Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lewiston's standout: natural-hazard risk is low. Overall it grades A−, 147th among New York's 745 graded towns. It reports less crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns. Lewiston is home to Niagara University. 26% of residents are 65 or older in Lewiston, above both New York’s towns (20%) and U.S. towns (18%). Lewiston has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Frontier House and Niagara Power Project Historic District.
Where Lewiston beats most towns.
Census counts: 869 in 1820, 15,944 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1875 and 5 maps from 1894 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Lewiston is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lewiston. Close and well known come first.
Big draw9 mi WaterfallNiagara Falls
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaHighmark Stadium
10 mi WaterfallHorseshoe Falls
in town DamRobert Moses Niagara Power Plant
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaRalph Wilson Stadium
9 mi WaterfallBridal Veil FallsNiagara Falls: Robert F. Tobler, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Highmark Stadium: James161723, CC0 · Horseshoe Falls: Ujjwal Kumar, Public domain · Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant: Busfahrer, CC BY 3.0 · Ralph Wilson Stadium: User Evilarry on en.wikipedia, Public domain · Bridal Veil Falls: No machine-readable author provided. Liffer~commonswiki assumed (based on copyri, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lewiston, 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 Lewiston.
Lewiston pairs an A− overall with homes cheaper than the New York norm, has commutes shorter than most of New York and is safe by national standards but not by New York’s.
26 miles of trail in 9 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Burmaster Park, 547 acres with 8.6 miles of trail.
| Lewiston | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.1% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Burmaster Park | 8.6 mi | 547 |
| 2. Artpark State Park | 3.7 mi | 217 |
| 3. Joseph Davis State Park | 2.3 mi | 366 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Niagara-Wheatfield Central School District. Three of its 10 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edward Town Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 723 | C+ |
| Niagara-Wheatfield Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,041 | A+ |
| Lewiston Porter Senior High SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 657 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 93% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Lewiston since 1983.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 66% of New York’s graded towns. Reported crimes fell from 132 to 76 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in Lewiston is 4.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Lewiston | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.5 per 1,000 residents | 7.6 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.4 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Lewiston grades A− overall with a typical home of about $347K, below the New York typical value; only 33 of the 89 New York towns graded A− or better can say that.
The typical Lewiston home is worth about $347,000, up 3.5% in a year, 34% below the New York typical home. Lewiston’s median rent is $988 a month.
| Lewiston | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $988 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 76% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Lewiston beats the New York average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 29% of Lewiston adults feel lonely.
| Lewiston | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 84% | 81% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Lewiston | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.4% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.8% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.2% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Lewiston has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 81°, January nights drop to 19° and about 72 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
People 65 and older are 26% of residents (18% statewide); children under 18 are 15% of residents (21% statewide). 16% of residents are under 18 in Lewiston. 38% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 40% across New York.
| Lewiston | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 16% | 20% | 22% |
| Median age | 45.6 years | 42.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 38% | 32% | 29% |
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±1.9 points). Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Lewiston | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 5.9% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.5% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 14.2% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.5% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.9% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 8.5% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 16.3% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.4% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 12.7% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.7% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.3% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.4% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 16.1% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 20.3% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 18.1% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The average commute for its 6,816 working residents takes 20.8 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Since 2013, Lewiston has lost 414 jobs, to 5,403 in 2023. The top destinations are Niagara Falls (13%), Buffalo (13%) and Amherst (10%). Half commute less than 15 miles.
| Lewiston | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 16% | 10% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
2 within 15 miles of the center of Lewiston
About 14 of every 100 Lewiston residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
4 notable people were born in Lewiston.
Town in New York, United States
Lewiston (Tuscarora: Uyhę́ha·ekwt) is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York. The Town of Lewiston is on the western border of the county. The Village of Lewiston and Tuscarora Reservation are located within the town.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Lewiston.
It grades higher overall than all 5 graded towns on its borders; Cambria (A−) comes closest. Niagara Falls next door grades lower for schools (D to Lewiston’s B+) and higher for cost of living (B+ to C).
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewiston | #147 | A− | C | A− | B+ | B+ |
| Niagara | #577 | C | B− | C− | B+ | C+ |
| Porter | #255 | B+ | C+ | — | B+ | B+ |
| Cambria | #200 | A− | B− | — | B+ | B+ |
| Niagara Falls | #710 | D | B+ | D | D | D |
| Wheatfield | #394 | B− | C− | — | B+ | B |
| Ransomville | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lewiston | — | — | C | — | A− | A− |
Lewiston has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Porter, Cambria, Wheatfield and Lewiston report no FBI crime data of their own. Ransomville isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Lewiston with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Lewiston grades A− overall, better than 82% of U.S. towns and #147 of 745 in New York. It grades B+ for health, A− for safety and B+ for schools.
That is 4.8 years of the area's median household income ($72,237 across the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
4 notable people were born here, including Leila Janah and Susan M. Crawford.
