Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Ellery is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B overall, 341st among New York's 745 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its schools outperform 82% of the state's. It also does better than most on health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 62% of the country. Its lowest everyday mark is in incomes: the median household income is $87K, and 9% of residents live below the poverty line. A typical home there costs about $236K, 4 years of the Jamestown area’s $58K median household income. Ellery’s median age is 56.1 years, where New York’s towns sit at 42.9 years and U.S. towns at 40.5 years. Midway Park is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Ellery beats most towns.
Where Ellery’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 Ellery is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,001 in 1830, a low of 1,496 in 1920, 4,105 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 1867 and 4 maps from 1904 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ellery, 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 Ellery.
Ellery is a second-home town and gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding).
Its public schools are run by the Bemus Point Central School District. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bemus Point Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 300 | B− |
| Maple Grove Junior/Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 275 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
The average commute for its 1,561 working residents takes 23.2 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Ellery for work: only 10% work in town. Since 2013, Ellery has lost 109 jobs, to 735 in 2023. The top destinations are Jamestown (19%), Ellicott (13%) and Chautauqua (7%).
| Ellery | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $87,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
29.1% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, against 3.5% statewide, which helps explain the older median age.
People 65 and older are 31% of residents (18% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 15% of residents (23% statewide). 14% of Ellery residents are under 18. 40% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 40% across New York.
| Ellery | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 14% | 20% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 40% | 32% | 29% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.6 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women. Among residents 18 to 24, 77% are men (NY 50%).
| Ellery | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 6.7% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.5% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.5% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.3% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 7.9% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.7% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 20.6% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 21.1% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.7% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 1.9% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 28.6% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.2% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.3% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.7% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 19.3% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,100, single groups can be off by several points
11 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Midway State Park, at 41 acres.
| Ellery | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.8% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Long Point on Lake Chatauqua State Park | 1.5 mi | 306 |
| 2. Midway State Park | — | 41 |
| 3. Chautauqua Lake Fish And Wildlife Management Area | — | 31 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Jamestown 4 Ene weather station, 11 miles away, records that 98 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 97% of U.S. towns.
Ellery has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Ellery is 79°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 88% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $507 per resident a year; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on.
Ellery’s FEMA risk score is 67 of 100. Since 1978, 12 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ellery.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
30% of adults feel lonely in Ellery. Ellery beats the New York average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 83% of adults had a checkup this year in Ellery.
| Ellery | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 83% | 81% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 34% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 21% | 23% |
| What stands out | Ellery | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.4% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 10.3% | 14.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.3% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ellery. Close and well known come first.
3 mi LakeChautauqua Lake
30 mi DamKinzua Dam
38 mi State parkPresque Isle State Park
37 mi LandmarkFort Le Boeuf
9 mi MuseumLucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center
33 mi State parkAllegany State ParkChautauqua Lake: Banderas, Public domain · Kinzua Dam: Niagara, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Presque Isle State Park: Ruhrfisch, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fort Le Boeuf: Charles M. Stotz ?, Public domain · Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center: G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0 · Allegany State Park: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Ellery
About 4 of every 100 Ellery residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Town in New York, United States
Ellery is a town in Chautauqua County, New York, United States, located northwest of Jamestown and with an extended lakefront on the east side of Chautauqua Lake. In the 2020 census, Ellery had a population of 4,105.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Ellery.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellery | #341 | B | B− | — | A− | B |
| Bemus Point | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Stockton | — | — | B+ | — | C+ | B |
| Gerry | — | — | B | — | C+ | B− |
| Chautauqua | #334 | B | B | — | A− | B− |
| Ellicott | #634 | C− | B− | C− | B− | C |
Stockton and Gerry have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Ellery, Stockton, Gerry and Chautauqua report no FBI crime data of their own. Bemus Point isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Ellery with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Ellery grades B overall, better than 57% of U.S. towns and #341 of 745 in New York. It grades B for health and A− for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
