Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Addison’s best subject grades are an A− for cost of living and the outdoors and an A+ for history; its weakest is a C− for incomes. On cost of living, just 48 of New York’s 1,215 towns do better. Only 51 of New York’s 1,187 towns score lower on civic life. Its National Register listings include Addison Village Hall and Church of the Redeemer. Addison has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Addison beats most towns.
Census counts: 652 in 1820, a peak of 3,721 in 1850, 2,397 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1873 and 4 maps from 1914 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Addison is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Addison, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Addison.
Its public schools are run by the Addison Central School District. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Addison Middle/High School, with 491 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuscarora Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 429 | D |
| Addison Middle/High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 491 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Addison for work: only 14% work in town. 15% of Addison residents live below the poverty line, above both New York’s towns (9.5%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). The median household income in Addison is $57,000.
| Addison | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $57,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Addison’s property crime rate is 4.8 per 1,000 residents, where New York’s towns sit at 7.5 and U.S. towns at 9.9. Addison’s violent crime rate is 0.4 per 1,000 residents.
| Addison | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.8 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.4 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Addison beats the New York average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 13. 18% of adults smoke cigarettes in Addison.
| Addison | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 25% | 25% |
| What stands out | Addison | NY |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 9.6% | 6% |
| More smokers | 18% | 11.3% |
| More adults with depression | 23.3% | 17.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 72% of U.S. communities. Since 2003, 4 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Addison.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Addison has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 81°, January nights drop to 15° and about 48 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
14 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. Pinnacle State Park, at 595 acres with 6.8 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Addison | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.6% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pinnacle State Park | 6.8 mi | 595 |
| 2. McCarthy Hill State Forest | 1.1 mi | 132 |
| 3. Wombaugh Square | 0.1 mi | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Addison. Close and well known come first.
9 mi MuseumCorning Museum of Glass400K visitors a year
40 mi LakeSeneca Lake
25 mi State parkWatkins Glen State Park
9 mi MuseumRockwell Museum17 mi MuseumNational Soaring Museum
18 mi MuseumGlenn H. Curtiss MuseumCorning Museum of Glass: User:Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Seneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Watkins Glen State Park: Flickr user: Peter Rivera Stamford, Connecticut https://www.flickr.com/people/ri, CC BY 2.0 · Rockwell Museum: W.rose.v, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Glenn H. Curtiss Museum: Ruhrfisch (talk), CC BY-SA 4.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Addison
About 2 of every 100 Addison residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Where Addison’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
5 places in Addison on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Addison.
Town in New York, United States
Addison is a town in Steuben County, New York. The population was 2,397 at the 2020 census. The name was selected to honor the author Joseph Addison. An interior town in the southeastern part of the county, the town includes a village, also called Addison.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Addison.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Addison | — | — | A− | B+ | C− | C |
| Rathbone | — | — | B+ | — | C− | C |
| Erwin | #487 | C+ | D | — | C+ | A− |
| Tuscarora | — | — | B+ | — | C− | C |
| Thurston | — | — | B | — | B | C |
Addison, Rathbone, Tuscarora and Thurston have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Rathbone, Erwin, Tuscarora and Thurston report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Addison with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
3 notable people were born here, including Jim Greengrass and Charles William Gillet.
