Olean, New York.
, asking rent $900 . 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 Olean, Cattaraugus County, New York
Olean is a city of 13,937 people in Cattaraugus County. Half its households earn more than $51,261 a year and half less, against $59,540 across Cattaraugus County; 27% of its people live below the poverty line. 55% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 45% are rented. 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 residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Olean is a small city in Cattaraugus County, with a median age a little younger than many upstate towns of its size. Incomes run below the county's, and more people here live below the poverty line than is typical, while most homes are lived in by their owners. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, and summers are warm without being hot.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops, and restaurants and hotels also employing a good number. Among the largest workplaces in Olean are Upper Allegheny Health System, Cutco and the Olean City School District. Commutes are short, and only a small share of people work from home.
Things to do. Oswayo Creek is a river a short drive away, a quiet place to walk or fish along the water. Farther out, Allegany State Park is a large protected area, and Red House Lake is a lake, both a longer drive away. Kinzua Bridge State Park, also a longer drive away, is another protected area worth planning a day around.
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- 6,274households
- 30%of adults have a degree
- 27%below the poverty line
- 14 mintypical commute
- 8%work from home
What residents 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 32° and lows near 13°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 57°. About 65 inches of snow and 41 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Olean weather station, a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Olean
- Upper Allegheny Health SystemGeneral hospital900FTE
- CutcoCutlery, nonprecious and precious plated metal, manufacturing653
- Olean City School DistrictSchool district407FTE
- Mazza Mechanical ServicesHeating, ventilation and air-conditioning contractors114
- Tops MarketsGrocery stores85
- SolEpoxyPlastics resins, custom compounding of purchased70
- Priority OnDemandAmbulance services54
- Wright Beverage DistributingBeverages, alcoholic, merchant wholesalers48
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 18 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,283 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) 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
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingrelatively high in parts of OleanRelatively moderate
- 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 Olean’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. 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.
Olean 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.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Olean listings — the market is cooling.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Olean33.36%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Olean61
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Olean15
Zip codes with a Olean address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Olean — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.