Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Tonawanda is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B− overall, 420th among New York's 745 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: residents are healthier than 58% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Its lowest everyday mark is in incomes: the median household income is $58K, and 14% of residents live below the poverty line. A typical home there costs about $174K, 2.4 years of the Buffalo metro’s $72K median household income. Its National Register listings include US Post Office-Tonawanda and Kibler High School. Tonawanda is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 78% of U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Niawanda Park, at 25 acres.
Where Tonawanda beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Tonawanda is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,812 in 1870, a peak of 21,898 in 1970, 15,129 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 1900 and 5 maps from 1897 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Tonawanda. Close and well known come first.
Big draw11 mi WaterfallNiagara Falls
Big draw17 mi Stadium & arenaHighmark Stadium
Big draw17 mi Stadium & arenaRalph Wilson Stadium
11 mi WaterfallHorseshoe Falls
10 mi Stadium & arenaKeyBank Center
9 mi MuseumUSS The SullivansNiagara Falls: Robert F. Tobler, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Highmark Stadium: James161723, CC0 · Ralph Wilson Stadium: User Evilarry on en.wikipedia, Public domain · Horseshoe Falls: Ujjwal Kumar, Public domain · KeyBank Center: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0 · USS The Sullivans: Unknown, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Tonawanda, 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 Tonawanda.
Tonawanda is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding).
1.5 miles of trail in 12 parks and preserves.
| Tonawanda | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.5% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Niawanda Park | — | 25 |
| 2. Ives Pond Park | 0.1 mi | 21 |
| 3. Isle View Park | 0.1 mi | 12 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Tonawanda City School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Tonawanda Middle/High School, with 891 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tonawanda Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 785 | C− |
| Tonawanda Middle/High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 891 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 89% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $386 per resident a year; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on.
At 68 of 100, Tonawanda’s FEMA risk score is above both New York’s towns (31 of 100) and U.S. towns (44 of 100). Since 1978, 5 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Tonawanda.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Tonawanda has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. At 81°F, Tonawanda’s July high is against 81°F in New York’s towns and 85°F across U.S. towns.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 6,775 working residents takes 22.7 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Tonawanda for work: only 10% work in town. 16% of workers work from home in Tonawanda. The top destinations are Buffalo (20%), Amherst (18%) and Tonawanda (11%).
| Tonawanda | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 16% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $58,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 8,459 U.S. towns with household incomes like Tonawanda’s, it is healthier than 86%, so its B isn’t only a matter of income.
18% of Tonawanda adults binge drink. Tonawanda beats the New York average on 5 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 82% of Tonawanda adults had a checkup this year.
| Tonawanda | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 81% | 79% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Tonawanda | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.9% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 13.4% | 17.2% |
| More adults with COPD | 8% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes fell from 225 to 195 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Tonawanda’s property crime rate is 12.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Tonawanda | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 12.1 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.9 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
At 2.4 years of the Buffalo metro’s $72K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 77% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its B− for cost of living.
The median rent in Tonawanda is $835 a month.
| Tonawanda | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $835 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 73% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
11 within 15 miles of the center of Tonawanda
About 6 of every 100 Tonawanda residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New York.
2 places in Tonawanda on the National Register of Historic Places.
10 notable people were born in Tonawanda.
City in New York, United States
Tonawanda is a city in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 15,129 at the 2020 census. It is at the northern edge of Erie County, south across the Erie Canal (Tonawanda Creek) from North Tonawanda, east of Grand Island, and north of Buffalo. It is part of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Tonawanda.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tonawanda | #420 | B− | B− | B− | B− | B |
| Tonawanda Town | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tonawanda | #321 | B | C+ | — | C+ | A− |
| North Tonawanda | #427 | B− | C+ | B | B− | B |
| Grand Island | #152 | A− | C− | — | A− | A |
Tonawanda and Grand Island report no FBI crime data of their own. Tonawanda Town isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Tonawanda with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Tonawanda grades B− overall, better than 46% of U.S. towns and #420 of 745 in New York. It grades B for health, B− for safety and B− for schools.
The typical home is worth about $174,000, 67% 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−.
10 notable people were born here, including Bobby Shuttleworth and Thomas Perry.
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