Chautauqua County, New York: commercial real estate data.

Chautauqua County

How many people live in Chautauqua County

• Population, American Community Survey 2020-2024125,544
• Households53,393
• Average household size2.35
• Median household income$58,351
• Median age42.9
• Median gross rent$812 per month
• Median owner-occupied home value$127,900
• Home value to household income2.2 times
• Annual rent as a share of median income16.7 percent
• Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher25.1 percent
• Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree11.3 percent
• Adults 25 and over88,242
• Population under 1825,803
• Share under 1820.6 percent
• Population 65 and over26,917
• Share 65 and over21.4 percent
• Working age population, 18 to 6472,824
• Civilian labor force57,253
• Unemployment rate5.9 percent
• Labor force participation, adults 18 and over57.4 percent
• Rank by population among New York counties23rd of 62
• Rank by population among US county-equivalents, Puerto Rico included520th of 3,222

Chautauqua County is the 23rd largest of 62 New York counties by population. A median home costs 2.2 times median household income, which is affordable by national standards. Residents 65 and over outnumber those under 18, at 21.4 percent against 20.6 percent, which points demand at health care, services and single story product rather than schools.

US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 5-year.

Chautauqua County

Where are people moving to Chautauqua County from?

• Tax returns filed by households arriving1,749
• People arriving, from those returns2,913
• Tax returns filed by households leaving1,963
• Net household movement-214
• Adjusted gross income arriving$95.4 m
• Net adjusted gross income movement$-8.9 m
• Average income of an arriving household$54,537
• Average income of a leaving household$53,137
• Largest single originErie County (359 households)
• Largest single destinationErie County (352 households)

Households arriving report $1,400 more average income than households leaving, so the migration is raising local spending power rather than just moving it around. The largest single source of arrivals is Erie County, which is the catchment a retail or multifamily study should look at first.

US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.

Chautauqua County

Employment by industry in Chautauqua County

• Covered employment, annual average46,319
• Establishments reporting3,224
• Average annual pay$52,960
• Average weekly wage$1,018
• Manufacturing, employment8,218
• Manufacturing, average annual pay$68,126
• Health care and social assistance, employment6,263
• Health care and social assistance, average annual pay$56,010
• Retail trade, employment5,889
• Retail trade, average annual pay$35,735
• Accommodation and food services, employment4,545
• Accommodation and food services, average annual pay$22,867
• Administrative and support and waste management services, employment1,809
• Construction, employment1,743

Manufacturing is the largest private sector at 8,218 jobs, 17.7 percent of covered employment.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages.

Chautauqua County

Building permits in Chautauqua County

• Housing units authorized by permit, 2024125
• Declared construction value permitted$30.1 m
• Single family units authorized123
• Multifamily units authorized2
• Multifamily share of units1.6 percent
• Average declared value per unit$241,116
• Units authorized per 1,000 households2.3

Single-family homes are 98.4 percent of units authorized, so the pipeline is predominantly single-family.

US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual.

Chautauqua County

SBA loan default and charge-off rates in Chautauqua County

Do SBA loans in Chautauqua County get paid back?

• Loans with a final outcome recorded12
• Paid in full10
• Charged off2
• Status: Paid in full10
• Status: Exempt from disclosure75
• Status: Cancelled19
• Status: Charged off2
• Status: Committed, not yet disbursed14

Only 12 loans have reached a final outcome, fewer than the 30 a charge-off rate needs, so no rate is published.

Compare against the national and state SBA charge-off rates, computed the same way over resolved loans only.

US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.

Chautauqua County

How large is Chautauqua County?

• Land area1,060 sq mi
• Rank by land area among New York counties13th of 62
• Width, east to west35.9 mi
• Height, north to south39.4 mi
• Geographies sharing a boundary4
• Residents per square mile of land118
• Establishments per square mile2.54

US Census Bureau county boundary geometry, TIGER, adjacency computed from shared boundary vertices, TIGER county boundaries. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 5-year. US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023.

Feasibility studies

When a Chautauqua County site needs a document a lender will accept.

The same data layer behind this page is the one the studies are written from. A study for a Chautauqua County site starts with the figures you are reading, carrying the same source and period into the credit file.

• Population, American Community Survey 2020-2024125,544
• Households53,393
• Average household size2.35
• Median household income$58,351
• Median age42.9

How a feasibility study works →

Chautauqua County

Cities and places in Chautauqua.

24 Census places lie wholly or partly in Chautauqua County. All 24 carry enough published place level data for a page of their own and are linked.

A further 12 of the county's 120 SBA 7(a) approvals are to borrowers in cities that match no Census place in Chautauqua County, the largest being Findley Lake (4), Clymer (2), Ellington (2). Those are postal cities, unincorporated areas and cities outside the county, so no place row claims them; they are counted in the county total above.