Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The best of Elizabethtown’s subject grades are an A for cost of living, the outdoors, and history; the weakest is a D for incomes. Only 25 of New York’s 1,215 towns score higher on cost of living. 56% of the land in Elizabethtown is conserved, where New York’s towns sit at 5.2% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. The biggest place to walk is Giant Mountain Wilderness, 11,944 acres with 13.6 miles of trail. Only 99 of New York’s 1,216 towns score higher on the outdoors. Elizabethtown has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Elizabethtown beats most towns.
Census counts: 889 in 1820, a peak of 1,635 in 1850, 1,203 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1858 and 4 maps from 1894 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Elizabethtown is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Elizabethtown. Close and well known come first.
Big draw28 mi LakeLake Champlain
15 mi MountainMount Marcy
Big draw28 mi LandmarkFort Ticonderoga
36 mi State parkAdirondack Park
17 mi MountainWhiteface Mountain
40 mi LakeLake GeorgeLake Champlain: Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Mount Marcy: Daniel Tripp, Public domain · Fort Ticonderoga: Mwanner, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Adirondack Park: Original uploader was Mwanner at en.wikipedia Later version(s) were uploaded by, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Whiteface Mountain: Mwanner, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake George: Sixlocal, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Elizabethtown, 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 Elizabethtown.
53 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. At 0.6 miles per square mile, Elizabethtown’s trail density is against 0.4 in New York’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Giant Mountain Wilderness | 13.6 mi | 11,944 |
| 2. Hammond Pond Wild Forest | 4.2 mi | 5,174 |
| 3. Hurricane Mountain Wilderness | 2 mi | 3,123 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by Boquet Valley CSD. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain View CampusLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 207 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests
About one in 4 of Elizabethtown’s working residents works in town. Elizabethtown’s average trip to work is 16 minutes. Since 2013, Elizabethtown has added 81 jobs, to 1,418 in 2023.
| Elizabethtown | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 16 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 24% | 10% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $57,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
People 65 and older are 36% of residents (18% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 12% of residents (23% statewide). The median age in Elizabethtown is 52.9 years. Elizabethtown has lost 2.3% of its people since 2020, down to 1,180 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Elizabethtown | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 52.9 years | 43 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 14% | 20% | 22% |
55% women, 45% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±8.8 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Elizabethtown | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 6.1% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.4% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 0.7% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.5% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.3% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13.7% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 12.2% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 18.7% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 17.5% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 7.1% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 29.8% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.2% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 18.5% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 12.7% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 17.7% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,200, single groups can be off by several points
Elizabethtown beats the New York average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 33% of Elizabethtown adults sleep under 7 hours.
| Elizabethtown | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 37% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 81% | 79% |
| What stands out | Elizabethtown | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.4% | 17.2% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 8.9% | 14.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.4% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Elizabethtown has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 78°, January nights drop to 8° and about 104 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 55% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 26 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Elizabethtown.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
None within 15 miles of Elizabethtown; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Elizabethtown residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
4 places in Elizabethtown on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Elizabethtown.
Town in New York, United States
Elizabethtown is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 1,163 at the 2010 census. The county seat of Essex County is the hamlet of Elizabethtown, located in the northern part of the town. The name is derived from Elizabeth Gilliland, the wife of an early settler. Elizabethtown is in the east-central part of Essex County. It is 39 miles (63 km) southwest of Burlington, Vermont, 104 miles (167 km) south of Montreal, Quebec, and 117 miles (188 km) north of Albany. The town calls itself the "Pleasant Valley".
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
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.
5 notable people were born here, including Orlando Kellogg and Augustus Noble Hand.
