Categories for DataBank

Oct 15

2024

Infographic: To buy or to rent? Either costs more

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The median value of a home in Erie County reached $241,900 in 2023; in Niagara County, $189,700, according to Census Bureau estimates. (Median defined as point at which half are above, half below.) Year-to-year Census Bureau estimates for the largest municipalities show median housing values up almost 50% from 2019 to 2023 in Amherst and Buffalo, more than 60% in Cheektowaga and almost 40% in Town of Tonawanda. The Amherst median — $336,000 — is almost twice that of Buffalo, at $174,200. Rent also rises Median monthly rent hit $1,067 in Erie County, with its four largest municipalities — Buffalo,[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Sep 18

2024

Infographic: Buffalo transplants prefer Tampa area

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We reviewed eight years of IRS data and found more people moving out of Erie County each year than moving in. The spread had been declining but started getting wider from 2019 to 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic hitting in 2020. The spread continued to grow, right up to 2021-22, the most recent year the data is available. There were 3,655 more people moving out of Erie County than moving in from 2021 to 2022, the numbers show. A closer look at 2021-22 We took a deeper dive into the 2021-22 data to get a better sense of where people[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Aug 16

2024

Infographic: Wealth and poverty in our communities

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Poverty remains a problem in upstate New York cities. Latest Census Bureau estimates show poverty is twice the state rate in the largest upstate cities and median household incomes are barely half of statewide earnings in some of the urban centers. Median is defined as half are above and half are below. Highest median household incomes — all upwards of $100,000 — in Erie County, according to 2022 estimates, are in Clarence, Grand Island, and Orchard Park. The lowest  — all in the mid to low $40,000 range — are in Buffalo and Lackawanna as well as the Cattaraugus Reservation,[...]

Posted 8 months ago

Aug 9

2024

Infographic: Fatal crashes in Buffalo-Niagara

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For a while, traffic fatalies were dropping – locally and nationally. Then came the pandemic. Traffic deaths went up. In some communities, including Erie and Niagara counties, they stayed up, even once COVID cooled down. Motor vehicle crashes in Erie and Niagara counties killed 683 people in the 10-year period from 2013 to 2022, with victims including motorists, passengers, bicyclists and pedestrians. In 2022, the most recent year finalized data is available, there were 78 fatal accidents, killing 88 people in Erie and Niagara counties. (Preliminary data indicates fatal accidents remained high in Erie County in 2023,  but dropped in[...]

Posted 9 months ago

Jun 14

2024

Buffalo getting safer — but keep an eye on your car

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Despite a spike in homicides during the Covid pandemic, violent crime in Buffalo has been trending down. That's also true for a post-pandemic spike in car thefts. But even with those numbers dropping in recent months, there's still plenty of vehicles being stolen. For those who haven't been following the social-media-inspired crime surge, car theft began spiking nationally after videos posted on TikTok a few years ago showed how a design flaw made it relatively easy to steal Kias and Hyundais. Thus was born the "Kia challenge," encouraging young people to joy-ride in a stolen car. Buffalo experienced the full[...]

Posted 11 months ago

Jun 7

2024

Buffalo-areas schools spending about $28,000 per student

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Thirty-nine school budgets totaling $4 billion were recently approved in Erie and Niagara counties for the upcoming school year. The money will educate some 138,000 public school students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The individual budgets range from a low of $17.7 million in North Collins, the smallest school district, with just 564 students, to a high of almost $1 billion in the largest district, Buffalo public schools, with some 30,000 students. (Charter schools in the Buffalo area, with some 12,000 students, are not included in this analysis.) We looked at per pupil spending - total budget divided by enrollment.[...]

Posted 11 months ago

May 31

2024

Buff State has rock bottom graduation rates

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We pulled graduation rates for SUNY's 20 universities and four-year comprehensive colleges with campuses, using full-time students who entered as freshmen in 2013. (We wanted to avoid the pandemic years.) The average four-year graduation rate was 55 percent. By six years, the average graduation rate was 68 percent. Buffalo State had the lowest four-year graduation rate, 28 percent. It also had the lowest five-year and six-year rates. UB 's four-year graduation rate was in the mid-range, and a few points higher in the five and six-year categories. Geneseo had one of the highest graduation rates among the 20 SUNY schools.[...]

Posted 11 months ago

May 24

2024

Buffalo back on top in race with Amherst

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Back in 2000, the value of taxable property in Amherst eclipsed that of Buffalo. It was believed to be the first time that had happened and raised questions about the city’s fiscal health. By 2015, Amherst growth was slowing as Buffalo’s picked up. In 2021, fueled in part by rising housing prices, as well as downtown and waterfront investment, Buffalo’s tax base edged ahead. The most recent figures peg the 2023 value of Buffalo’s taxable property at $15.3 billion, compared to Amherst’s $14.5 billion. We should note, however, that Amherst inches closer each year.

Posted 11 months ago
Investigative Post