Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
On schools it is strong (A): its schools rank ahead of 86% of New York towns. Add health to its strengths: residents are healthier than 83% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The trade-off is cost of living (C−): the typical home is worth about $458K, 6.1 years of the Syracuse metro’s $75K median household income. All told, that adds up to an A overall and a rank of 109th of 745 in New York. Nationally, it does better than 88% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include Reuel E. Smith House and James and Lydia Canning Fuller House. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 95% of U.S. towns, with 11 places on the National Register.
Figures: schools, state test and graduation results · health, CDC PLACES · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Skaneateles beats most towns.
Census counts: 3,812 in 1830, 7,112 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1823 and 4 maps from 1899 on.
11 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Skaneateles is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Skaneateles. Close and well known come first.
16 mi Stadium & arenaJMA Wireless Dome
31 mi LakeSeneca Lake
22 mi LakeCayuga Lake
15 mi LakeOnondaga Lake
28 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
16 mi Stadium & arenaOncenter War Memorial ArenaJMA Wireless Dome: Jimhoward03, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Seneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Cayuga Lake: The original uploader was Cornellrockey at English Wikipedia. Later versions we, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Onondaga Lake: R. A. Nonenmacher, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Taughannock Falls State Park: Michael C. Rygel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Oncenter War Memorial Arena: Crazyale, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Skaneateles, 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 Skaneateles.
Skaneateles gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, has better schools than Sennett or any other neighbor and has commutes shorter than most of New York.
That grade is the best School Grade on its borders; Sennett (A−) is next. It comes with a C− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $458K.
The public schools here belong to the Skaneateles Central School District. Of its 4 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason. The largest public high school is Skaneateles Senior High School, with 410 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waterman Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–2 | Grades K–2 | 281 | – |
| Skaneateles Senior High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 410 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
73% of Skaneateles’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by strong winds at 7%. FEMA expects less storm and flood damage locally than in 90% of U.S. communities. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Skaneateles once, in 2000.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
For adults in Skaneateles, the share who smoke cigarettes is 9.8%. In Skaneateles, 3.9% of adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance, below both New York’s towns (5.9%) and U.S. towns (8.1%). Among adults here, 14% report frequent mental distress and 32% sleep under 7 hours. The town does better than the New York average on 16 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 6.
| Skaneateles | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 85% | 81% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 37% | 36% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 33% |
| What stands out | Skaneateles | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.2% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.9% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 12.3% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Skaneateles Conservation Area, at 305 acres with 9.2 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Across 4 parks and preserves: 17 miles of trail. Parks and preserves here: 4, covering 353 acres.
| Skaneateles | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.4% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Skaneateles Conservation Area | 9.2 mi | 305 |
| 2. Austin Park | 0.6 mi | 39 |
| 3. Snow Creek Ravine | — | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Skaneateles weather station records that 106 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 97% of U.S. towns.
July afternoons reach 80° and January nights drop to 15°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 2,926 working residents takes 21.7 minutes, against 32.6 across New York. 26.1% of workers work from home, against 14.9% across New York.
About one in five of Skaneateles’s working residents works in town. Among workers locally, 26% work remotely from home. The typical household income for Skaneateles comes to $104,000, against $82,000 in New York’s towns and $80,000 across U.S. towns. Skaneateles’ typical journey to work stands at 22 minutes.
| Skaneateles | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 26% | 12% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 20% | 10% | 8% |
| Median household income | $104,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
2 within 15 miles of the center of Skaneateles
About 3 of every 100 Skaneateles residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
11 places in Skaneateles on the National Register of Historic Places.
8 notable people were born in Skaneateles.
Town in New York, United States
Skaneateles ( SKAN-ee-AT-ləs, locally SKIN-) is a town in Onondaga County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 7,112. The name is from the Iroquois term for the adjacent Skaneateles Lake, which means 'long lake'. The town is on the western border of the county and includes a village, also named Skaneateles. Both the town and village are southwest of Syracuse. The town – including the four hamlets of Mottville, Skaneateles Falls, Mandana and Shepard Settlement – are governed by the Town of Skaneateles Board. For many years, the Town Board would take their recurring monthly meetings "on the road" to the surrounding hamlets. On the 23rd of June 2014, the hamlet m…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Skaneateles.
It grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Marcellus (A) comes closest. Elbridge next door grades lower for schools (B− to Skaneateles’s A) and higher for cost of living (A− to C−).
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skaneateles | #109 | A | C− | — | A | A− |
| Spafford | — | — | C− | — | B+ | A− |
| Marcellus | #129 | A | C+ | — | A− | A |
| Owasco | #689 | D | C− | — | C | C+ |
| Sennett | #234 | B+ | C+ | — | A− | C+ |
| Niles | — | — | C− | — | C+ | B− |
| Elbridge | #196 | A− | A− | — | B− | B |
Spafford and Niles have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Skaneateles, Spafford, Marcellus, Owasco, Sennett, Niles and Elbridge report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Skaneateles with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Skaneateles grades A overall, better than 88% of U.S. towns and #109 of 745 in New York. It grades A− for health and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
8 notable people were born here, including Neilia Hunter and Morton S. Wilkinson.
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