’s towns and 85°F across U.S. towns. Canisteo Living Sign is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Canisteo beats most towns.
Where Canisteo’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Canisteo is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 891 in 1820, a low of 620 in 1830, 3,294 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1873 and 2 maps from 1915 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Canisteo, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Canisteo.
Canisteo gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding).
The average commute for its 1,249 working residents takes 23.6 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Canisteo for work: only 14% work in town. Jobs based in Canisteo fell to 426 in 2023, 59 fewer than in 2013. The top destinations are Hornell (18%), Hornellsville (6%) and Bath (6%).
| Canisteo | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $63,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by Canisteo-Greenwood CSD. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Canisteo-Greenwood High School, with 450 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canisteo-Greenwood Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 507 | C+ |
| Canisteo-Greenwood High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 450 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 95% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $428 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1981, 13 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Canisteo.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Alfred weather station, 13 miles away, records that 82 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 95% of U.S. towns.
Canisteo has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The January low in Canisteo is 14°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
4.9 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. Only 9 of the 740 New York towns we compare have a lower share of conserved land than Canisteo. Canisteo’s trail density is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Canisteo | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.2% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rotary Park | 0.1 mi | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 9,536 U.S. towns with household incomes like Canisteo’s, it is healthier than 67%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Canisteo beats the New York average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 16% of adults smoke cigarettes in Canisteo.
| Canisteo | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 25% | 25% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| What stands out | Canisteo | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.2% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 11.7% | 14.5% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.9% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Canisteo
About 5 of every 100 Canisteo residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Town in New York, United States
Canisteo () is a town in Steuben County, New York, United States. The population was 3,294 at the 2020 census. The name was taken from a former Native American village located there, and is Iroquoian in origin. The Town of Canisteo is in the western part of the county, southeast of Hornell. The town contains a village also named Canisteo.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Canisteo.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canisteo | #476 | C+ | B | — | B | B− |
| Howard | — | — | A− | — | B− | C+ |
| Hartsville | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cameron | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hornellsville | #399 | B− | A− | — | C | C+ |
Howard has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Canisteo, Howard and Hornellsville report no FBI crime data of their own. Hartsville and Cameron aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Canisteo with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Canisteo grades C+ overall, better than 39% of U.S. towns and #476 of 745 in New York. It grades B− for health and B for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
