Erie County, New York

Erie County
County
Left to right from top: Erie County Hall, Wendt Beach Park, Akron Falls Park, Chestnut Ridge Park, Canisius University, Gateway Park, Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens
Flag Seal
Location within the U.S. state of New York
New York's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 42°45′N 78°47′W / 42.75°N 78.78°W / 42.75; -78.78
Country	United States
State	New York
Founded	1821
Named for	Eriechronon
Seat	Buffalo
Largest city	Buffalo
Government
• County Executive	Mark Poloncarz (D)
Area
• Total	1,227 sq mi (3,180 km2)
• Land	1,043 sq mi (2,700 km2)
• Water	184 sq mi (480 km2)  15%
Population  (2020)
• Total	954,236
• Density	914.9/sq mi (353.2/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional districts	23rd, 26th
Website	erie.gov

Erie County is a county along the shore of Lake Erie in western New York State. As of the 2020 census, the population was 954,236.^[1] The county seat is Buffalo, which makes up about 28% of the county's population.^[2] Both the county and Lake Erie were named for the regional Iroquoian language-speaking Erie tribe of Native Americans, who lived in the area before 1654. They were later pushed out by the more powerful Iroquoian nations tribes. The county is part of the Western New York region of the state.

Erie County, along with its northern neighbor Niagara County, makes up the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area, the second largest in the State of New York behind New York City. The county's southern part is known as the Southtowns.^[3] The county has seen one of the highest growth rates of any county in the State of New York from the 2010 to 2020 census.