Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Today 11,667 people live in this town, first settled in 1853.
Plenty in its favour, and one clear drawback. Its strongest subject is health — residents are healthier than 92% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Incomes are another plus: the median household earns $116K. The trade-off is cost of living (C+): the typical home is worth about $358K, 5 years of the Buffalo metro’s $72K median household income. It also trails on walkability. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 67% of U.S. towns. All told, that adds up to an A overall, better than 88% of U.S. towns. In the ranking it comes 112th of 745 in New York.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow.
Where Elma beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Elma | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.1% | 17.2% |
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Iroquois Intermediate School | 4–5 | 301 |
| Elma Primary School | PK–3 | 260 |
| Iroquois Middle School | 6–8 | 478 |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Elma is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,091 in 1860, a low of 1,966 in 1920, 11,721 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1866 and 4 maps from 1905 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Elma. Close and well known come first.
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaHighmark Stadium
Big draw28 mi WaterfallNiagara Falls
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaRalph Wilson Stadium
12 mi Stadium & arenaKeyBank Center
12 mi MuseumUSS The Sullivans
10 mi WaterfallEternal Flame FallsHighmark Stadium: James161723, CC0 · Niagara Falls: Robert F. Tobler, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ralph Wilson Stadium: User Evilarry on en.wikipedia, Public domain · KeyBank Center: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0 · USS The Sullivans: Unknown, Public domain · Eternal Flame Falls: Mpmajewski, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Elma, 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 Elma.
Elma gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, has less food insecurity than most of New York and has commutes shorter than most of New York.
Its widest gap with New York is food insecurity: 7.1% of its 9,861 adults worry about having enough food, against 17.2% statewide.
Elma: 7.1% of adults worry about having enough food, against 13% in New York’s towns and 14% across U.S. towns. In Elma, 3.7% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance.
| Elma | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 32% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 84% | 81% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.7% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Elma | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.1% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.7% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.2% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The largest public high school is Iroquois Senior High School, with 628 students. Below: Two of its 4 schools, each with why it was picked. Its public schools are run by the Iroquois Central School District.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iroquois Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 478 | C+ |
| Iroquois Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 628 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
The biggest park or preserve is Knox Farm State Park, at 81 acres. Trails run 21 miles in 5 parks and preserves. Elma’s trail network density stands at 0.6 miles per square mile.
| Elma | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.6% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Town of Elma Park | 0.9 mi | 27 |
| 2. Elma Centennial Park | 0.3 mi | 47 |
| 3. Knox Farm State Park | — | 81 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Elma’s natural-hazard score from FEMA comes in at 21 of 100. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 69% come from inland flooding and 20% from cold waves. Households here have drawn federal disaster aid in 7 declared disasters, most recently in 2022.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Wales weather station, 7 miles away, records that 109 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 98% of U.S. towns. The Wales weather station, 7 miles away, records that about 1 days a year reach 90°, fewer than in 97% of U.S. towns.
In Elma, the midsummer high is 81°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 5,502 working residents takes 22.4 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Half commute less than 11 miles. Since 2013, Elma has added 588 jobs, to 4,457 in 2023. Just 8% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. In Elma, the average trip to work is 22 minutes.
| Elma | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $116,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 3.8% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Adults 18 to 34 are 17% of residents (23% statewide); people 65 and older are 23% of residents (18% statewide). Elma: 44% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more.
| Elma | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 32% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 23% | 20% | 18% |
| Median age | 43.8 years | 42.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 22% | 20% | 22% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.7 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Elma | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.8% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.4% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.8% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.2% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 14.4% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.3% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 15.1% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.9% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 29.5% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.6% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Elma’s typical rent is $952 a month. 89% of households are owner-occupiers locally. Also worth knowing: homes sold in Elma spent a median 10 days on the market.
| Elma | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 89% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $952 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
10 within 15 miles of the center of Elma
About 4 of every 100 Elma residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Town in New York, United States
Elma is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 11,721 at the 2020 census. The town is named after the American elm tree. Elma is in the county's central area, southeast of Buffalo. It is part of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Elma.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elma | #112 | A | C+ | — | A− | A |
| Aurora | #95 | A | C− | — | A− | A |
| Marilla | #139 | A− | B− | — | A− | A |
| Lancaster | #89 | A | C | B+ | A− | A |
| West Seneca | #358 | B− | C | C+ | B | A− |
| Billington Heights | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Elma, Aurora and Marilla report no FBI crime data of their own. Billington Heights isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Elma with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Elma grades A overall, better than 88% of U.S. towns and #112 of 745 in New York. It grades A for health and A− for schools.
The typical home is worth about $358,000, 32% below the New York typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
2 notable people were born here, including Otto Orf and Frank Lazarus.
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