Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Cost of living is its weak spot — the typical home is worth about $159K, 2.5 years of the Elmira metro’s $64K median household income. With a B− overall, Horseheads is better than 45% of U.S. towns. It ranks 431st of 745 in New York. Health is where it shines: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 74% of the country. Its National Register listings include Zimmerman House and Horseheads 1855 Extension Historic District. Holding Point Recreation Complex, at 33 acres with 1.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. 22% of working residents work locally here, against 10% in New York’s towns and 8% across U.S. towns. This New York town has 7 places on the National Register.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places · OpenStreetMap · Census LEHD, 2023.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Horseheads is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Where Horseheads beats most towns.
Census counts: 2,277 in 1860, 19,485 in 2010. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1968 and 4 maps from 1895 on.
7 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →7 places in Horseheads on the National Register of Historic Places.
Ordered by what stands out in Horseheads.
Horseheads is healthier than towns with similar incomes and trades workers with Elmira and other neighbors.
FEMA expects less storm and flood damage in Horseheads than in 83% of U.S. communities. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Horseheads after 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2018. Flood insurance has paid out on 10 claims here since 1978.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Horseheads Central School District runs its public schools. Two of the 8 schools are below, and why each made the list. Public school enrollment here: 2,212 students across 5 schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horseheads Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 564 | C− |
| Horseheads Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,119 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Trails total 13 miles in 11 parks and preserves. Horseheads’ concentration of trails comes in at 0.4 miles per square mile.
| Horseheads | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 3.2% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Holding Point Recreation Complex | 1.4 mi | 33 |
| 2. Thorne Street Park | 0.6 mi | 19 |
| 3. Linear Park | 0.3 mi | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 10,439 U.S. towns with household incomes like Horseheads’s, it is healthier than 91%, so that grade isn’t only a matter of income.
For adults 18 to 64 in Horseheads, the share who have no health insurance is 5.2%. Of 32 CDC measures, Horseheads beats the New York average on 5 and trails it on 5. 34% of adults in Horseheads sleep under 7 hours; 82% had a checkup this year.
| Horseheads | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 33% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 37% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 81% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 21% | 23% |
| What stands out | Horseheads | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.2% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 10.1% | 14.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.3% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
In Horseheads, the peak summer temperature is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Horseheads has about as many jobs (9,009) as working residents, but only 1,654 people both live and work here. The average commute takes 18.6 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Half the trips to work are shorter than 7 miles. In Horseheads, the average trip to work is 19 minutes. Among residents here, 13% live below the poverty line.
| Horseheads | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 22% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 6.4% | 12% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Horseheads. Close and well known come first.
35 mi LakeSeneca Lake
16 mi State parkWatkins Glen State Park
14 mi MuseumCorning Museum of Glass400K visitors a year
37 mi LakeCayuga Lake
28 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
25 mi Stadium & arenaSchoellkopf FieldSeneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Watkins Glen State Park: Flickr user: Peter Rivera Stamford, Connecticut https://www.flickr.com/people/ri, CC BY 2.0 · Corning Museum of Glass: User:Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cayuga Lake: The original uploader was Cornellrockey at English Wikipedia. Later versions we, CC BY-SA 2.5 · 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Horseheads, 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.
2 within 15 miles of the center of Horseheads
About 4 of every 100 Horseheads residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
4 notable people were born in Horseheads.
Town in New York, United States
Horseheads is a town in Chemung County, New York, United States. The population was 19,412 at the 2020 census. The name of the town is derived from the number of bleached horses' skulls once found there. Horseheads is north of the city of Elmira, upon which it borders. There is a village named Horseheads within the town. It is part of the Elmira Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Horseheads.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horseheads | #431 | B− | C | — | B | B+ |
| Elmira | #536 | C | C+ | A+ | D | C− |
| Veteran | #355 | B− | B+ | — | B− | A− |
| Big Flats | #384 | B− | C | — | B | B+ |
| Horseheads North | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Erin | — | — | B+ | — | B | B |
| Catlin | — | — | C | — | B− | B+ |
| Breesport | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Erin and Catlin have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Horseheads, Veteran, Big Flats, Erin and Catlin report no FBI crime data of their own. Horseheads North and Breesport aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Horseheads with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Horseheads grades B− overall, better than 45% of U.S. towns and #431 of 745 in New York. It grades B+ for health and B for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
4 notable people were born here, including Chad Lefkowitz Brown and M. B. Banks.
Ask a question, answer one, post a photo or an event. Free, and the parts only a neighbor would know are the parts worth reading.
