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At the turn of the 20th century, there were 80 full-time fishing boats putting out from Staithes. A hundred years later there are still a few part-time fisher men. There is a long tradition of using the coble (a traditional fishing vessel) in Staithes.

Staithes has a sheltered harbour, bounded by high cliffs and two long breakwaters. A mile to the west is Boulby Cliff where, for a brief period, alum, a mineral used to improve the strength and permanency of colour when dying cloth, was mined. The mining operation ended when a cheaper chemical method was developed. The ruined remnants of the mines can be seen from the cliff top when walking the Cleveland Way between Staithes and Skinningrove.

Staithes is a destination for geologists researching the Jurassic (Lias), strata in the cliffs surrounding the village. In the early 1990s, a rare fossil of a seagoing dinosaur was discovered after a rockfall between Staithes and Port Mulgrave to the south. This fossil has been the focus of an ongoing project to remove the ancient bones of the creature. Port Mulgrave remains one of the best places on the northern coast to find fossils of ammonites and many visitors spend hours cracking open the shaly rocks on the shoreline in the hope of finding a perfect specimen.

The permanent population of the village has dwindled due to more than half of the houses being second homes owned by outsiders from cities such as Leeds and York and further afield. Even though fewer than half of the houses in the village are occupied by local people, the traditions of the village have not yet died; the Staithes Fisher Men's Choir is still going strong. There is active local participation in the local RNLI Lifeboat crew. Locally, the name was traditionally pronounced "Steers".

The CBeebies series Old Jack's Boat, starring Bernard Cribbins, is set in and filmed in Staithes, with Old Jack's house located at 4 Cowbar Bank.

There is a local pub crawl known as the "Roxby Run". This starts at the "Fox and Hounds" in the nearby village of Dalehouse then goes to Staithes Athletic Club, the "Captain Cook Inn", the "Black Lion" (now closed) the "Royal George" before finishing at the "Cod and Lobster" on the harbour.

In 1745-46, Staithes's most famous resident, James Cook (born in Marton near Middlesbrough), worked in Staithes as a grocer's apprentice where he first gained his passion for the sea. He moved to nearby Whitby where he joined the Royal Navy. William Sanderson's shop, where Cook worked, was destroyed by the sea, but parts were recovered and incorporated into "Captain Cook's Cottage". This has been the residency of a local Staithes family for several generations.

The village was home to a group of twenty to thirty artists known as the "Staithes group" or the "Northern Impressionists." The group contained renowned artists such as Edward E. Anderson, Joseph R. Bagshawe, Thomas Barrett and James W. Booth and was inspired by other impressionists such as Monet, Cézanne and Renoir. Dame Laura Knight became the most famous member of the Staithes Group; she and her husband and fellow painter Harold Knight kept a studio in the village.

To celebrate this history, Staithes held a Festival of Arts and Heritage in 2012 and then each year till 2019. Many houses and other properties opened their doors to the public as pop-up galleries, creating a trail through the village. In addition, events celebrating the heritage of Staithes were held. Such was the success and interest in the festival, the villagers intended to make this an annual event.

Nearby Skinningrove had an agricultural and fishing economy until the opening of local ironstone workings in 1848 initiated an industrialisation boom. A railway was built by 1865, and iron smelting began in 1874. A jetty on the coast built in 1880 allowed seagoing vessels to carry heavy cargoes from the area. Mining continued until 1958 and primary iron production until the 1970s.

The Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum (formerly the Tom Leonard Mining Museum) describes the village's mining heritage, providing a unique underground experience and an insight into how 6.2 million tons of ironstone was extracted from Skinningrove. The village has a large natural sand beach used for recreational fishing and a beck, which occasionally floods, notably in the year 2000. It also has the Riverside Building community centre which is on the site of a former school. There is a Methodist chapel which has services on a Sunday at 18:00. There is also a fish and chip shop, a community centre and general dealers. Every year Skinningrove hosts a bonfire and fireworks display which attracts hundreds of people from around North Yorkshire. Each year the bonfire is based on a different theme. The Cleveland Way runs through the village.