Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Ellicott is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 634th of 745 graded towns in New York, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its public schools beat 52% of New York towns on state tests and graduation. Its lowest everyday mark is in safety: its police reported 11 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 79% of U.S. towns. A typical home there costs about $121K, 2.1 years of the Jamestown area’s $58K median household income. Ellicott’s property crime rate is 30 per 1,000 residents, above both the New York town median (7.5) and the median of U.S. towns (9.9). The biggest park or preserve is Bentley Nature Preserve, at 37 acres.
Where Ellicott beats most towns.
Where Ellicott’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 Ellicott is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,462 in 1820, a low of 1,462 in 1820, 8,771 in 2020. The archive holds 1 old photo or paper going back to 1867 and 4 maps from 1905 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ellicott, 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 Ellicott.
Ellicott draws workers from Jamestown and beyond 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).
6,223 jobs are based in Ellicott, 1.8 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 15.8 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Ellicott for work: only 19% work in town. The average trip to work in Ellicott is 16 minutes. The top destinations are Jamestown (28%), Busti (9%) and Chautauqua (4%).
| Ellicott | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 16 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 19% | 10% | 8% |
| Work from home | 6.2% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $61,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by Southwestern Central School District At Jamestown. Three of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Falconer Middle/High School, with 616 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwestern Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 588 | C+ |
| Falconer Middle/High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 616 | B |
| Southwestern Senior High SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 376 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Ellicott reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 79% report less. Ellicott’s violent crime rate is 2.1 per 1,000 residents.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Against the 9,161 U.S. towns with household incomes like Ellicott’s, it is less healthy than 50%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income.
Ellicott beats the New York average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 14. 16% of Ellicott adults report frequent physical distress.
| Ellicott | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 37% | 36% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 25% | 25% |
| What stands out | Ellicott | NY |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 9.3% | 6% |
| More smokers | 16.1% | 11.3% |
| More adults with heart disease | 8% | 6.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The Jamestown 4 Ene weather station records that 98 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 97% of U.S. towns.
Ellicott has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 80° and January nights drop to 16°.
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 $546 per resident a year; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1979, 16 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ellicott.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
2.5 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves.
| Ellicott | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.2% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bentley Nature Preserve | 0.7 mi | 37 |
| 2. Falconer Park | — | 10 |
| 3. Lucille Ball Memorial Park | — | 9 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ellicott. Close and well known come first.
8 mi LakeChautauqua Lake
24 mi DamKinzua Dam
35 mi National forestAllegheny National Forest
3 mi MuseumLucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center
27 mi State parkAllegany State Park30 mi Ski areaHoliday Valley79 runs · 790 ft verticalChautauqua Lake: Banderas, Public domain · Kinzua Dam: Niagara, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Allegheny National Forest: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5 · 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 Ellicott
About 2 of every 100 Ellicott residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Town in New York, United States
Ellicott is a town in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 8,771 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Joseph Ellicott, an agent of the Holland Land Company. The town of Ellicott is centrally located in the county, lying on the eastern edge of Chautauqua Lake and surrounding the city of Jamestown on the east, north and west.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Ellicott.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellicott | #634 | C− | B− | C− | B− | C |
| Jamestown | #736 | D− | B | D | D | D |
| Celoron | — | — | B− | — | B− | B |
| Jamestown West | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Gerry | — | — | B | — | C+ | B− |
| Poland | — | — | A− | — | C | C+ |
| Busti | #658 | D | C− | — | B− | C+ |
| Ellery | #341 | B | B− | — | A− | B |
Celoron, Gerry and Poland have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Celoron, Gerry, Poland, Busti and Ellery report no FBI crime data of their own. Jamestown West isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Ellicott with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Ellicott grades C− overall, better than 19% of U.S. towns and #634 of 745 in New York. It grades C for health, C− for safety and B− for schools. Safety 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−.
