Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Friendship’s best subject grades are an A+ for safety and an A for history; its weakest is a D for incomes. 22% of residents live below the poverty line in Friendship, against 9.5% in New York’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. Only 19 of New York’s 1,216 towns score lower on hazard risk. Only 33 of New York’s 1,187 towns score lower on civic life. The biggest park or preserve is Coyle Hill State Forest, at 1,459 acres. Friendship has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Friendship beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Friendship is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 662 in 1820, 1,960 in 2020. The archive holds 7 old photos and papers going back to 1882 and 4 maps from 1925 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Friendship, 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 Friendship.
The typical Friendship home is worth about $115,000, up 4.3% in a year, 78% below the New York typical home. At $916 a month, Friendship’s median rent is below both the New York town median ($1,101 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). 81% of households own their home in Friendship.
| Friendship | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 81% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $916 a month | $1,101 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Friendship Central School District. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Creek School PrivateLargest elementary schoolGrades 1–8 | Grades 1–8 | 31 | – |
| Friendship Central SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 259 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
The property crime rate in Friendship is 0 per 1,000 residents. Friendship reports less crime per resident than 99% of the U.S. towns and cities we grade.
| Friendship | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Friendship’s FEMA risk score is 87 of 100. Since 2003, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Friendship.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Friendship beats the New York average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 13. 16% of Friendship adults report frequent physical distress.
| Friendship | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 34% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | Friendship | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.2% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 12.5% | 14.5% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.6% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Friendship has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 80°, January nights drop to 14° and about 103 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most working residents leave Friendship for work: only 5% work in town. Jobs based in Friendship grew to 604 in 2023, 91 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Amity (14%), Cuba (11%) and Wellsville (10%).
| Friendship | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $60,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.5% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
| Friendship | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 6.5% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Coyle Hill State Forest | — | 1,459 |
| 2. Island Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Friendship
About 3 of every 100 Friendship residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
3 notable people were born in Friendship.
Town in New York, United States
Friendship is a town in Allegany County, New York, United States. The population was 1,960 at the 2020 census. The town's name was adopted to mark the resolution of earlier conflicts. Friendship is near the center of Allegany County and is northeast of the city of Olean.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Friendship.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friendship | — | — | B | A+ | C− | C |
| Amity | — | — | A | — | C− | C |
| Belfast | — | — | A | — | B+ | C+ |
| Cuba | #240 | B+ | B | B+ | B+ | C+ |
| Wirt | — | — | A | — | C+ | C |
Friendship, Amity, Belfast and Wirt have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Amity, Belfast and Wirt report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Friendship with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 1.8 years of the area's median household income ($62,869 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
3 notable people were born here, including Joseph C. Sibley and Rube Kroh.
