Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Yates gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $141K, 1.8 years of the Rochester metro’s $76K median household income. It grades B+ overall, 267th among New York's 745 graded towns. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. On the outdoors, just 20 of New York’s 1,216 towns do worse. 19% of residents live below the poverty line in Yates, above both New York’s towns (9.5%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). Yates's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 86% of U.S. towns.
Where Yates beats most towns.
Where Yates’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 Yates is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,538 in 1830, 2,559 in 2010. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 2023 and 3 maps from 1897 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Yates, 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 Yates.
Yates trades lower home prices for longer drives to work and has better schools than Carlton or any other neighbor, but it trails even towns with similar incomes on health.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 79% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Yates since 2012.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its B is the best School Grade on its borders; Carlton (B−) is next.
Its public schools are run by the Lyndonville Central School District. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyndonville Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 381 | B− |
| L A Webber Middle-High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 238 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
The average commute for its 1,077 working residents takes 20.9 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Yates for work: only 12% work in town. Since 2013, Yates has added 81 jobs, to 527 in 2023. The average trip to work in Yates is 21 minutes.
| Yates | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $87,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Yates has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Yates’ July high is 79°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 10,218 U.S. towns with household incomes like Yates’s, it is less healthy than 80%, so it trails even them.
Yates beats the New York average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 12. 17% of Yates adults smoke cigarettes.
| Yates | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 25% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 17% | 19% |
| What stands out | Yates | NY |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 9.4% | 6% |
| More smokers | 17.4% | 11.3% |
| More adults with heart disease | 7.8% | 6.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2.2 miles of trail in 0 parks and preserves.
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Homes are within reach (A for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 25 miles. At 1.8 years of the Rochester metro’s $76K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 94% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its A for cost of living.
85% of households own their home in Yates.
| Yates | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 85% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $854 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
None within 15 miles of Yates; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Yates residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
3 notable people were born in Yates.
Town in New York, United States
Yates is a town in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 2,510 at the 2000 census. The town in named after Joseph C. Yates, a governor of New York. The Town of Yates is located in the northwestern part of the county. (There is also a Yates County, New York).
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Yates.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Carlton (B) comes closest.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yates | #267 | B+ | A | — | B | C |
| Ridgeway | #380 | B− | B | — | B− | C+ |
| Somerset | #320 | B | B+ | A+ | C+ | C+ |
| Carlton | #307 | B | A− | — | B− | B− |
Yates, Ridgeway and Carlton report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Yates with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Yates grades B+ overall, better than 67% of U.S. towns and #267 of 745 in New York. It grades C for health and B for schools.
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $141,000, 73% 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 A.
Yates was incorporated in 1822 and has 1 place on the National Register of Historic Places. 3 notable people were born here, including Edmund L. Pitts and Franklin J. Drake.
