Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Ilion gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $156K for a typical one, or 2.2 years of the Utica metro’s $70K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 463rd among New York's 745 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 79% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. On the plus side, 18% of its land is conserved. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 91% of U.S. towns. Ilion’s trail density is 1.8 miles per square mile, against 0.4 in New York’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. Ilion's public schools trail 72% of New York towns on state tests and graduation.
Where Ilion beats most towns.
Where Ilion’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 Ilion is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,876 in 1870, a peak of 10,199 in 1960, 7,646 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1881 and 4 maps from 1898 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ilion, 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 Ilion.
Ilion is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding).
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #23 of 758 in New York.
4.6 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Montgomery Street Park | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 2.2 years of the Utica metro’s $70K median household income, the typical home (about $156K) costs less against local pay than in 83% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living. The median property tax bill is $2,958, against $6,582 across New York, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
At $694 a month, Ilion’s median rent is below both New York’s towns ($1,103 a month) and U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). Typical home values rose 5.8% in the year to September 2026. 66% of households own their home in Ilion.
| Ilion | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $694 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 66% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 97% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $448 per resident a year; that rating is what its D for hazard risk is built on. 152 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 24 properties have flooded more than once.
Since 1982, 152 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ilion.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Jobs based here fell from 2,507 in 2013 to 1,782. The average commute for its 3,133 working residents takes 19.8 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Ilion for work: only 13% work in town. Ilion’s average trip to work is 20 minutes. Since 2013, Ilion has lost 725 jobs, to 1,782 in 2023.
| Ilion | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 13% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The property crime rate in Ilion is 16.3 per 1,000 residents.
| Ilion | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 16.3 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.4 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Ilion has cold winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83° and January nights drop to 13°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 9,571 U.S. towns with household incomes like Ilion’s, it is healthier than 74%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Ilion beats the New York average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 7. 19% of Ilion adults binge drink.
| Ilion | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 16% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 33% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 25% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Ilion | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 13.8% | 17.2% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.1% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ilion. Close and well known come first.
Big draw22 mi MuseumNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum315K visitors a year3 mi LandmarkFort Dayton
25 mi National MonumentFort Stanwix National Monument78K visitors a year
12 mi Stadium & arenaUtica Memorial Auditorium39 mi CaveHowe Caverns
12 mi MuseumMunson-Williams-Proctor Arts InstituteNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fort Stanwix National Monument: NPS photo, Public domain · Utica Memorial Auditorium: Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0
5 within 15 miles of the center of Ilion
About 2 of every 100 Ilion residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
8 notable people were born in Ilion.
Village in New York, United States
Ilion is a village in Herkimer County, New York, United States. Located in the Mohawk Valley region, the population was 7,646 at the 2020 census. The village is at the northern edge of the town of German Flatts, though a tiny portion is in the town of Frankfort. It is south of the Mohawk River and Erie Canal.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Ilion.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ilion | #463 | C+ | A− | C | C | B− |
| German Flatts | #346 | B | A− | — | C | B |
| Herkimer | #508 | C+ | B | — | C+ | C+ |
| Mohawk | — | — | A− | — | C | B− |
| Frankfort | #407 | B− | B− | B+ | C | B |
Mohawk has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. German Flatts, Herkimer and Mohawk report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Ilion with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Ilion grades C+ overall, better than 41% of U.S. towns and #463 of 745 in New York. It grades B− for health, C for safety and C for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
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−.
8 notable people were born here, including Donald J. Mitchell and May Gorslin Preston Slosson.
