Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
The best of Marathon’s subject grades is an A for history; the weakest is a C for hazard risk. 11% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Marathon, below both New York’s towns (32%) and U.S. towns (29%). A typical home costs about $136K, 1.9 years of the Cortland area’s $70K median household income. Only 93 of New York’s 1,216 towns score lower on the outdoors. Its National Register listings include Peck Memorial Library and Tarbell Building. Marathon has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Marathon beats most towns.
Where Marathon’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 Marathon is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1860.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Marathon, 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 Marathon.
Its public schools are run by the Marathon Central School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Appleby Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 378 | C+ |
| Marathon High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 295 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Marathon for work: only 9% work in town. Jobs based in Marathon fell to 586 in 2023, 164 fewer than in 2013. Marathon’s average trip to work is 28 minutes, against 25 minutes in New York’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns.
| Marathon | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 5.7% | 12% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Marathon has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Marathon’s July high is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 67% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Marathon beats the New York average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 18% of adults binge drink in Marathon.
| Marathon | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 37% | 36% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Marathon | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.1% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 13.8% | 17.2% |
| More smokers | 15.4% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
2.7 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. Only 5 of the 741 New York towns we compare have a lower share of conserved land than Marathon.
| Marathon | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.1% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Whitney Point Multiple Use Area | — | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Marathon; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Marathon residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
2 places in Marathon on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in New York, United States
Marathon is a town in Cortland County, New York, United States. The population was 1,967 at the 2010 census. The town of Marathon contains a village also named Marathon. The town is on the southern border of the county and is in the Southern tier region of New York State and is southeast of Cortland. The Central New York Maple Festival takes place in Marathon annually.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Marathon.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marathon | — | — | A− | — | C+ | B |
| Freetown | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Willet | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lapeer | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lisle | #482 | C+ | A | — | C+ | B− |
Marathon has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Marathon and Lisle report no FBI crime data of their own. Freetown, Willet and Lapeer aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Marathon with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
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−.
2 notable people were born here, including Francis G. Brink and Dulcina Mason Jordan.
