Machias, New York.
. Olean, 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 Machias, Cattaraugus County, New York
Machias, in Cattaraugus County, had 505 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $74,178 a year and half less, against $59,540 across Cattaraugus County. Unemployment in Cattaraugus County was 4.4% in August 2026, and the county had 1.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Cattaraugus County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 24 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Machias is a very small community in Cattaraugus County, with few people living in it. Household incomes here run higher than across the county as a whole, while a four-year degree is held by far fewer adults than in most places. Winters are cold and very snowy, with January the coldest month, and summers are mild and warm, with July the warmest. Rain and melted snow add up to a fair amount over the year.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops, and restaurants and hotels also employing many. Across Cattaraugus County, the largest workplaces include Upper Allegheny Health System, Cutco and St Bonaventure University. Unemployment across the county is no different from a year earlier, and the number of jobs there has grown a little.
Things to do. Lime Lake, a reservoir in or beside town, is the closest spot for time on the water. A longer drive away are Letchworth State Park and Allegany State Park, both large protected areas for walking and being outdoors. Holiday Valley, a ski area also a longer drive off, suits the snowy winters.
Report a mistake
- 6%of adults have a degree
What people in Cattaraugus County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Cattaraugus County had 28,122 jobs in 2025, 1.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 31° and lows near 14°; warmest in July, with highs near 79° and lows near 56°. About 109 inches of snow and 45 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Franklinville weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Cattaraugus County
- Upper Allegheny Health SystemGeneral hospital900FTE
- CutcoCutlery, nonprecious and precious plated metal, manufacturing653
- St Bonaventure UniversityUniversity or college606
- Great Lakes Cheese - FranklinvilleCheese, imitation or substitute, manufacturing513
- Yorkshire-pioneer Central School DistrictSchool district508FTE
- Salamanca City School DistrictSchool district411FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters411
- Olean City School DistrictSchool district407FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 54 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 5,325 people in all across the county; Machias has none of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (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
- LightningRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Machias’ census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Cattaraugus County and the Olean, NY metro.
Machias 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.
- Machias8
Zip codes with a Machias address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Machias — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.