Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Clay is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B overall, 302nd among New York's 745 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: it is healthier than 80% of U.S. towns. Expect to pay for it: homes are expensive, about $206K for a typical one and 2.7 times the Syracuse metro’s $75K median household income. On history, just 12 of New York’s 1,216 towns do worse. Clay is home to Bryant & Stratton College-Syracuse North. Clay’s average trip to work is 21 minutes, below both the New York town median (25 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes).
Where Clay beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Clay is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,095 in 1830, a low of 2,095 in 1830, 60,527 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 4 maps from 1895 on.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Clay. Close and well known come first.
10 mi Stadium & arenaJMA Wireless Dome
6 mi LakeOnondaga Lake
7 mi Stadium & arenaAlliance Bank Stadium
10 mi Stadium & arenaOncenter War Memorial Arena
14 mi State parkGreen Lakes State Park
37 mi National MonumentFort Stanwix National Monument78K visitors a yearJMA Wireless Dome: Jimhoward03, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Onondaga Lake: R. A. Nonenmacher, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Alliance Bank Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 · Oncenter War Memorial Arena: Crazyale, Public domain · Green Lakes State Park: Ebedgert at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Fort Stanwix National Monument: NPS photo, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Clay, 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 Clay.
Clay gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, has less no health insurance than most of New York and has commutes shorter than most of New York.
Its widest gap with New York is no health insurance: 4.8% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 7.9% statewide.
21% of Clay adults get no exercise outside work. Clay beats the New York average on 13 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 15% of Clay adults say their health is fair or poor.
| Clay | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 25% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.6% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | Clay | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.8% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.8% | 17.2% |
| More adults with depression | 22.4% | 17.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Liverpool Central School District. Two of its 11 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karl W Saile Bear Road Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–4 | Grades K–4 | 537 | – |
| Liverpool High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,062 | B+ |
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, 53 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Clay.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Syracuse Hancock Intl Ap weather station, 6 miles away, records that 128 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 99% of U.S. towns. The Syracuse Hancock Intl Ap weather station, 6 miles away, records that about 10 days a year reach 90°: fewer than most of the country, but more than 78% of New York places with climate records.
Clay has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 81° and January nights drop to 15°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 28,152 working residents takes 21.4 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Clay for work: only 13% work in town. Since 2013, Clay has added 2,142 jobs, to 21,808 in 2023. The top destinations are Syracuse (26%), DeWitt (12%) and Salina (8%).
| Clay | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $91,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 13% | 12% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 8.4% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
1.1 miles of trail in 19 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Clay Park, at 121 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Stanley J. Hamlin Marsh Wildlife Management Area | 0.7 mi | 1,648 |
| 2. Clay Park | 0.2 mi | 121 |
| 3. Riverwalk | — | 86 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the New York average. 38% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Clay.
| Clay | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 38% | 32% | 29% |
| Median age | 39.8 years | 43 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 20% | 20% | 22% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.1 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women. Median age: women 41.5, men 38.0.
| Clay | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.2% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.9% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.9% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.7% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.6% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.3% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.4% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.1% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 15.7% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22.8% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 15.4% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The median sale price was $320,000 in May 2026.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
8 within 15 miles of the center of Clay
About 4 of every 100 Clay residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
3 notable people were born in Clay.
Town in New York, United States
Clay is a town in Onondaga County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 60,527, making it Syracuse's most populous suburb. The town was named after American attorney and statesman Henry Clay. Clay is north of Syracuse. It is the largest town in the county, contains part of the village of North Syracuse, and is a suburb of Syracuse. It contains the major retail strip of Syracuse's northern suburbs, along New York State Route 31 (NY-31), including the currently defunct Great Northern Mall. Micron Technology is constructing a US$125 billion complex consisting of four megafab memory chip manufacturing buildings in Clay, a project which will create tens of thousands…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Clay.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clay | #302 | B | C | — | C+ | A− |
| Schroeppel | #572 | C | C+ | — | C | B− |
| Lysander | #304 | B | C | — | B+ | B+ |
| Hastings | #554 | C | B− | — | C+ | B− |
| Sand Ridge | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Radisson | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cicero | #289 | B | C+ | B+ | C+ | A− |
| Brewerton | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Clay, Schroeppel, Lysander and Hastings report no FBI crime data of their own. Sand Ridge, Radisson and Brewerton aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Clay with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Clay grades B overall, better than 62% of U.S. towns and #302 of 745 in New York. It grades A− for health and C+ for schools.
The typical home is worth about $206,000, 61% 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.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
