Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,526. Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
The best of Catharine’s subject grades are an A− for cost of living and the outdoors and an A for history; the weakest is a D for walkability. Only 70 of New York’s 1,215 towns score higher on cost of living. The median household income is $58K, and 21% of residents live below the poverty line. On walkability, just 110 of New York’s 1,216 towns do worse. 25% of the land in Catharine is conserved, above both New York’s towns (5.2%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). The biggest place to walk is Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area, 4,789 acres with 16.8 miles of trail. Catharine has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Catharine beats most towns.
Where Catharine’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 Catharine is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,478 in 1820, a peak of 3,688 in 1860, 1,656 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers going back to 1874 and 5 maps from 1898 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Catharine. Close and well known come first.
8 mi State parkWatkins Glen State Park
24 mi LakeSeneca Lake
24 mi LakeCayuga Lake
21 mi MuseumCorning Museum of Glass400K visitors a year
16 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
15 mi Stadium & arenaSchoellkopf FieldWatkins Glen State Park: Flickr user: Peter Rivera Stamford, Connecticut https://www.flickr.com/people/ri, CC BY 2.0 · Seneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Cayuga Lake: The original uploader was Cornellrockey at English Wikipedia. Later versions we, CC BY-SA 2.5 · 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Catharine, 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 Catharine.
22 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. Catharine’s trail density is 0.7 miles per square mile, above both the New York town median (0.4) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4).
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area | 16.8 mi | 4,789 |
| 2. Martin Nature Preserve | 1.1 mi | 114 |
| 3. Texas Hollow State Forest | — | 168 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Odessa-Montour Central School District. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Howard A Hanlon Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 3–6 | Grades 3–6 | 206 | C− |
| Odessa-Montour Junior/Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 284 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Catharine for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Dix (10%), Horseheads (9%) and Montour (9%). Half commute less than 16 miles.
| Catharine | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $59,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.7% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Catharine has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Catharine’s July high is 79°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 57% of U.S. communities. Since 1996, 6 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Catharine.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Catharine beats the New York average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 15% of Catharine adults report frequent physical distress.
| Catharine | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 37% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Catharine | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.2% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 12.2% | 14.5% |
| More adults with COPD | 9% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2 within 15 miles of the center of Catharine
About 3 of every 100 Catharine residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Town in New York, United States
Catharine is a town in Schuyler County, New York, United States. The population was 1,656 at the 2020 census. The town is one of two in the county named after Catherine Montour, a Native American interpreter and leader in the area. The Town of Catharine is in the southeastern part of the county and is north of Elmira.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Catharine.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catharine | — | — | A− | — | C+ | B− |
| Montour | — | — | B | — | C+ | B− |
| Cayuta | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Newfield | #589 | C− | B− | — | C− | A− |
| Hector | #594 | C− | C | — | B− | B+ |
| Veteran | #355 | B− | B+ | — | B− | A− |
Catharine and Montour have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Catharine, Montour, Newfield, Hector and Veteran report no FBI crime data of their own. Cayuta isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Catharine with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
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−.
