Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Gorham is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 617th among New York's 745 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 66% of the country. Expect to pay for it: the typical home is worth about $263K, 3.5 years of the Rochester metro’s $76K median household income. Only 41 of New York’s 1,216 towns score lower on the outdoors. 27% of residents are 65 or older in Gorham, above both the New York town median (20%) and the median of U.S. towns (18%). The biggest park or preserve is Bare Hill Unique Area, at 94 acres.
Where Gorham beats most towns.
Where Gorham’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 Gorham is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,991 in 1820, a low of 1,843 in 1930, 4,130 in 2020. The archive holds 9 old photos and papers going back to 1860 and 4 maps from 1902 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Gorham, 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 Gorham.
Gorham is a second-home town and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it has little public open land.
The average commute for its 1,703 working residents takes 21.2 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
In Gorham, the middle household income is $65,000. Only 9% of working residents stay in Gorham for work; the rest commute out. The top destinations are Canandaigua (11%), Canandaigua (7%) and Rochester (6%). Half the trips to work are shorter than 16 miles.
| Gorham | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $65,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 13% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Public schools: the Gorham-Middlesex Central School District. The largest public high school is Marcus Whitman High School, with 339 students. Two of its 3 schools are shown below, with the reason for each.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marcus Whitman Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 245 | C− |
| Marcus Whitman High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 339 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Against the 9,913 U.S. towns with household incomes like Gorham’s, it is healthier than 88%, so that grade isn’t only a matter of income.
A third of adults feel lonely in Gorham. Against the New York average, Gorham comes out ahead on 7 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 6.
| Gorham | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 37% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 32% | 33% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 21% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Gorham | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.7% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.9% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.9% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
23 flood insurance claims have been paid in Gorham since 1978. Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in 68% of U.S. communities. FEMA puts three quarters of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 10% to drought. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Gorham after 4 declared disasters, most recently in 2023.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Just 303 of its 33,791 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Gorham itself; its outdoors grade is D.
In 1 park or preserve, walkers have 1.8 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Bare Hill Unique Area | — | 94 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Gorham. Close and well known come first.
18 mi LakeSeneca Lake
26 mi LakeCayuga Lake
14 mi MountainCumorah
33 mi State parkWatkins Glen State Park
31 mi MuseumGeorge Eastman Museum
32 mi Stadium & arenaBlue Cross ArenaSeneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Cayuga Lake: The original uploader was Cornellrockey at English Wikipedia. Later versions we, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Cumorah: Hillcumorahpageantstage.jpg: la salebete derivative work: Eustress (talk), CC BY-SA 2.0 · Watkins Glen State Park: Flickr user: Peter Rivera Stamford, Connecticut https://www.flickr.com/people/ri, CC BY 2.0 · George Eastman Museum: Dmadeo, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Blue Cross Arena: Matthew D. Wilson (LtPowers), CC BY-SA 3.0
4 within 15 miles of the center of Gorham
About 4 of every 100 Gorham residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
3 notable people were born in Gorham.
Town in New York, United States
Gorham is a town in Ontario County, New York, United States. The population was 4,130 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Nathaniel Gorham. The Town of Gorham is at the southern border of the county, southeast of Canandaigua.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Gorham.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gorham | #617 | C− | C− | — | C+ | B+ |
| Canandaigua | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Seneca | #484 | C+ | C+ | — | C− | B+ |
| Middlesex | — | — | C | — | C+ | B− |
| Potter | — | — | B+ | — | C+ | B− |
Middlesex and Potter have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Gorham, Seneca, Middlesex and Potter report no FBI crime data of their own. Canandaigua isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Gorham with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Gorham grades C− overall, better than 21% of U.S. towns and #617 of 745 in New York. It grades B+ for health and C+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
3 notable people were born here, including Demas Barnes and Frank Hershey.
