Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Strong in places, weak in others. Its weakest is incomes: the median household income is $66K, and 10% of residents live below the poverty line. Where it does best is schools: its schools outperform 82% of the state's. A typical home there costs about $119K, 2 years of the Olean area’s $60K median household income. Overall, that makes a B−, good for 396th of 745 in New York. Set against the rest, it does better than nearly half of U.S. towns. On the outdoors, just 88 of New York’s 1,216 towns do worse. Its National Register listings include Portville Free Library and William E. Wheeler House.
Figures: schools, state test and graduation results · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · home values, Zillow · USGS PAD-US · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Portville beats most towns.
Where Portville’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 Portville is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 462 in 1840, 3,504 in 2020. The archive holds 4 maps from 1898 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Portville, 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 Portville.
Portville pairs an A− for schools with modest home prices, gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns and has homes that are cheap against local pay.
That grade comes with a B for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $119K.
Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Portville Junior-Senior High School, with 445 students. The 2 public schools in Portville teach 979 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portville Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 534 | B |
| Portville Junior-Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 445 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
The average commute for its 1,501 working residents takes 20.5 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Jobs here fell by 170 from 2013 to 2023, to 899. For Portville, the typical journey to work is 21 minutes. The top destinations are Olean (26%), Allegany (8%) and Olean (4%).
| Portville | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $66,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Across 3 parks and preserves: 8.0 miles of trail. Portville’s trail network density comes in at 0.2 miles per square mile.
| Portville | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.1% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Little League Park | — | 6 |
| 2. Pioneer Park | — | 5 |
| 3. Lymand Baker Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Friendship 7 Sw weather station, 8 miles away, records that 103 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 97% of U.S. towns.
In Portville, the peak summer temperature is 81°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Two figures for adults in Portville: 16% report frequent physical distress, 38% have high blood pressure. The town does better than the New York average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 13. Among adults here, 28% get no exercise outside work. In Portville, 20% of adults say their health is fair or poor, against 17% in New York’s towns and 19% across U.S. towns.
| Portville | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 34% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 25% | 25% |
| What stands out | Portville | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.4% | 7.9% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.3% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
For Portville, the FEMA risk score is 52 of 100. The national flood insurance program has paid 66 claims here since 1978. 82% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 6%. One declared disaster, in 2003, has brought federal aid to Portville households.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 2 years of the Olean area’s $60K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 89% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its B for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $2,928, against $6,582 across New York, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The median rent for Portville comes to $774 a month, below both the New York town median ($1,103 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). Portville: nine in ten households are owner-occupiers.
| Portville | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 90% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $774 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Portville
About 4 of every 100 Portville residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
4 places in Portville on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 towns share a border with Portville.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portville | #396 | B− | B | — | A− | C+ |
| Genesee | — | — | A− | — | B+ | C |
| Olean | — | — | B | — | B | C+ |
| Hinsdale | — | — | B+ | — | A− | C+ |
| Clarksville | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Genesee, Olean and Hinsdale have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Portville, Genesee, Olean and Hinsdale report no FBI crime data of their own. Clarksville isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Portville with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Portville grades B− overall, better than 49% of U.S. towns and #396 of 745 in New York. It grades C+ for health and A− for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a C−.
The typical home is worth about $119,000, 77% 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 B.
2 notable people were born here, including Charles Butts and William E. Wheeler.
