RussellNY
Is Russell a good place to live?
Russell’s best subject grades are an A− for cost of living and history; its weakest is a D− for walkability. Only 44 of New York’s 1,216 towns score lower on incomes. The biggest place to walk is Downerville State Forest, 1,427 acres with 4.6 miles of trail. Russell's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 83% of U.S. towns. Russell Town Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places. Russell has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Russell stand out
Where Russell beats most towns.
Typical home value
96% of working residents leave Russell for work
Where Russell’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Russell grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Russell is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Russell: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Russell, 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 Russell.
Homes in Russell are worth about $138K, by Zillow’s estimate
The typical Russell home is worth about $138,000, up 9.1% in a year, 74% below the New York typical home. At $906 a month, Russell’s median rent is below both New York’s towns ($1,101 a month) and U.S. towns ($1,185 a month).
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Russell’s schools rank behind 79% of New York districts
Its public schools are run by the Edwards-Knox Central School District. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edwards-Knox Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 289 | C |
| Edwards-Knox Junior-Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 205 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Russell has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Most working residents leave Russell for work: only 4% work in town. 21% of Russell residents live below the poverty line, against 9.5% in New York’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. The average trip to work in Russell is 34 minutes.
| Russell | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 21% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 34 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $65,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4% | 10% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
A larger share of adults have obesity in Russell than in most of New York or the rest of the country
43% of adults have obesity in Russell. Russell beats the New York average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 14. 39% of adults have high blood pressure in Russell.
| Russell | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 33% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 34% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 13% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| What stands out | Russell | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6.2% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 11.8% | 14.5% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.2% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Snowy winters and pleasant summers in Russell
Russell has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Russell’s July high is 79°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Russell | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 9.5% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Downerville State Forest | 4.6 mi | 1,427 |
| 2. Degrasse State Forest | 2.6 mi | 1,151 |
| 3. Whippoorwill Corners State Forest | 0.2 mi | 1,267 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Moderate risk in Russell, with inland flooding at the top
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 55% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Russell since 1981.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Everything we know about Russell
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Russell
About 1 of every 100 Russell residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
About Russell
Town in New York, United States
Russell is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 1,856 at the 2010 census. The town is named after Russell Attwater, the pioneer land owner. The Town of Russell is centrally located in the county and is south of Canton.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 97 sq mi
- Elevation
- 823 ft
- ZIP code
- 13684
Russell’s neighbors
6 towns share a border with Russell.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russell | — | — | A− | — | C− | C |
| Canton | #447 | C+ | C+ | — | B− | B |
| Hermon | — | — | A− | — | C− | C− |
| Clare | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Edwards | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pierrepont | #438 | C+ | B | — | B− | B |
| Fine | — | — | A− | — | D | C− |
Russell, Hermon and Fine have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Russell, Canton, Hermon, Pierrepont and Fine report no FBI crime data of their own. Clare and Edwards aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Russell with a neighbor →
Questions about Russell
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Russell, NY expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.