These Are The 10 Worst Buffalo Suburbs

Buffalo conjures up images of tons of things to do, quality people, and a bustling economy. The region consistently ranks as one of the best places to live across the country.

But not everyone is cut out for city life. Some people would prefer to live in the cities and towns that surround Buffalo.

So the question arises, do the suburbs maintain a semblance of the larger-than-life appeal of their more famous neighbor?

Today, we’ll use science and data to determine which Buffalo ‘burbs need a little tender loving care – the sore thumbs of the Buffalo area if you will. Realistically, you can’t expect all the suburbs to live up to Buffalo proper, although Harris Hill certainly tries.

We examined the 30 biggest suburbs of Buffalo to find out the worst places to live. And while you won’t find them on the worst places to live in New York, these ten places are a little too far downwind of Buffalo in terms of quality of life:

Sloan
Niagara Falls
Blasdell
Lackawanna
Tonawanda
Lake Erie Beach
Cheektowaga
Wanakah
Depew
Lancaster

Read on to see how we determined the places around Buffalo that need a pick-me-up. And remember, don’t blame the messenger. And once you’re done, you can look at the bottom of the story for a complete chart of worst to best.

How we determined the worst Buffalo ‘burbs

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what cities have the least amount of those things. We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the Census’s most recent 2010-2014 American Community Survey, this is the criteria we used:

Low unemployment (Less jobs)
Low median income (Less pay)
Low population density (No things to do)
Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)
High number of high school drop outs

Then, we ranked each place that have over 5,000 people around Buffalo for each of these criteria from worst to best.

The place with the lowest average rankings for these criteria ranks as the worst suburb of Buffalo.

Read on below to learn more about these terrible places around Buffalo to live. Or skip to the end to see the list of all 30 suburbs ranked from worst to best.

This list is a scientific analysis based on real data and is completely unbiased. Snarkiness incorporated for entertainment purposes only. Hold on to your pants.

1. Sloan

Source: Google Maps

Population: 3,642Median Income: $41,728
Median Home Value: $71,700

2. Niagara Falls

Population: 49,679Median Income: $33,009
Median Home Value: $67,600

3. Blasdell

Source: wikipedia

Population: 2,565Median Income: $43,409
Median Home Value: $92,900

4. Lackawanna

Source: wikipedia

Population: 18,037Median Income: $36,640
Median Home Value: $84,200

5. Tonawanda

Source: wikipedia

Population: 58,204Median Income: $54,498
Median Home Value: $116,700

6. Lake Erie Beach

Source: Google Maps

Population: 4,068Median Income: $60,206
Median Home Value: $101,600

7. Cheektowaga

Source: Google Maps

Population: 74,967Median Income: $48,703
Median Home Value: $97,800

8. Wanakah

Source: Google Maps

Population: 3,107Median Income: $64,423
Median Home Value: $123,800

9. Depew

Population: 15,262Median Income: $49,291
Median Home Value: $107,100

10. Lancaster

Source: Lancaster NY. Google Maps

Population: 10,262Median Income: $51,291
Median Home Value: $118,600

The areas around Buffalo that you probably don’t want to live in

Well there you have it — the worst of the ‘burbs surrounding Buffalo with Sloan landing ahead of the pack.

As we mentioned earlier, the suburbs around Buffalo aren’t all bad. Harris Hill takes the cake as the best place to live around Buffalo.

For the chart below, these are ranked from worst to best.

Detailed List Of Buffalo Suburbs

Place	Rank	Population	Median Income	Median Home Value
Sloan	1	3,642	$41,728	$71,700
Niagara Falls	2	49,679	$33,009	$67,600
Blasdell	3	2,565	$43,409	$92,900
Lackawanna	4	18,037	$36,640	$84,200
Tonawanda	5	58,204	$54,498	$116,700
Lake Erie Beach	6	4,068	$60,206	$101,600
Cheektowaga	7	74,967	$48,703	$97,800
Wanakah	8	3,107	$64,423	$123,800
Depew	9	15,262	$49,291	$107,100
Lancaster	10	10,314	$51,924	$118,100
North Tonawanda	12	31,245	$47,604	$105,600
Young	13	2,002	$59,185	$131,300
West Seneca	14	44,902	$58,392	$129,100
Kenmore	15	15,334	$50,880	$107,700
Town Line	16	2,491	$65,488	$150,000
Clarence	17	2,811	$68,632	$209,400
Grandyle Village	18	4,766	$75,245	$133,400
Tonawanda	19	58,204	$54,498	$116,700
Tonawanda	20	15,048	$46,026	$91,300
Williamsville	21	5,286	$60,700	$162,900
Eden	22	3,214	$63,734	$155,900
Lewiston	23	2,702	$52,926	$136,700
North Boston	24	2,487	$66,795	$152,400
Clarence Center	25	2,069	$111,310	$214,800
Eggertsville	26	15,357	$64,957	$122,700
Hamburg	27	9,482	$69,663	$148,200
Orchard Park	28	3,230	$78,466	$218,200
Elma Center	29	2,606	$75,000	$199,700
Harris Hill	30	5,380	$81,724	$181,200

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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