Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Marion gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $256K, 3.4 years of the Rochester metro’s $76K median household income. It grades A− overall, 177th among New York's 745 graded towns. On the plus side, the median household earns $80K. On the outdoors, just 58 of New York’s 1,216 towns do worse. Ezra T. Phelps Farm Complex is on the National Register of Historic Places. 16% of residents are under 18 in Marion, where New York’s towns sit at 20% and U.S. towns at 22%.
Where Marion beats most towns.
Ezra T. Phelps Farm ComplexWhere Marion’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 Marion is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,981 in 1830, 4,746 in 2010. The archive holds 3 old photos and papers going back to 1874 and 5 maps from 1899 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Marion, 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 Marion.
Marion pairs an A− overall with homes cheaper than the New York norm and gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, but it has little public open land.
Marion grades A− overall with a typical home of about $256K, below the New York typical value; only 33 of the 89 New York towns graded A− or better can say that.
Typical home values rose 8% in the year to September 2026.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Marion Central School District. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marion Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 335 | B− |
| Marion Junior-Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 268 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 88% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Marion since 2012.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Marion has 577 jobs for its 2,057 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here fell from 769 in 2013 to 577.
Most working residents leave Marion for work: only 8% work in town. Jobs based in Marion fell to 577 in 2023, 192 fewer than in 2013. 5.2% of Marion residents live below the poverty line.
| Marion | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 5.2% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 8.4% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The Sodus 1w weather station, 7 miles away, records that 105 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 97% of U.S. towns.
Marion has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Marion’s July high is 81°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Marion beats the New York average on 5 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 37% of adults have obesity in Marion.
| Marion | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 33% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 17% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 34% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 37% | 36% |
| What stands out | Marion | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.9% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.7% | 7.9% |
| More adults with obesity | 37.2% | 28.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Just 176 of its 18,604 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Marion itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
1.0 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. The biggest park or preserve is Marion Town Park, at 29 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Marion Town Park | 0.5 mi | 29 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Marion. Close and well known come first.
12 mi MountainCumorah
38 mi LakeSeneca Lake
20 mi MuseumGeorge Eastman Museum
21 mi Stadium & arenaBlue Cross Arena
21 mi MuseumThe National Museum of Play18 mi Theme parkSeabreeze Amusement ParkCumorah: Hillcumorahpageantstage.jpg: la salebete derivative work: Eustress (talk), CC BY-SA 2.0 · Seneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · George Eastman Museum: Dmadeo, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Blue Cross Arena: Matthew D. Wilson (LtPowers), CC BY-SA 3.0 · The National Museum of Play: Misc, CC BY-SA 4.0
None within 15 miles of Marion; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Marion residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Town in New York, United States
Marion is a town in Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 4,746 as of the 2010 census. It is named after Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion. It is an interior town near the center of the county, approximately 20 miles east of Rochester, New York and 50 miles west of Syracuse. The town has a hamlet (and census-designated place), also called Marion. Government offices for the town are located there.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Marion.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marion | #177 | A− | B+ | — | B− | B |
| Palmyra | #397 | B− | B+ | — | C | B |
| Williamson | #137 | A− | B+ | — | B | B+ |
| Walworth | #191 | A− | C+ | — | B | A− |
| Sodus | #481 | C+ | B+ | — | C+ | C |
| Macedon | #409 | B− | C+ | — | C | A− |
Marion, Palmyra, Williamson, Walworth, Sodus and Macedon report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Marion with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Marion grades A− overall, better than 78% of U.S. towns and #177 of 745 in New York. It grades B for health and B− for schools.
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 B+.
2 notable people were born here, including William M. Runyan and Amanda Means.
