Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 59 notable people.
Binghamton is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C overall, 524th among New York's 745 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: it is healthier than 62% of U.S. towns. Expect to pay for it: homes are expensive, about $222K for a typical one and 3.4 times the Binghamton metro’s $65K median household income. On civic life, just 86 of New York’s 1,187 towns do worse. Binghamton’s average trip to work is 18 minutes, below both New York’s towns (25 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Aqua Terra Wilderness Area, at 508 acres with 9.6 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Binghamton beats most towns.
Bridget Moynahan
Hawleyton Methodist Episcopal Church, OldWhere Binghamton’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Binghamton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,203 in 1830, a peak of 80,674 in 1950, 47,969 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1850 and 4 maps from 1904 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Binghamton, 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 Binghamton.
Binghamton gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, sends most of its workers to Binghamton and beyond and owes part of its health edge to its incomes.
| Binghamton | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.4% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Aqua Terra Wilderness Area | 9.6 mi | 508 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Susquehanna Valley Central School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brookside Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 401 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 79% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 13 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Binghamton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Binghamton has 437 jobs for its 1,988 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 18.3 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Binghamton for work: only 4% work in town. The median household income in Binghamton is $105,000. Jobs based in Binghamton fell to 437 in 2023, 95 fewer than in 2013.
| Binghamton | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $105,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.8% | 10% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 8.2% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The Binghamton weather station, 12 miles away, records that 87 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 96% of U.S. towns.
Binghamton has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Binghamton’s July high is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (23% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 44% of residents (39% statewide). 48% of Binghamton adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Binghamton has lost 3.8% of its people since 2020, down to 4,435 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Binghamton | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 49.2 years | 42.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 48% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 20% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 20% | 18% |
54% women, 46% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±5.4 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Binghamton | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.3% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.7% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.7% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.7% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.9% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 21.6% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.1% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.8% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 16.7% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 15.4% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 15.6% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.3% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 24.2% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,400, single groups can be off by several points
Against the 7,811 U.S. towns with household incomes like Binghamton’s, it is less healthy than 62%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
35% of adults feel lonely in Binghamton. Binghamton beats the New York average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 10. 82% of adults had a checkup this year in Binghamton.
| Binghamton | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 35% | 32% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 81% | 79% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 21% | 23% |
| What stands out | Binghamton | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.6% | 7.9% |
| More adults with COPD | 7.8% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Binghamton. Close and well known come first.
4 mi Stadium & arenaBroome County Veterans Memorial Arenain town Zoo & aquariumBinghamton Zoo at Ross Park35 mi Ski areaGreek Peak Mountain Resort43 runs · 828 ft vertical28 mi Ski areaElk Mountain Ski Resort28 runs · 908 ft vertical
30 mi MuseumFrench Azilum
32 mi National park siteUpper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River380K visitors a yearBroome County Veterans Memorial Arena: Bmoore2009 at English Wikipedia, Public domain · French Azilum: Nicholas A. Tonelli from Northeast Pennsylvania, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River: Jet Lowe (edited by Mitchazenia), Public domain
2 within 15 miles of the center of Binghamton
About 3 of every 100 Binghamton residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
59 notable people were born in Binghamton.
City in New York, United States
Binghamton ( BING-əm-tən) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers. The population was 47,969 at the 2020 census. Binghamton is the principal city of the Binghamton metropolitan area (also known as Greater Binghamton, or historically the Triple Cities, including Endicott and Johnson City), home to a quarter million people. From the days of the railroad, Binghamton was a transportation crossroads and a manufacturing center, and has been known at different times fo…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Binghamton.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binghamton | #524 | C | C− | — | B− | B |
| Binghamton | #739 | D− | C+ | D | D | C |
| Conklin | #383 | B− | B | — | B− | B− |
| Vestal | #362 | B− | C− | C+ | A− | A− |
Binghamton and Conklin report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Binghamton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Binghamton grades C overall, better than 33% of U.S. towns and #524 of 745 in New York. It grades B for health and B− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
59 notable people were born here, including Bridget Moynahan and Chris Wedge.
