Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Cape Vincent’s best subject grades are an A for history and civic life; its weakest is a C− for incomes. 28% of residents are 65 or older in Cape Vincent, against 20% in New York’s towns and 18% across U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include Rogers Brothers Farmstead and Tibbetts Point Light. On civic life, just 104 of New York’s 1,187 towns do better. The biggest park or preserve is Ashland Flats Wildlife Management Area, at 246 acres. Cape Vincent has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Cape Vincent beats most towns.
Vincent LeRay House
Census counts: 3,044 in 1850, 2,765 in 2020. The archive holds 3 old photos and papers going back to 1877 and 3 maps from 1895 on.
32 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Cape Vincent is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Cape Vincent, 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 Cape Vincent.
Among households in Cape Vincent, 88% are owner-occupiers. Values rose 8.8% in the 12 months to September 2026. The town’s typical rent is $882 a month.
| Cape Vincent | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 88% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $882 a month | $1,101 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The public schools here belong to the Thousand Islands Central School District. Of its 3 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason. The 3 public schools in Cape Vincent teach 556 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thousand Islands Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 185 | C+ |
| Thousand Islands High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 262 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Federal disaster aid has reached households in Cape Vincent after 4 declared disasters, most recently in 2019. Compared with 79% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage here is lower. Paid flood insurance claims here since 1979: one. FEMA puts just over four fifths of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
For most workers, Cape Vincent is a place to come home to: only 14% work in town. Its median household income stands at $61,000. The top destinations are Clayton (19%), Watertown (16%) and Alexandria (4%).
| Cape Vincent | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $61,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expect July afternoons of 80° and January nights of 12°, with about 116 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The share of adults in Cape Vincent who report frequent mental distress: 14%. Of 32 CDC measures, Cape Vincent beats the New York average on 13 and trails it on 7.
| Cape Vincent | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 85% | 81% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 21% | 23% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 34% | 35% |
| What stands out | Cape Vincent | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.6% | 17.2% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 9.2% | 14.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 12.4% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Across 6 parks and preserves: 17 miles of trail. Cape Vincent’s concentration of trails comes in at 0.2 miles per square mile.
| Cape Vincent | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.9% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ashland Flats Wildlife Management Area | 0.6 mi | 246 |
| 2. Cedar Point State Park | — | 45 |
| 3. Recreation Park | 0.1 mi | 12 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Cape Vincent; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Cape Vincent residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Where Cape Vincent’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
32 places in Cape Vincent on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Cape Vincent.
Town in New York, United States
Cape Vincent is a town in Jefferson County, New York, United States. The population was 2,765 at the 2020 census. The town is in the northwestern part of the county. In the town is a village also called Cape Vincent. Both town and village are northwest of Watertown.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Cape Vincent.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Vincent | — | — | C+ | — | B+ | B |
| Lyme | — | — | B− | — | B+ | B+ |
| Clayton | #422 | B− | C | — | B+ | B |
Cape Vincent and Lyme have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Cape Vincent, Lyme and Clayton report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Cape Vincent with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 3.8 years of the area's median household income ($66,301 across the Watertown-Fort Drum, NY metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
3 notable people were born here, including Watson C. Squire and Delos Bennett Sackett.
