Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Great Valley’s best subject grades are an A− for cost of living and the outdoors; its weakest is a C− for hazard risk. 14% of the land in Great Valley is conserved, where New York’s towns sit at 5.2% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Only 4 of New York’s 1,187 towns score lower on civic life. The biggest place to walk is McCarty Hill State Forest, 1,726 acres with 14 miles of trail. Great Valley has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Great Valley beats most towns.
Where Great Valley’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 Great Valley is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 271 in 1820, 1,997 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1850 and 4 maps from 1900 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Great Valley, 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 Great Valley.
Its two schools are below. The public schools here belong to the Ellicottville Central School District. Public school enrollment in Great Valley: 512 students across 2 schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ellicottville Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 218 | B |
| Ellicottville Middle School High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 294 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Great Valley: 2.7% of working residents work locally, below both New York’s towns (10%) and U.S. towns (8%). The average trip to work in the town is 17 minutes. The top destinations are Olean (9%), Salamanca (8%) and Allegany (8%). Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Great Valley dropped by 33, to 298.
| Great Valley | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 17 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.7% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $68,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 7.4% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Federal aid has come to Great Valley households in 5 declared disasters; the latest was in 2009. On expected storm and flood damage, Great Valley sits above just over three quarters of U.S. communities. FEMA puts 88% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding. Flood insurance has paid out on 15 claims locally since 1979.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Great Valley’s peak summer temperature stands at 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
16% of Great Valley adults worry about having enough food. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Great Valley is ahead of New York on 1 and behind on 10.
| Great Valley | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 34% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 25% | 25% |
| What stands out | Great Valley | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.3% | 7.9% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.6% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Trails run 27 miles in 6 parks and preserves. Great Valley’s density of trails comes in at 0.5 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. McCarty Hill State Forest | 14 mi | 1,726 |
| 2. Rock City State Forest | 4.7 mi | 627 |
| 3. Allegany State Park | 0.4 mi | 463 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
In Great Valley, the typical rent is $779 a month.
| Great Valley | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 98% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $779 a month | $1,101 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Great Valley. Close and well known come first.
35 mi WaterfallEternal Flame Falls
31 mi DamKinzua Dam
39 mi LakeChautauqua Lake
7 mi State parkAllegany State Park4 mi Ski areaHoliday Valley79 runs · 790 ft vertical
31 mi State parkKinzua Bridge State ParkEternal Flame Falls: Mpmajewski, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kinzua Dam: Niagara, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Chautauqua Lake: Banderas, Public domain · Allegany State Park: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kinzua Bridge State Park: Nicholas from Pennsylvania, USA, CC BY 2.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Great Valley
About 4 of every 100 Great Valley residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Town in New York, United States
Great Valley is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,991 at the 2020 census. The town is named after its local geographical setting, a relative comparison of two tributaries (the other being the neighboring Little Valley) of the Allegheny River. The town of Great Valley is centrally located in the county, northeast of the city of Salamanca.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Great Valley.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Valley | — | — | A− | — | C | C+ |
| Salamanca · Salamanca | #662 | D | A− | C+ | C− | D |
| Humphrey | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Little Valley | — | — | B | — | B− | D |
| Carrollton | — | — | A | — | B+ | C+ |
| Ellicottville | — | — | C | — | C+ | B |
Great Valley, Little Valley, Carrollton and Ellicottville have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Great Valley, Little Valley, Carrollton and Ellicottville report no FBI crime data of their own. Humphrey isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Salamanca and Salamanca are one community, graded once. Compare Great Valley with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $115,000, 78% 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 A−.
