The Buffalo Niagara region is defined as the eight counties of Western New York (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans, and Wyoming) and two jurisdictions in Southern Ontario (Niagara and Hamilton).

Geography

The Buffalo Niagara region encompasses a land area of 7,598 square miles, of which 6,448 (85%) lie within Western New York and the remaining 1,150 square miles (15%) in Southern Ontario. The area generally comprises two distinct land forms. In the northern part of Buffalo Niagara are flat lake plains extending from Lake Ontario across the Niagara Peninsula of Southern Ontario and into Southern Erie and Wyoming Counties, and along the shore of Lake Erie, bounding Chautauqua County. Cutting across these lake plains are a series of escarpments marking former lake shores created when glaciers advanced and retreated across North America during the Ice Age. In the southern part of the region are the hills and valleys of the Allegheny Plateau, covering much of Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua Counties and extending southward into Pennsylvania.

Population

Most of Buffalo Niagara's population-over 2 million people, or 82%-is considered urban. The most urbanized areas-Erie and Niagara Counties, the Regional Municipality of Niagara, and the City of Hamilton-are in the northern parts of the region on both sides of the international border. Chautauqua County, which comprises the Jamestown metropolitan area, follows with 59% of its population living in urban settlements. The remaining five counties of Western New York-Genesee, Cattaraugus, Orleans, Wyoming, and Allegany-are predominantly rural, however these counties are becoming increasingly urbanized.

The 2000 U.S. Census and the 2001 Canadian Census report a population of 2,492,550 in the Buffalo Niagara region. Approximately two-thirds of the region's residents (64%, or 1,591,708 people) live in Western New York with the other 36% (900,842) in the City of Hamilton and the Niagara Regional Municipality of Southern Ontario.

Race and Ethnicity

Recent data for the Buffalo Niagara region (2000 for Western New York) reveal a region with proportionally low racial diversity. About 90% of the region's residents (85% in Western New York) are white. The racial composition of the region's racial minorities varies somewhat across the international border. Black residents comprise 9% of Western New York's residents. Asian/Pacific Islanders are 1% of the population of Western New York, while North American Indians form around 1% of the population. People of Hispanic origin, a group considered an ethnicity not a race (Hispanic people may be of any race), remain a relatively small but growing segment of the Buffalo Niagara region. As of 2000, the region had over 54,000 persons of Hispanic origin, comprising 3% of the Western New York population. The Hispanic share of the Western New York population has more than doubled since 1980.

Information taken from the Regional Institute, a unit of the University at Buffalo Law School, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.