Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
3.1 times the nonprofits per person than the typical New York town.
Trash day: WednesdaySilver Creek is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 645th of 745 graded towns in New York, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 45% of the country. Its lowest everyday mark is in incomes: the median household income is $64K, and 22% of residents live below the poverty line. A typical home there costs about $199K, 3.4 years of the Jamestown area’s $58K median household income. 22% of residents live below the poverty line in Silver Creek, where New York’s towns sit at 9.5% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Only 74 of New York’s 1,187 towns score higher on civic life.
Where Silver Creek beats most towns.
Where Silver Creek’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 Silver Creek is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 661 in 1860, 2,617 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1867 and 3 maps from 1899 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Silver Creek, 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 Silver Creek.
Silver Creek is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it has a long record of flood insurance claims and has lost a quarter or more of its jobs in ten years.
Typical home values rose 5.6% in the year to September 2026. The median rent in Silver Creek is $967 a month.
| Silver Creek | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 68% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $967 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Jobs based here fell from 891 in 2013 to 342.
Most working residents leave Silver Creek for work: only 8% work in town. Silver Creek’s average trip to work is 29 minutes. Since 2013, Silver Creek has lost 549 jobs, to 342 in 2023.
| Silver Creek | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 7.6% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Silver Creek has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 80°, January nights drop to 19° and about 76 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
71 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 13 properties have flooded more than once.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 59% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 71 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Silver Creek.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 9,709 U.S. towns with household incomes like Silver Creek’s, it is healthier than 64%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Silver Creek beats the New York average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7. 16% of Silver Creek adults smoke cigarettes.
| Silver Creek | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 37% | 36% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Silver Creek | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 10.2% | 12.8% |
| More smokers | 15.7% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Silver Creek | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.3% | 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. Village of Silver Creek Park | 0.2 mi | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Silver Creek
About 3 of every 100 Silver Creek residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
4 notable people were born in Silver Creek.
Village in New York, United States
Silver Creek (Seneca: Tgaenödë́hda:') is a village in the town of Hanover in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the village had a population of 2,637. Silver Creek is named after a small creek which runs through the village. It is on the shore of Lake Erie.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Silver Creek.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silver Creek | #645 | C− | C+ | — | C+ | C+ |
| Hanover | #575 | C | B− | — | B− | C+ |
| Sheridan | #485 | C+ | B− | — | B− | C+ |
Silver Creek, Hanover and Sheridan report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Silver Creek with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Silver Creek grades C− overall, better than 18% of U.S. towns and #645 of 745 in New York. It grades C+ for health and C+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a C−.
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 Howard Ehmke and Alice Lee Jemison.
