PalermoNY
A town of 3,437, settled in 1828.
Is Palermo a good place to live?
Palermo gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $139K for a typical one, or 1.8 years of the Syracuse metro’s $75K median household income. It grades C− overall, 615th of 745 graded towns in New York. 20% of residents live below the poverty line in Palermo, where New York’s towns sit at 9.5% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 86% of U.S. towns. Only 76 of New York’s 1,216 towns score lower on the outdoors.
What makes Palermo stand out
Where Palermo beats most towns.
96% of working residents leave Palermo for work
Where Palermo’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Palermo grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Palermo is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Palermo: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Palermo, 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Palermo.
Palermo gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it has little public open land.
Most working residents commute out of Palermo
Palermo has 176 jobs for its 1,510 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 26.6 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Palermo for work: only 4% work in town. Since 2013, Palermo has added 35 jobs, to 176 in 2023. The top destinations are Syracuse (11%), Oswego (8%) and Clay (7%).
| Palermo | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 4.3% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $72,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
On state tests, Palermo’s schools trail 69% of New York districts
Its public schools are run by the Mexico Central School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palermo Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 216 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Inland flooding leads a low hazard risk in Palermo
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 71% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Palermo since 2009.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Palermo is less healthy than 66% of U.S. towns
Palermo beats the New York average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 41% of adults sleep under 7 hours in Palermo.
| Palermo | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 37% | 36% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 13% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 25% | 25% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Palermo | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.4% | 7.9% |
| More smokers | 16.9% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
In Palermo, expect snowy winters and pleasant summers
The Fulton weather station, 8 miles away, records that 159 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 99% of U.S. towns.
Palermo has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Palermo’s July high is 81°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
1.4% of Palermo is conserved land
Just 363 of its 25,911 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Palermo itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
1.1 miles of trail in 0 parks and preserves.
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median home in Palermo sells for about $501K
At 1.8 years of the Syracuse metro’s $75K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 94% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its B for cost of living.
88% of Palermo households own their home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
JMA Wireless Dome and 18 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Palermo. Close and well known come first.
24 mi Stadium & arenaJMA Wireless Dome
19 mi LakeOnondaga Lake
14 mi LandmarkFort Ontario
26 mi State parkGreen Lakes State Park
23 mi Stadium & arenaOncenter War Memorial Arena
21 mi Stadium & arenaAlliance Bank StadiumPhoto credits
JMA Wireless Dome: Jimhoward03, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Onondaga Lake: R. A. Nonenmacher, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Fort Ontario: Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Green Lakes State Park: Ebedgert at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Oncenter War Memorial Arena: Crazyale, Public domain · Alliance Bank Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0
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Everything we know about Palermo
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Palermo; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Palermo residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
About Palermo
Town in New York, United States
Palermo is a town in Oswego County in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 3,664 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Palermo in Sicily. The Town of Palermo is centrally located in the county, east of Fulton.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 41 sq mi
- Elevation
- 436 ft
- Area code
- 315
Palermo’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Palermo.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palermo | #615 | C− | B | — | C | C |
| Volney | #679 | D | B | — | C− | C |
| Mexico | #624 | C− | B− | — | C | B− |
| Hastings | #554 | C | B− | — | C+ | B− |
| Schroeppel | #572 | C | C+ | — | C | B− |
Palermo, Volney, Mexico, Hastings and Schroeppel report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Palermo with a neighbor →
Questions about Palermo
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Palermo, NY a good place to live?
Palermo grades C− overall, better than 21% of U.S. towns and #615 of 745 in New York. It grades C for health and C for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Palermo, NY expensive?
The typical home is worth about $139,000, 74% 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.