Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Newfield grades C− overall, 589th among New York's 745 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 77% of the country and it has 46 miles of trail. On the other side, its public schools trail 81% of New York towns on state tests and graduation. 24% of the land in Newfield is conserved, above both the New York town median (5.2%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area, at 5,573 acres with 36.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Newfield beats most towns.
Where Newfield’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 Newfield is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,664 in 1830, a low of 1,451 in 1930, 5,184 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1866 and 3 maps from 1893 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Newfield. Close and well known come first.
26 mi LakeSeneca Lake
14 mi State parkWatkins Glen State Park
25 mi LakeCayuga Lake
15 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
10 mi Stadium & arenaSchoellkopf Field
26 mi MuseumCorning Museum of Glass400K visitors a yearSeneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Watkins Glen State Park: Flickr user: Peter Rivera Stamford, Connecticut https://www.flickr.com/people/ri, CC BY 2.0 · Cayuga Lake: The original uploader was Cornellrockey at English Wikipedia. Later versions we, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Taughannock Falls State Park: Michael C. Rygel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Schoellkopf Field: Alex Sergeev, (www.asergeev.com) Originally uploaded by en:User:Cornell010, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Corning Museum of Glass: User:Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Newfield, 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 Newfield.
Newfield has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding) and trails Ithaca and its other neighbors on schools.
46 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves. At 0.8 miles per square mile, Newfield’s trail density is above both New York’s towns (0.4) and U.S. towns (0.4).
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Connecticut Hill Wildlife Management Area | 36.4 mi | 5,573 |
| 2. Newfield State Forest | 0.7 mi | 1,545 |
| 3. Cliffside State Forest | 0.2 mi | 258 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Each of its 5 graded neighbors has a higher School Grade than its C−, Ithaca highest at B.
Its public schools are run by the Newfield Central School District. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfield Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 318 | D |
| Newfield Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 178 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with New York is no health insurance: 5.1% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 7.9% statewide.
30% of Newfield adults have obesity. Newfield beats the New York average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 22% of Newfield adults get no exercise outside work.
| Newfield | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 33% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 25% | 25% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 21% | 23% |
| What stands out | Newfield | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.1% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 11.6% | 17.2% |
| More adults with depression | 23.4% | 17.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Newfield has 475 jobs for its 2,081 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 25.7 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Newfield for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Ithaca (26%), Ithaca (21%) and Lansing (6%). Half commute less than 10 miles.
| Newfield | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 6.2% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $74,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Newfield has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Newfield is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 88% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $282 per resident a year; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on.
Newfield’s FEMA risk score is 67 of 100. Since 2011, 6 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Newfield.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
People 65 and older are 25% of residents (18% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 19% of residents (23% statewide). Newfield has lost 5.8% of its people since 2020, down to 4,832 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 32% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 40% across New York.
| Newfield | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 48.2 years | 42.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 25% | 20% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 20% | 22% |
53% women, 47% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.2 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Newfield | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.8% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.5% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.2% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.9% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.6% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.5% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.8% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.3% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 11.5% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.1% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 36.1% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 19.4% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.8% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.9% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 11.7% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 4,800, single groups can be off by several points
At 2.3 years of the Ithaca metro’s $74K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 81% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its B− for cost of living.
80% of households own their home in Newfield.
| Newfield | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 80% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,180 a month | $1,098 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of Newfield
About 2 of every 100 Newfield residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Town in New York, United States
Newfield is a town in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 5,184 at the 2020 census. The town's name is derived from the many unoccupied tracts of land that were once in the town. The Town of Newfield is in the southwest part of the county and is southwest of Ithaca, New York.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Newfield.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its C−; Danby (B) is closest. Ithaca next door grades higher for schools (B to Newfield’s C−) and lower for cost of living (D− to B−).
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newfield | #589 | C− | B− | — | C− | A− |
| Enfield | #296 | B | C | — | B | A |
| Danby | #339 | B | C+ | — | B | A− |
| Catharine | — | — | A− | — | C+ | B− |
| West Danby | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cayuta | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Van Etten | — | — | B− | — | B− | B |
| Ithaca | #314 | B | D− | — | B | A |
Catharine and Van Etten have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Newfield, Enfield, Danby, Catharine, Van Etten and Ithaca report no FBI crime data of their own. West Danby and Cayuta aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Newfield with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Newfield grades C− overall, better than 25% of U.S. towns and #589 of 745 in New York. It grades A− for health and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
The typical home is worth about $171,000, 67% 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 B−.
