Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The typical home is worth about $343K, 4.6 years of the Ithaca metro’s $74K median household income. Overall it grades C+, better than 35% of U.S. towns. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 90% of the country and it has 10 miles of trail. Its weakest subject is safety: its police reported 55 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 83% of U.S. towns. Ithaca is a college campus (most residents are students), so it isn’t ranked among New York’s towns. 68% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Ithaca, above both the New York town median (32%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). Its National Register listings include Telluride House and Llenroc. Ithaca is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 94% of U.S. towns.
Where Ithaca beats most towns.
Morrill Hall, Cornell University
Morrill Hall, Cornell University is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 8,462 in 1870, 32,108 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1828 and 5 maps from 1900 on.
29 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Ithaca is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ithaca, 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 Ithaca.
Ithaca is shaped by its college students and has less diabetes than most of New York, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding).
Its public schools are run by the Ithaca City School District. Three of its 8 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Ithaca Senior High School, with 1,411 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Hill SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 363 | B |
| Ithaca Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,411 | A+ |
| New Roots Charter SchoolTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 98 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
10 miles of trail in 24 parks and preserves. Ithaca’s trail density is 1.7 miles per square mile. The biggest park or preserve is Allan H. Treman State Marine Park, at 92 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cascadilla Gorge | 1 mi | 29 |
| 2. Renwick Wildwood | 0.9 mi | 36 |
| 3. Allan H. Treman State Marine Park | 0.7 mi | 92 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its widest gap with New York is diabetes: 4.7% of its 29,293 adults have diabetes, against 11.5% statewide.
4.7% of Ithaca adults have diabetes. Only 2 of the 755 New York towns we compare have a lower share of adults who have high blood pressure than Ithaca. 23% of Ithaca adults have obesity.
| Ithaca | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 4.7% | 11% | 12% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 34% | 35% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 32% | 33% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 33% | 35% |
| What stands out | Ithaca | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 4.7% | 11.5% |
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 1.5% | 3.4% |
| More adults with depression | 23.9% | 17.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes fell from 1,290 to 1,038 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
The property crime rate in Ithaca is 28.3 per 1,000 residents. Ithaca reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 83% report less.
| Ithaca | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 28.3 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.6 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 97% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $277 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1978, 66 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ithaca.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Ithaca has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 17° and about 63 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 9,255 working residents takes 18.7 minutes, against 32.6 across New York. 24.7% of workers work from home, against 14.9% across New York.
Most working residents leave Ithaca for work: only 17% work in town. 30% of residents live below the poverty line in Ithaca. The top destinations are Ithaca (38%), New York (5%) and Lansing (3%).
| Ithaca | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 30% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 25% | 12% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $49,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
65% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 52.1% across New York.
Only 9 of the 758 New York towns we compare have a lower share of households owning their home than Ithaca.
| Ithaca | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 30% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,447 a month | $1,098 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ithaca. Close and well known come first.
25 mi LakeSeneca Lake
in town Stadium & arenaSchoellkopf Field
20 mi LakeCayuga Lake
in town MuseumHerbert F. Johnson Museum of Art80K visitors a year
9 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
19 mi State parkWatkins Glen State ParkSeneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Schoellkopf Field: Alex Sergeev, (www.asergeev.com) Originally uploaded by en:User:Cornell010, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Cayuga Lake: The original uploader was Cornellrockey at English Wikipedia. Later versions we, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art: Dmadeo, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Taughannock Falls State Park: Michael C. Rygel, 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
3 within 15 miles of the center of Ithaca
College town 52 of every 100 Ithaca residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
29 places in Ithaca on the National Register of Historic Places.
45 notable people were born in Ithaca.
City in New York, United States
Ithaca () is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York. With a population of 32,108 as of the 2020 census, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area, which includes all 103,558 residents of Tompkins County, of which it is the county seat. The city is named after the Greek island of Ithaca, home of the protagonist Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey. Ithaca is a college town best known for hosting Cornell University, an Ivy League university founded in 1865, as well as Ithaca College. Until the late 18th century, present-day Ithaca was inhabited by the Cayuga people of the…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Ithaca.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ithaca | – | C+ | D− | C− | B | A |
| South Hill | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Northwest Ithaca | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| East Ithaca | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cayuga Heights | #241 | B+ | D− | — | B | A+ |
Cayuga Heights reports no FBI crime data of its own. South Hill, Northwest Ithaca and East Ithaca aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Ithaca with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Ithaca grades C+ overall, better than 35% of U.S. towns. Ithaca is a college campus (most residents are students), so it isn’t ranked among New York’s towns. It grades A for health, C− for safety and B for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $343,000, 35% below the New York typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
45 notable people were born here, including David Foster Wallace and Alex Haley.
