Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Barton is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, ranked 647th of 745 in New York, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: residents are healthier than 56% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Its lowest everyday mark is in incomes: the median household income is $55K, and 13% of residents live below the poverty line. A typical home there costs about $141K, 2.2 years of the Binghamton metro’s $65K median household income. Its National Register listings include US Post Office-Waverly and Waverly Junior and Senoir High School. 15% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Barton, where New York’s towns sit at 32% and U.S. towns at 29%. The biggest park or preserve is Two Rivers State Park Recreation Area, at 535 acres.
Where Barton beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Barton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 972 in 1830, 8,570 in 2020. The archive holds 3 maps from 1903 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Barton, 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 Barton.
Barton sends many workers across the state line to Sayre and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding).
Its public schools are run by the Waverly Central School District. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Waverly High School, with 481 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waverly Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 486 | C− |
| Waverly High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 481 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
31% of working residents cross a state line to work, Sayre among the top destinations. The average commute for its 3,477 working residents takes 20.3 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Barton for work: only 18% work in town. Barton’s average trip to work is 20 minutes. Since 2013, Barton has lost 224 jobs, to 1,935 in 2023.
| Barton | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 18% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $55,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Barton has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Barton is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 87% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $407 per resident a year; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on. 65 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 11 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1978, 65 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Barton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 7,357 U.S. towns with household incomes like Barton’s, it is healthier than 88%, so its B isn’t only a matter of income.
39% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Barton. Barton beats the New York average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 31% of adults have obesity in Barton.
| Barton | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 37% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 33% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 25% | 25% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Barton | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 13.7% | 17.2% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.2% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Barton | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.6% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wildwood Nature Reserve | 1.1 mi | 51 |
| 2. Two Rivers State Park Recreation Area | — | 535 |
| 3. Waverly Glen Park | 0.1 mi | 13 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 2.2 years of the Binghamton metro’s $65K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 83% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its C+ for cost of living. 66.7% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 52.1% across New York.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Barton. Close and well known come first.
28 mi State parkWatkins Glen State Park
29 mi MuseumCorning Museum of Glass400K visitors a year
33 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
25 mi Stadium & arenaSchoellkopf Field
25 mi MuseumHerbert F. Johnson Museum of Art80K visitors a year34 mi Ski areaGreek Peak Mountain Resort43 runs · 828 ft verticalWatkins Glen State Park: Flickr user: Peter Rivera Stamford, Connecticut https://www.flickr.com/people/ri, CC BY 2.0 · Corning Museum of Glass: User:Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Taughannock Falls State Park: Michael C. Rygel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Schoellkopf Field: Alex Sergeev, (www.asergeev.com) Originally uploaded by en:User:Cornell010, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art: Dmadeo, CC BY-SA 3.0
None within 15 miles of Barton; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Barton residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
5 places in Barton on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in New York, United States
Barton is a town in southwestern Tioga County, New York, United States. The population was 8,570 at the 2020 census. It is southeast of Elmira.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Barton.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barton | #647 | C− | C+ | — | C+ | B |
| Van Etten | — | — | B− | — | B− | B |
| Nichols | — | — | B | — | B | B |
| Tioga | #403 | B− | A− | — | B+ | B |
| Chemung | — | — | B | — | C | C+ |
| Waverly | #616 | C− | C+ | — | C | B− |
| Baldwin | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Spencer | #677 | D | C | — | B− | B |
Van Etten, Nichols and Chemung have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Barton, Van Etten, Nichols, Tioga, Chemung, Waverly and Spencer report no FBI crime data of their own. Baldwin isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Barton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Barton grades C− overall, better than 18% of U.S. towns and #647 of 745 in New York. It grades B for health and C+ for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a C−.
The typical home is worth about $141,000, 73% below the New York typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
