Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 11,786, settled in 1817.
Homes are expensive, about $346K for a typical one and 4.7 times the Ithaca metro’s $74K median household income. Overall it grades B−, ranked 378th of 745 in New York. It is healthier than 80% of U.S. towns and its schools rank ahead of 77% of New York towns. 65% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Lansing, above both the New York town median (32%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). On civic life, just 78 of New York’s 1,187 towns do better. Rogues Harbor Inn is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Lansing beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Lansing is from typical.
Its grades run from A for hazard risk (better than 94% of comparable towns) to D− for cost of living (better than 3%), so the B− overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,631 in 1820, a low of 2,380 in 1920, 11,565 in 2020. The archive holds 9 old photos and papers going back to 1801 and 5 maps from 1900 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lansing, 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 Lansing.
Lansing has better schools than Genoa or any other neighbor and has commutes shorter than most of New York.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 86% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 45 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lansing.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its A− is the best School Grade on its borders; Genoa (B+) is next.
Its public schools are run by the Lansing Central School District. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Lansing High School, with 371 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raymond C Buckley Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 392 | C+ |
| Lansing High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 371 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Lansing beats the New York average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 21% of adults get no exercise outside work in Lansing.
| Lansing | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 25% | 25% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 37% | 36% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.8% | 11% | 12% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 78% | 81% | 79% |
| What stands out | Lansing | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.3% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.2% | 17.2% |
| More adults with depression | 22.9% | 17.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Lansing has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 16° and about 63 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
10 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. Cayuga Shores Wildlife Management Area, at 287 acres with 1.8 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Lansing’s trail density is 0.2 miles per square mile.
| Lansing | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.6% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Cayuga Shores Wildlife Management Area | 1.8 mi | 287 |
| 2. Salt Point Park | — | 31 |
| 3. Marian Hartill Park | — | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The average commute for its 4,716 working residents takes 19.7 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Lansing for work: only 15% work in town. The average trip to work in Lansing is 20 minutes. Jobs based in Lansing fell to 6,060 in 2023, 1,222 fewer than in 2013.
| Lansing | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 16% | 12% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 15% | 10% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 13% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
55% of Lansing households own their home.
| Lansing | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 55% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,631 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 Lansing. Close and well known come first.
12 mi LakeCayuga Lake
20 mi LakeSeneca Lake
4 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
38 mi Stadium & arenaJMA Wireless Dome
22 mi State parkWatkins Glen State Park
9 mi Stadium & arenaSchoellkopf FieldCayuga Lake: The original uploader was Cornellrockey at English Wikipedia. Later versions we, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Seneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Taughannock Falls State Park: Michael C. Rygel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · JMA Wireless Dome: Jimhoward03, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Watkins Glen State Park: Flickr user: Peter Rivera Stamford, Connecticut https://www.flickr.com/people/ri, CC BY 2.0 · Schoellkopf Field: Alex Sergeev, (www.asergeev.com) Originally uploaded by en:User:Cornell010, CC BY-SA 3.0
3 within 15 miles of the center of Lansing
About 7 of every 100 Lansing residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New York.
Town in New York, United States
Lansing is a town in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 11,565 at the 2020 census. The Town of Lansing has within it a village named Lansing. The town is located on the northern border of Tompkins County and is located just north of the City of Ithaca.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Lansing.
Groton next door grades lower for schools (C+ to Lansing’s A−) and higher for cost of living (B− to D−).
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lansing | #378 | B− | D− | — | A− | A− |
| Genoa | — | — | C | — | B+ | B |
| Covert | — | — | C | — | C+ | B+ |
| Groton | #418 | B− | B− | — | C+ | B |
| Lansing | #374 | B− | D− | — | B+ | A+ |
| Ulysses | #423 | B− | C− | — | B | A |
| Ithaca | #314 | B | D− | — | B | A |
| Locke | — | — | B− | — | C+ | C+ |
Genoa, Covert and Locke have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Lansing, Genoa, Covert, Groton, Lansing, Ulysses, Ithaca and Locke report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Lansing with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Lansing grades B− overall, better than 51% of U.S. towns and #378 of 745 in New York. It grades A− for health and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $346,000, 34% 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−.
.jpg){kind=link}
