Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Bath gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $106K, 1.6 years of the Corning area’s $66K median household income. It grades C overall, 547th among New York's 745 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. The median household income is $50K, and 18% of residents live below the poverty line. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 93% of U.S. towns, with 20 places on the National Register. Its National Register listings include US Post Office-Bath and Campbell-Rumsey House. 27% of working residents work locally in Bath, above both the New York town median (10%) and the median of U.S. towns (8%). The biggest park or preserve is Moss Hill State Forest, at 1,626 acres.
Where Bath beats most towns.
Census counts: 2,578 in 1820, 11,426 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1873 and 3 maps from 1910 on.
20 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Bath takes its name from Bath in Somerset, England, 3,440 miles across the Atlantic.
UKUK editionBath, founded in 1793, takes its name from Bath, a large town in Somerset, England.
4 more U.S. towns are named after Bath:Bath, ME8,835Bath, PA2,903Bath, NC243Bath, SD91
Named after: each U.S. town’s Wikipedia article. Grades compare each town with towns in its own country, so they aren’t a head-to-head.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Bath is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bath, 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 Bath.
Bath is healthier than towns with similar incomes and trades workers with Corning and other neighbors, but it has household incomes well below the New York norm.
Its public schools are run by the Bath Central School District. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Haverling Senior High School, with 400 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dana L Lyon Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 4–8 | Grades 4–8 | 509 | C− |
| Haverling Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 400 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Against the 5,623 U.S. towns with household incomes like Bath’s, it is healthier than 66%, so its C isn’t only a matter of income.
Bath beats the New York average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 14. 16% of Bath adults report frequent physical distress.
| Bath | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 25% | 25% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 34% | 35% |
| What stands out | Bath | NY |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 10.1% | 6% |
| More smokers | 17.4% | 11.3% |
| More adults with arthritis | 33.5% | 24% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
20 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves.
| Bath | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.5% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Parker Nature Preserve | 1.3 mi | 172 |
| 2. Moss Hill State Forest | — | 1,626 |
| 3. Birdseye Hollow State Forest | — | 716 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Bath has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Bath’s July high is 81°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Bath has about as many jobs (3,890) as working residents, but only 1,100 people both live and work here. Jobs based here fell from 5,429 in 2013 to 3,890.
About one in 4 of Bath’s working residents works in town. Jobs based in Bath fell to 3,890 in 2023, 1,539 fewer than in 2013. The average trip to work in Bath is 21 minutes.
| Bath | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $50,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 62% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 24 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Bath.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bath. Close and well known come first.
31 mi LakeSeneca Lake
23 mi State parkWatkins Glen State Park
18 mi MuseumCorning Museum of Glass400K visitors a year
40 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
18 mi MuseumRockwell Museum29 mi Ski areaBristol Mountain Ski Resort39 runs · 1,138 ft verticalSeneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Watkins 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 · Rockwell Museum: W.rose.v, CC BY-SA 4.0
None within 15 miles of Bath; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Bath residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
20 places in Bath on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Bath.
Town in New York, United States
Bath is a town in Steuben County, New York, United States, with an area of 96.3 square miles (249 km2) and a population of 11,426 in 2020. Its largest settlement is the Village of Bath, which has an area of 2.9 sq mi (7.5 km2) and a population of 5,641 (in 2000). The Village is the county seat of Steuben County. The Town is located in the central part of the county, northwest of Elmira. The town and village are either named after the city of Bath in England or after Lady Bath, daughter of a landowner.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Bath.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath | #547 | C | B+ | — | B− | C |
| Urbana | — | — | B− | — | B+ | B− |
| Avoca | — | — | A | — | C− | C+ |
| Wheeler | — | — | B | — | C+ | C |
| Bradford | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Howard | — | — | A− | — | B− | C+ |
| Cameron | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Urbana, Avoca, Wheeler and Howard have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Bath, Urbana, Avoca, Wheeler and Howard report no FBI crime data of their own. Bradford and Cameron aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Bath with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Bath grades C overall, better than 31% of U.S. towns and #547 of 745 in New York. It grades C for health and B− for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D.
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 B+.
8 notable people were born here, including Edwin S. Underhill and Justin Rice Whiting.
