Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Porter is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B+ overall, 255th among New York's 745 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: residents are healthier than 72% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. It also does better than most on schools: its public schools beat 67% of New York towns on state tests and graduation. Its lowest everyday mark is in cost of living: the typical home is worth about $226K, 3.1 years of the Buffalo metro’s $72K median household income. Porter has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Old Fort Niagara-Colonial Niagara Historic District and Fort Niagara Light. Porter’s July high is 79°F, against 81°F in New York’s towns and 85°F across U.S. towns. Fort Niagara State Park, at 269 acres with 1.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Porter beats most towns.
Old Fort Niagara-Colonial Niagara Historic District| Widest gap | Porter | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.5% | 17.2% |
Where Porter’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 Porter is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Old Fort Niagara-Colonial Niagara Historic District is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 850 in 1820, 6,771 in 2010. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1678 and 3 maps from 1949 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Porter. Close and well known come first.
Big draw13 mi WaterfallNiagara Falls
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaHighmark Stadium
in town LandmarkFort Niagara
14 mi WaterfallHorseshoe Falls
Big draw35 mi Stadium & arenaRalph Wilson Stadium
13 mi WaterfallBridal Veil FallsNiagara Falls: Robert F. Tobler, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Highmark Stadium: James161723, CC0 · Fort Niagara: Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Horseshoe Falls: Ujjwal Kumar, Public domain · 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 Porter, 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 Porter.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 91% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Porter since 1978.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Porter has 608 jobs for its 2,902 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Porter for work: only 7% work in town. Porter’s average trip to work is 28 minutes. The top destinations are Lewiston (14%), Niagara Falls (11%) and Buffalo (11%).
| Porter | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 8.5% | 12% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 7% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 7% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
28% of adults feel lonely in Porter. Porter beats the New York average on 12 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7. 84% of adults had a checkup this year in Porter.
| Porter | 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) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Porter | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.5% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.4% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.2% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
9.5 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves.
| Porter | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 2.6% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fort Niagara State Park | 1.4 mi | 269 |
| 2. Four Mile Creek State Park | — | 267 |
| 3. Porter on the Lake Park | — | 23 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Porter has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 79°, January nights drop to 21° and about 55 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
People 65 and older are 24% of residents (18% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 17% of residents (23% statewide). The median age in Porter is 47.1 years. 34% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 40% across New York.
| Porter | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 47.1 years | 42.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 20% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 34% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 22% | 20% | 22% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.7 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Porter | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.9% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.3% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.1% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.6% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.7% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.8% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.6% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.4% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.6% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 26% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 17.7% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.4% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Porter
About 3 of every 100 Porter residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
4 places in Porter on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in New York, United States
Porter is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 6,771 at the 2010 census. The town was named after Judge Augustus Porter. The Town of Porter lies in the northwest corner of Niagara County and is north of the City of Niagara Falls.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Porter.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porter | #255 | B+ | C+ | — | B+ | B+ |
| Lewiston | #147 | A− | C | A− | B+ | B+ |
| Wilson | #344 | B | B− | — | B− | B |
| Ransomville | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Youngstown | — | — | B | — | A− | A− |
Youngstown has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Porter, Wilson and Youngstown report no FBI crime data of their own. Ransomville isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Porter with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Porter grades B+ overall, better than 68% of U.S. towns and #255 of 745 in New York. It grades B+ for health and B+ for schools.
The typical home is worth about $226,000, 57% 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+.
