Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Ontario is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades A− overall, 203rd among New York's 745 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $83K. It also does better than most on health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 79% of the country. A typical home there costs about $344K, 4.5 years of the Rochester metro’s $76K median household income. Ontario has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Brick Church Corners and First Presbyterian Church of Ontario Center. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 74% of U.S. towns. The biggest place to walk is Casey Park, 81 acres with 2 miles of trail.
Where Ontario beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Ontario is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,233 in 1820, 10,136 in 2010. The archive holds 10 old photos and papers going back to 1800 and 5 maps from 1900 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ontario. Close and well known come first.
18 mi MountainCumorah
15 mi MuseumGeorge Eastman Museum
16 mi Stadium & arenaBlue Cross Arena
16 mi MuseumThe National Museum of Play12 mi Theme parkSeabreeze Amusement Park
15 mi MuseumMemorial Art Gallery230K visitors a yearCumorah: Hillcumorahpageantstage.jpg: la salebete derivative work: Eustress (talk), CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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 · Memorial Art Gallery: DanielPenfield, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ontario, 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 Ontario.
Ontario pairs an A− overall with homes cheaper than the New York norm, gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns and has less food insecurity than most of New York.
Its widest gap with New York is food insecurity: 10% of its 9,695 adults worry about having enough food, against 17.2% statewide.
15% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Ontario, where New York’s towns sit at 17% and U.S. towns at 19%. Ontario beats the New York average on 12 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 9.7% of Ontario adults have diabetes.
| Ontario | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 19% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 34% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 9.7% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | Ontario | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.6% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Wayne Central School District. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Wayne Senior High School, with 664 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne Central Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 628 | C+ |
| Wayne Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 664 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Ontario grades A− overall with a typical home of about $345K, below the New York typical value; only 33 of the 89 New York towns graded A− or better can say that. Home values rose 45% in five years, to about $345K, against 30% across New York.
At $882 a month, Ontario’s median rent is below both the New York town median ($1,103 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). Typical home values rose 5.3% in the year to September 2026. 81% of households own their home in Ontario.
| Ontario | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $882 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 81% | 75% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 76% of U.S. communities. Since 2006, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Ontario.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
7.1 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves.
| Ontario | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.9% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Casey Park | 2 mi | 81 |
| 2. Ontario Town Park | — | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Adults 18 to 34 are 14% of residents (23% statewide); people 65 and older are 23% of residents (18% statewide). Ontario’s median age is 45.2 years. Ontario has grown 2.3% since 2020, to 10,701 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Ontario | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 45.2 years | 42.9 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 23% | 20% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 23% | 20% | 22% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.5 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Ontario | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9.4% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 13.4% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.7% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 7.7% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.6% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 13% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.5% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 14.7% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.9% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 30.8% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.7% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 14.6% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 19.2% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.9% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
The Webster 2 Ne weather station records that 86 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 95% of U.S. towns.
Ontario has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. The July high in Ontario is 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 4,926 working residents takes 23 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Since 2013, Ontario has added 730 jobs, to 3,930 in 2023. The top destinations are Rochester (19%), Webster (10%) and Henrietta (5%). Half commute less than 15 miles.
| Ontario | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 5.7% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 14% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
5 within 15 miles of the center of Ontario
About 4 of every 100 Ontario residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
2 places in Ontario on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 notable people were born in Ontario.
Town in Wayne County, New York, US
Ontario is a town in the northwest corner of Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 9,778 at the 2000 census, and 10,136 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Great Lake on its northern border. The town has a hamlet (and census-designated place), also called Ontario. Government offices for the town are located there.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Ontario.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its A−; Walworth (A−) is closest.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | #203 | A− | B− | — | B | A− |
| Williamson | #137 | A− | B+ | — | B | B+ |
| Walworth | #191 | A− | C+ | — | B | A− |
| Webster | #157 | A− | D | B+ | A− | A |
Ontario, Williamson and Walworth report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Ontario with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Ontario grades A− overall, better than 75% of U.S. towns and #203 of 745 in New York. It grades A− for health and B for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
4 notable people were born here, including Chris Collins and Arthur William Brandt.
