Collins, New York.
. Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,478 (+116%) since Jan 2020.
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- New York$2,755
- United States$1,922
Living in Collins, Erie County, New York
Collins is a town of 5,894 people in Erie County. Half its households earn more than $60,905 a year and half less, against $72,839 across Erie County; 9% of its people live below the poverty line. 82% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 18% are rented. Unemployment in Erie County was 4.4% in August 2026, and the county had 0.3% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Collins is a town in Erie County where nearly everyone lives in a home they own, and renters are few. Household incomes run below the county's, and a modest share of adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold and extremely snowy, with January the coldest month, while July brings warm days, and the year is wet as well.
Work. Residents most often work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, the building trades, and restaurants, hotels and entertainment. The typical commute is a fairly long one, and some people work from home. Across Erie County, some of the largest workplaces are Kaleida Health, the Buffalo City School District and the University at Buffalo.
Things to do. Deer Lick Nature Sanctuary, a protected area, is a short drive away. Farther afield, a longer drive leads to Chestnut Ridge Park, another protected area, and to the Niagara River. Sports fans can make a longer drive to Highmark Stadium.
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- 1,757households
- 16%of adults have a degree
- 9%below the poverty line
- 24 mintypical commute
- 11%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Erie County had 464,902 jobs in 2025, 0.3% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 31° and lows near 16°; warmest in July, with highs near 79° and lows near 59°. About 208 inches of snow and 54 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Perrysburg weather station, 7 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Erie County
- Kaleida HealthGeneral hospital6,761FTE
- Buffalo City School DistrictSchool district6,399FTE
- University at BuffaloUniversity or college5,548
- PeopleGroup homes, intellectual and developmental disability4,355
- Moog, Inc. - East AuroraFluid power valves and hose fitting4,216
- Erie County Medical CenterGeneral hospital2,930FTE
- ACV Auctions Inc. - HeadquartersBusiness to business electronic markets, durable goods, wholesale trade2,733
- Mercy Hospital of BuffaloGeneral hospital2,141FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 864 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 128,036 people in all across the county; Collins has none of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesVery high
- Winter weatherVery high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Erie County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Erie County and the Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY metro.
Collins home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Collins6
Zip codes with a Collins address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Collins — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.