Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A well-rated place to live, with prices to match. Its best grade is for health (A) — residents are healthier than 88% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Lancaster grades A overall, better than 90% of U.S. towns, and ranks 89th of 745 in New York. The catch is cost of living (C): the typical home is worth about $278K, 3.8 years of the Buffalo metro’s $72K median household income. Its National Register listings include US Post Office-Depew and US Post Office-Lancaster. Como Lake Park, at 242 acres with 1.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. The town’s mean commuting time is 20 minutes, against 25 minutes in New York’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. Only 112 of New York’s 1,216 towns score higher on incomes.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places · OpenStreetMap.
Where Lancaster beats most towns.
Census counts: 2,083 in 1840, 45,106 in 2020. The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 5 maps from 1905 on.
16 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Lancaster is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lancaster. Close and well known come first.
Big draw25 mi WaterfallNiagara Falls
Big draw13 mi Stadium & arenaHighmark Stadium
Big draw12 mi Stadium & arenaRalph Wilson Stadium
13 mi Stadium & arenaKeyBank Center
13 mi MuseumUSS The Sullivans
25 mi WaterfallHorseshoe FallsNiagara Falls: Robert F. Tobler, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Highmark Stadium: James161723, CC0 · 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 · Horseshoe Falls: Ujjwal Kumar, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lancaster, 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 Lancaster.
Lancaster gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, trades workers with Buffalo and other neighbors and is safe by national standards but not by New York’s.
Its widest gap with New York is food insecurity: 8.7% of its 26,499 adults worry about having enough food, against 17.2% statewide.
The share of adults in Lancaster who say their health is fair or poor: 14%. This New York town does better than the New York average on 15 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 3. In Lancaster, 29% of adults feel lonely, and 83% had a checkup this year.
| Lancaster | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 83% | 81% | 79% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 17% | 19% |
| What stands out | Lancaster | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.7% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.3% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.8% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Lancaster Central School District. Below: Three of its 13 schools, each with why it was picked. The 4 public schools in Lancaster teach 1,934 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Street SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 4–6 | Grades 4–6 | 1,274 | C+ |
| Lancaster High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,682 | A+ |
| Depew High SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 581 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
18 miles of trail in 12 parks and preserves. Lancaster’s concentration of trails stands at 0.5 miles per square mile.
| Lancaster | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 3.2% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Como Lake Park | 1.7 mi | 242 |
| 2. Westwood Park | 0.3 mi | 107 |
| 3. Walden Pond Park | — | 67 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 81% of U.S. communities. Flood insurance has paid out on 31 claims in Lancaster since 1978. Federal aid has come to Lancaster households in 6 declared disasters; the latest was in 2022.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 11.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 54% of New York’s graded towns. Violent crime is rare: 18 reported in 2025, 0.5 per 1,000 residents.
The level of violent crime for Lancaster comes to 0.5 per 1,000 residents. The rate of thefts and burglaries for Lancaster comes to 10.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Lancaster | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.5 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 10.6 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The Buffalo weather station, 6 miles away, records that 95 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 97% of U.S. towns.
Lancaster’s midsummer high is 81°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Lancaster has about as many jobs (20,691) as working residents, but only 3,261 people both live and work here. The average commute takes 20.4 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Lancaster for work: only 15% work in town. Jobs based in Lancaster grew to 20,691 in 2023, 2,947 more than in 2013. Among residents locally, 5.2% live below the poverty line. Half of commuters travel less than 9 miles.
| Lancaster | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 5.2% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 15% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $89,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Lancaster, 22% of residents are 65 or older. A bachelor’s degree or higher: 40% of adults 25 and older, vs 40% across New York. The midpoint age locally is 46.5 years.
| Lancaster | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 46.5 years | 42.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 40% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 20% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 22% | 20% | 18% |
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1.2 points). Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women. Median age: women 47.9, men 45.1.
| Lancaster | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.5% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.1% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.7% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10.5% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.6% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.7% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 17.8% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.2% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.9% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.4% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.7% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.2% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 14.9% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22.3% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 17.5% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
For households in Lancaster, the share who own their home is 79%. In Lancaster, the midpoint rent is $1,079 a month.
| Lancaster | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 79% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,079 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 Lancaster
About 5 of every 100 Lancaster residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
16 places in Lancaster on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Lancaster.
Town in New York, United States
Lancaster is a town in Erie County, New York, United States, centered 14 miles (23 km) east of downtown Buffalo. Lancaster is an outer ring suburb of Buffalo. As of the 2020 Census, the town population was 45,106. Located within the town is the village of Lancaster and the eastern half of the village of Depew. Depew's western half lies within the town of Cheektowaga.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Lancaster.
It grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Elma (A) comes closest.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | #89 | A | C | B+ | A− | A |
| Elma | #112 | A | C+ | — | A− | A |
| Cheektowaga | #631 | C− | C+ | D | D | B |
| Clarence | #116 | A | C− | — | A | A |
| Alden | #186 | A− | C+ | — | B+ | A− |
Elma, Clarence and Alden report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Lancaster with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Lancaster grades A overall, better than 90% of U.S. towns and #89 of 745 in New York. It grades A for health, B+ for safety and A− for schools.
The typical home is worth about $278,000, 47% 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.
7 notable people were born here, including Dorothy Thompson and Iron Davis.
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