Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,027, established in 1890.
Dickinson is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C+ overall, 452nd of 745 graded towns in New York, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $78K. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its public schools trail 69% of New York towns on state tests and graduation. A typical home there costs about $147K, 2.3 years of the Binghamton metro’s $65K median household income. Dickinson’s average trip to work is 17 minutes, below both the New York town median (25 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). Dickinson is home to SUNY Broome Community College. Dickinson's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 80% of U.S. towns.
Where Dickinson beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Dickinson is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 728 in 1900, 5,083 in 2020. The archive holds 4 maps from 1904 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Dickinson, 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 Dickinson.
Dickinson draws workers from Union and beyond, gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns and has homes that are cheap against local pay.
5,737 jobs are based in Dickinson, 3.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 17.1 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Dickinson for work: only 11% work in town. Jobs based in Dickinson grew to 5,737 in 2023, 981 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Binghamton (21%), Union (16%) and Vestal (6%).
| Dickinson | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 14% | 12% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 11% | 10% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 8.5% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Broome-Delaware-Tioga Boces, with 1,055 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Port Dickinson Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–2 | Grades PK–2 | 409 | – |
| Broome-Delaware-Tioga BocesLargest public high schoolGrades K–12 | Grades K–12 | 1,055 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
2.8 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Otsiningo Park, at 117 acres.
| Dickinson | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 9.4% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Otsiningo Park | — | 117 |
| 2. Port Dickinson Jeanne and John D. Wilfley Community Park | 0.1 mi | 18 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 82% of U.S. communities. Since 2006, 31 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Dickinson.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Binghamton weather station, 6 miles away, records that 87 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 96% of U.S. towns.
Dickinson has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83° and January nights drop to 16°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the New York average. 18% of Dickinson residents are under 18. 32% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 40% across New York.
| Dickinson | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 18% | 20% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 20% | 18% |
| Median age | 42.7 years | 43 years | 40.5 years |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.9 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Dickinson | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12.1% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 5.5% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.9% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 13.9% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.2% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 13.4% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.1% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 12% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 33.9% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.9% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.2% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.8% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.2% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Dickinson beats the New York average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 18. 36% of adults feel lonely in Dickinson.
| Dickinson | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 32% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 13% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 17% | 19% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Dickinson | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with high cholesterol | 34% | 37.7% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 19.5% | 12.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 2.3 years of the Binghamton metro’s $65K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 81% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its B for cost of living.
The median rent in Dickinson is $941 a month.
| Dickinson | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $941 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 76% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Dickinson. Close and well known come first.
2 mi Stadium & arenaBroome County Veterans Memorial Arena
36 mi Stadium & arenaSchoellkopf Field
37 mi MuseumHerbert F. Johnson Museum of Art80K visitors a year29 mi Ski areaGreek Peak Mountain Resort43 runs · 828 ft vertical5 mi Zoo & aquariumBinghamton Zoo at Ross Park37 mi AttractionSagan Planet WalkBroome County Veterans Memorial Arena: Bmoore2009 at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Schoellkopf Field: Alex Sergeev, (www.asergeev.com) Originally uploaded by en:User:Cornell010, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art: Dmadeo, CC BY-SA 3.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Dickinson
About 6 of every 100 Dickinson residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New York.
Where Dickinson’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Town in New York, United States
Dickinson is a town in Broome County, New York, United States. The population was 5,083 at the 2020 census. The town was named after Daniel S. Dickinson. The town is adjacent to Binghamton and forms a suburb to that city.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Dickinson.
It grades higher overall than all 6 graded towns on its borders; Kirkwood (C) comes closest.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dickinson | #452 | C+ | B | — | C | C+ |
| Binghamton | #739 | D− | C+ | D | D | C |
| Union | #535 | C | C+ | — | C | B |
| Johnson City | #718 | D | C | D | C− | B− |
| Chenango | #543 | C | B− | — | B | B− |
| Port Dickinson | — | — | B | — | B− | A− |
| Fenton | #546 | C | B− | — | B | C |
| Kirkwood | #518 | C | C+ | — | B | B− |
Port Dickinson has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Dickinson, Union, Chenango, Port Dickinson, Fenton and Kirkwood report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Dickinson with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Dickinson grades C+ overall, better than 42% of U.S. towns and #452 of 745 in New York. It grades C+ for health and C for schools.
The typical home is worth about $147,000, 72% 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 B.
