Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 6,463, settled in 1864.
Elmira’s grades pull in different directions. Its overall grade is C, better than 31% of U.S. towns. In the ranking it comes 536th of 745 in New York. Schools are its weak spot (D) — its public schools trail 93% of New York towns on state tests and graduation. It lags on health as well — CDC estimates put its residents' health behind just over four fifths of the country. Homes run about $188K for a typical one, 2.9 times the Elmira metro’s $64K median household income. Safety is its strong suit (A+) — it reports less crime per resident than 99% of U.S. towns. Elmira's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 88% of U.S. towns.
Figures: FBI crime data, 2025 · schools, state test and graduation results · health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24.
Where Elmira beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Cohen Elementary School | PK–5 | 443 |
| Hendy Avenue School | 3–6 | 391 |
| Cohen Middle School | 6–8 | 251 |
Where Elmira’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 Elmira is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for safety (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for schools (better than 7%), so the C overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 15,863 in 1870, a peak of 49,716 in 1950, 26,523 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1860 and 3 maps from 1895 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Elmira, 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 Elmira.
Elmira sees little violent crime, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding) and scores below Ashland and its other neighbors on health.
Violent crime is rare: 1 reported in 2025, 0.2 per 1,000 residents.
The level of violent crime in Elmira is 0.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Elmira | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.2 per 1,000 residents | 7.6 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.2 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Of its 4 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason. The largest public high school is Thomas A Edison High School, with 321 students. The Elmira Heights Central School District runs its public schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cohen Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 443 | C |
| Thomas A Edison High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 321 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
All 4 graded neighbors score healthier than its C−, from Ashland (C) to Big Flats (B+). Against the 7,810 U.S. towns with household incomes like Elmira’s, it is less healthy than 97%, so it trails even them.
For adults 18 to 64 in Elmira, the share who have no health insurance is 9.3%. A fifth of adults report frequent mental distress locally, where New York’s towns sit at 16% and U.S. towns at 17%. Only 9 of the 755 New York towns we compare have a higher share of adults who smoke cigarettes than Elmira.
| Elmira | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 13% | 14% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 16% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Elmira | NY |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 22.1% | 12.8% |
| More smokers | 19.4% | 11.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 10% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The average commute for its 2,782 working residents takes 20.5 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
3.4% of working residents work locally in Elmira. The median commute is under 6 miles. In Elmira, the median household income is $105,000. The top destinations are Elmira (29%), Horseheads (14%) and Corning (6%).
| Elmira | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $105,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 5.9% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.4% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The biggest park or preserve is Newtown Battlefield State Park, at 250 acres. Trails run 5.3 miles in 3 parks and preserves. In Elmira, the concentration of trails is 0.2 miles per square mile.
| Elmira | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 6.2% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Newtown Battlefield State Park | 0.5 mi | 250 |
| 2. Pirozzolo Park | — | 18 |
| 3. McCann's Memorial Park | — | 12 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The share of residents in Elmira who are 65 or older: 21%. Adults 18 to 34 are 14% of residents (23% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 43% of residents (39% statewide). The town is shrinking: down 5.6% since 2020, to 6,463 residents (2025 estimate). New York has 40% of adults 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or more; here it is 44%.
| Elmira | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 32% | 29% |
| Median age | 43.9 years | 42.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 20% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 22% | 20% | 22% |
54% women, 46% men
About 87 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±2.6 points). Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Elmira | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.4% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12.7% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.2% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 10% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14.8% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 16.9% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.8% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.4% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.9% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 3% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.7% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.9% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 27.1% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16.4% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Expect July afternoons of 81° and January nights of 16°, with about 42 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 82% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $214 per resident a year; that rating is what its C+ for hazard risk is built on.
85% of Elmira’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by tornadoes at 5%. The town’s FEMA risk score comes in at 61 of 100. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Elmira after 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2018.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Elmira. Close and well known come first.
39 mi LakeSeneca Lake
15 mi MuseumCorning Museum of Glass400K visitors a year
20 mi State parkWatkins Glen State Park
33 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
29 mi Stadium & arenaSchoellkopf Field
29 mi MuseumHerbert F. Johnson Museum of Art80K visitors a yearSeneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Corning Museum of Glass: User:Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Watkins Glen State Park: Flickr user: Peter Rivera Stamford, Connecticut https://www.flickr.com/people/ri, CC BY 2.0 · 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 · Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art: Dmadeo, CC BY-SA 3.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Elmira
About 4 of every 100 Elmira residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
46 notable people were born in Elmira.
City in New York, United States
Elmira () is a city in and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 census, down from 29,200 at the 2010 census, a decline of more than 7 percent. The City of Elmira is in the south-central part of the county, surrounded on three sides by the Town of Elmira. It is in the Southern Tier of New York, a short distance north of the Pennsylvania state line. The city was the site of the Elmira Prison, a prisoner-of-war camp that held over 12,000 captured Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War. Elmira College is locat…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Elmira.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elmira | #536 | C | C+ | A+ | D | C− |
| Elmira | #733 | D− | C+ | D | D | C− |
| West Elmira | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Southport | #688 | D | B− | — | D | C+ |
| Ashland | — | — | B | — | D | C |
| Horseheads | #431 | B− | C | — | B | B+ |
| Big Flats | #384 | B− | C | — | B | B+ |
| Baldwin | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Ashland has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Southport, Ashland, Horseheads and Big Flats report no FBI crime data of their own. West Elmira and Baldwin aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Elmira with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Elmira grades C overall, better than 31% of U.S. towns and #536 of 745 in New York. It grades C− for health, A+ for safety and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
46 notable people were born here, including Eileen Collins and Tommy Hilfiger.
