Lackawanna, New York

Area Profile

19,753 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Lackawanna, in Erie County.

54out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 26% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3002nd of 3,904 published cities43
Schools2352nd of 2,668 published cities21
Growth2892nd of 2,973 published cities12
Housing affordabilityTop 19% of 4,223 published cities95
Climate3212th of 4,223 published cities62
Physical resilienceTop 25% of 4,182 published cities80
AccessTop 29% of 4,226 published cities97
Economic stability3850th of 4,226 published cities32
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.1% and the Opportunity signal places Lackawanna in the bottom 23%.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 20% of median household income and the median home is 2.7 times it.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Lackawanna in the top 25% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
19,753
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$52,110
Bottom 26% nationally
Density
3,017/sq mi
6.5 sq mi of land
Median age
37.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Erie County
New York
Metro area
Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY
Nearest major airport
BUF
10 mi · Buffalo Niagara Intl
Median home value
$140,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.1% is lower than 59% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 0.8% over the past year, to 447,300 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,833$52,110Bottom 26%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,046$26,611Bottom 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate23.2%Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute21.4 minBottom 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher20.0%Bottom 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment447,300Top 16%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.7%Bottom 23%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 48%June 2026
Labor force466,388Top 16%June 2026
Labor force participation56.0%Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$66,480Bottom 39%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$50,790Bottom 46%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.5%Top 29%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.1%Bottom 41%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202452k44k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $52,110 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides18,090$36,570
Retail Salespersons15,160$34,910
Fast Food and Counter Workers14,170$34,560
Registered Nurses13,830$99,060
General and Operations Managers11,100$103,280
Cashiers10,590$33,850

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Erie County, NY, which contains this city.

9% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 29% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 10.0 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
10.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
8.8%
Bottom 1% in New York
Reading proficiency
28.8%
Bottom 3% in New York
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
GLOBAL CONCEPTS CHARTER SCHOOL · charterGLOBAL CONCEPTS CHARTER SCHOOL87810.0
LACKAWANNA HIGH SCHOOLLACKAWANNA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT67010.5
MARTIN ROAD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLLACKAWANNA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT57310.214%30%
LACKAWANNA MIDDLE SCHOOLLACKAWANNA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT4449.43%27%
TRUMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLLACKAWANNA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT4049.6

81.6% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against New York’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $872 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.7 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
20.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$872
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$140,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.70Bottom 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate56.2%Bottom 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4989,321Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$37$872Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$7,808$140,700Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.1%Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate10.1%Top 49%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
12/ 100
Ranks 2892 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 2% since 2020, reaching 19,629 in 2024.

At 0.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
0
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 1% nationally
Year over year
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202420k20k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420252.00.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−100%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 80°F and January a low of 19°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 40.7 inches, including 95.4 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 43, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BUFFALO, 10.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index62.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation40.7"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall95.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low19°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high80°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index43.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing46°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
43
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
62
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

80 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding and heat wave.

Inland floodingElevated
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, winter weather, tornado, ice storm, lightning, earthquake, strong wind, hurricane, wildfire, landslide, coastal flooding, hail, drought, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Erie County records 3.4 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 6.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 21.0 per 100,000 residents in Erie County.

Homicide
3.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
21.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
12.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Erie County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Lackawanna rather than Lackawanna itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 10 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Buffalo Niagara IntlBUF10 mi8,829 ft
Frederick Douglass/Greater Rochester IntlROC62 mi8,001 ft
Erie Intl/Tom Ridge FldERI85 mi8,420 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
54
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Other cities in Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BuffaloErie County276,85454vs Lackawanna
CheektowagaErie County76,056vs Lackawanna
Tonawanda TownErie County56,806vs Lackawanna
Niagara FallsNiagara County47,98751vs Lackawanna
West SenecaErie County45,303vs Lackawanna
North TonawandaNiagara County30,19860vs Lackawanna
LockportNiagara County20,61059vs Lackawanna
KenmoreErie County15,04465vs Lackawanna
TonawandaErie County15,03066vs Lackawanna
DepewErie County15,00059vs Lackawanna
EggertsvilleErie County14,894vs Lackawanna
LancasterErie County10,11364vs Lackawanna

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Lackawanna side by side with a similar place.

Lackawanna vs FultonLackawanna vs Lincoln ParkLackawanna vs WayneLackawanna vs Utica

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Lackawanna

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1421820,312$54,74855