Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Norwich grades C− overall, ranked 598th of 745 in New York, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. On the other side, its public schools trail 88% of New York towns on state tests and graduation. It also does better than most on incomes: the median household earns $63K. A typical home there costs about $127K, 2 years of the county’s $63K median household income. On hazard risk, just 120 of New York’s 1,216 towns do worse. Norwich’s average trip to work is 18 minutes, where New York’s towns sit at 25 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes. White Store Church and Evergreen Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Norwich beats most towns.
Gail Borden
Census counts: 5,212 in 1890, 7,051 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1870 and 4 maps from 1910 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Norwich is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Norwich, 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 Norwich.
Norwich draws workers from Norwich and beyond and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding).
3,558 jobs are based in Norwich, 2.4 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 18 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Norwich for work: only 15% work in town. Jobs based in Norwich grew to 3,558 in 2023, 1,149 more than in 2013. 4.3% of Norwich residents live below the poverty line.
| Norwich | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 4.3% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 15% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 93% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $672 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
Norwich’s FEMA risk score is 74 of 100. Since 1979, 18 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Norwich.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Norwich has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Norwich is 79°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 9,611 U.S. towns with household incomes like Norwich’s, it is healthier than 60%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Norwich beats the New York average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 12. 15% of adults report frequent physical distress in Norwich.
| Norwich | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 37% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 25% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Norwich | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 12.5% | 14.5% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.1% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Norwich | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.4% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Norwich; the nearest are
About 1 of every 100 Norwich residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
Where Norwich’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
18 notable people were born in Norwich.
City in New York, United States
Norwich is a city in and the county seat of Chenango County, New York, United States. Surrounded on all sides by the Town of Norwich, the city's name is taken from Norwich, England. As of the 2020 census, Norwich had a population of 7,051. Norwich is best known as the headquarters of the strained yogurt company Chobani.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Norwich.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norwich | #598 | C− | B | — | D | C+ |
| Butternuts | — | — | B | — | C− | B− |
| New Berlin | — | — | A− | A+ | D− | C+ |
| Preston | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| North Norwich | — | — | B+ | — | C | C+ |
| Guilford | #702 | D | B− | — | C | C+ |
| Oxford | #632 | C− | B+ | — | C | C+ |
Butternuts, New Berlin and North Norwich have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Norwich, Butternuts, North Norwich, Guilford and Oxford report no FBI crime data of their own. Preston isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Norwich with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Norwich grades C− overall, better than 24% of U.S. towns and #598 of 745 in New York. It grades C+ for health and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
18 notable people were born here, including Gail Borden and Jesse D. Bright.
