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Place dossier plate
SheetNY-NIAGARA-FALLS-NY · Niagara Falls, NY 48,198 pop · income 17th pct · 66 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Niagara Falls
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Niagara Falls on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Binghamton · lowest
44,331
Binghamton · lowest
44,331 median HH income
31.7% of the leader · rank #1
Neodesha · near
48,532
Neodesha · near
48,532 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #2
Niagara Falls · this city
48,535
Niagara Falls · this city
48,535 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #3
Tuscaloosa · near
48,536
Tuscaloosa · near
48,536 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #4
Wilhoit · near
48,542
Wilhoit · near
48,542 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #5
Ila · near
48,542
Ila · near
48,542 median HH income
34.7% of the leader · rank #6
Levittown · highest
139,696
Levittown · highest
139,696 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Niagara Falls on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 48,198.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Niagara Falls - the verdict
Niagara Falls ranks in the 17th percentile for household income and the 13th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
17th
percentile, household income
11th
percentile, home value
78th
percentile, median rent
13th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Niagara Falls, NY
48,198 people live in Niagara Falls, New York - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $48,535 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 18.7%. Typical homes in Niagara Falls are valued around $104,400, and the median resident age is 40.7 years. Educational attainment runs 22.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 53.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 4 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Low Activity). Niagara Falls's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3308.9 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Niagara Falls's yearly average temperature at 47.7°F with 33.0 inches of precipitation per year.
New York carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts New York at 107.9 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,579 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $285 across New York, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Workers in Niagara Falls report an average commute of 17.1 minutes, with 73.1% driving alone and 7.0% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 69.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Niagara Falls's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from population change to reported crime to climate and hazard context to housing and income to schools and households to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Niagara Falls, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is Niagara Falls growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1,305 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Niagara Falls?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3308.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 45% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Niagara Falls?
Within New York, the closest population matches are Binghamton (47,357 residents, $44,331 income); Irondequoit (50,438 residents, $76,871 income); Troy (51,054 residents, $57,688 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cleveland, TN (48,185 residents); Hilo, HI (48,223 residents); Fort Pierce, FL (48,094 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What can 66 Census tracts reveal inside Niagara Falls?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 66 Census tracts to this city.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Niagara Falls?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 47.7°F, with 33.0 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for New York is 69.4 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
Mean temperature
47.7°F
Annual precipitation
33.0 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
69.4
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
How far does income reach against housing in Niagara Falls?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 18.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Household income
$48,535
Home value
$104,400
Value / income
2.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Niagara Falls?
The NCES join finds 13 public schools within the city match. 22.8% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
13
Bachelor's degree+
22.8%
Poverty estimate
18.7%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Niagara Falls?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 73.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.1 minutes.
Public transit
3.1%
Work from home
7.0%
Drive alone
73.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 20,309 workers age 16+.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share D
22.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$48,535
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
18.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
501 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
107.9 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Niagara Falls profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 42/100 (D) · 22.8%
Household income: 18/100 (F) · $48,535
Poverty rate: 16/100 (F) · 18.7%
Violent crime: 16/100 (F) · 501 /100k
Cost of living: 12/100 (F) · 107.9 index
Where Niagara Falls sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Niagara Falls's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Niagara Falls highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Niagara Falls, NY (this city): home $104,400, crime 3,309/100k
Cleveland, TN : home $241,800, crime 2,837/100k
Cerritos, CA : home $908,600, crime 5,683/100k
Prescott Valley, AZ : home $376,300, crime 994/100k
San Luis Obispo, CA : home $896,500, crime 3,093/100k
Binghamton, NY : home $117,400, crime 3,946/100k
Troy, NY : home $192,500, crime 3,244/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Niagara Falls compare to other US cities?
Niagara Falls measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income17% higher than other cities
Home value11% pricier than other cities
Median rent78% pricier than other cities
Safety13% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just New York and the picture shifts: Niagara Falls ranks #42 of 55 New York cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Niagara Falls against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to New York only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
New York-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Niagara Falls near the bottom of New York's cities
Among the 1,256 New York cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Niagara Falls ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Niagara Falls only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,111 of 1,205
8th percentile in New York
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,256
0th percentile in New York
Median Home Value
#1,089 of 1,202
9th percentile in New York
Poverty Rate
#104 of 1,246
92nd percentile in New York
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#924 of 1,254
26th percentile in New York
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within New York only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
17th percentile nationally for median household income · 13th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Niagara Falls's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Niagara Falls's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Niagara Falls's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$104,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 89% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Niagara Falls's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,234 of 15,516
More affordable than 86% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#119 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.2×, Niagara Falls sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,234 of 15,516 and #119 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$48,535Niagara Falls, NY median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Niagara Falls, NY median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Niagara Falls, NY.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)18.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
48,198
Median Income
$48,535
Median Home Value
$104,400
Median Age
40.7
Poverty Rate
18.7%
Labor force participation
53.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3308.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
501.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2807.8
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
47.7°F
Annual Precipitation
33.0"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
13
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Niagara Falls's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
48,560 residents
2021
48,352 residents
2022
47,919 residents
2023
47,621 residents
2024
47,464 residents
2025
47,255 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
7
1
6
$1.2M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
4
4
0
$0.9M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.1 minutes
Drive Alone
73.1%
Carpool
9.7%
Public Transit
3.1%
Walk
4.2%
Work from Home
7.0%
Other
2.9%
Based on 20,309 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
New York statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $285
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across New York at $285 (electricity about $130 , water and sewer about $65 ).
These are New York statewide averages, not a meter reading for Niagara Falls. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
New York's BEA cost-of-living index is 107.9 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Niagara Falls is $1,579/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to New York statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 69.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a New York statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Niagara Falls sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Niagara Falls compares to similar-size New York cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.