Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places. This town of 2,290 people was established in 1824.
Trash & recyclingNichols’ best subject grade is an A− for history. 25% of residents are under 18 in Nichols, against 20% in New York’s towns and 22% across U.S. towns. On the outdoors, just 47 of New York’s 1,216 towns do worse. Its National Register listings include Platt-Cady Mansion and Nichols High School. Nichols has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Nichols beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Nichols is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,283 in 1830, 2,357 in 2020. The archive holds 3 maps from 1903 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Nichols, 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 Nichols.
The range runs from 16° on a January night to 83° on a July afternoon, with about 49 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Jobs based in Nichols grew to 1,258 in 2023, 365 more than in 2013. For most workers, Nichols is a place to come home to: only 7% work in town. 4.9% of residents live below the poverty line in the town. The top destinations are Owego (23%), Union (6%) and Sayre (5%).
| Nichols | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 4.9% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 7.4% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Federal aid has come to Nichols households in 6 declared disasters; the latest was in 2019. Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 61% of U.S. communities. The national flood insurance program has paid 87 claims in the town since 1979.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Two figures for adults in Nichols: 31% have obesity, 15% report frequent physical distress. CDC measures, 32 in all: Nichols beats New York on 6 and trails on 7. 40% of Nichols adults sleep under 7 hours.
| Nichols | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 37% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 33% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Nichols | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.8% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 13% | 17.2% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.2% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Walkers can cover 1.7 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. The trail density for Nichols comes to 0.1 miles per square mile. Parks and preserves in the town: one, of 14 acres.
| Nichols | 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. Kirby Park | 0.4 mi | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Nichols; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Nichols residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
2 places in Nichols on the National Register of Historic Places.
3 notable people were born in Nichols.
Town in New York, United States
Nichols is a town in Tioga County, New York, United States. The town contains a village also called Nichols. The town is on the south border of both the county and the state. The town is halfway between Binghamton and Elmira. The population was 2,357 at the 2020 census. The town is named after Colonel Nichols, an early landowner.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Nichols.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nichols | — | — | B | — | B | B |
| Tioga | #403 | B− | A− | — | B+ | B |
| Barton | #647 | C− | C+ | — | C+ | B |
| Owego | #379 | B− | C+ | — | B | B+ |
Nichols has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Nichols, Tioga, Barton and Owego report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Nichols with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
Nichols was established in 1824 and has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 3 notable people were born here, including Harriet Theresa Comstock and Frank Rosebrook Millspaugh.
