Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Spafford’s best subject grades are an A− for health and history; its weakest is a C− for cost of living. Spafford’s median rent is $2,125 a month, above both New York’s towns ($1,101 a month) and U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). On hazard risk, just 115 of New York’s 1,216 towns do better. Spafford's schools rank ahead of 73% of New York towns. Spafford has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Borodino Hall. Spafford has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Spafford beats most towns.
Where Spafford’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Spafford is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,294 in 1820, a low of 742 in 1940, 1,588 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 4 maps from 1899 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Spafford. Close and well known come first.
16 mi Stadium & arenaJMA Wireless Dome
33 mi LakeSeneca Lake
23 mi LakeCayuga Lake
18 mi LakeOnondaga Lake
25 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
17 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 Spafford, 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 Spafford.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 92% of U.S. communities. Since 1983, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Spafford.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
For Spafford, that is where New York’s towns sit at 16% and U.S. towns at 17%. Spafford beats the New York average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 29% of adults feel lonely in Spafford.
| Spafford | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 32% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 83% | 81% | 79% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Spafford | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.6% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.1% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.4% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Adults 18 to 34 are 8% of residents (23% statewide); people 65 and older are 27% of residents (18% statewide). The median age in Spafford is 50.9 years. 47% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 40% across New York.
| Spafford | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 50.9 years | 43 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 27% | 20% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 47% | 32% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 22% | 20% | 22% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.1 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women. Among residents 25 to 34, 76% are women (NY 50%).
| Spafford | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.1% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.4% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 2.4% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 5.3% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 8.5% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 20.1% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.4% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 18.4% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 8.3% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.2% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.9% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 14.2% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 11.1% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 25.5% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 21.2% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,600, single groups can be off by several points
2.3% of Spafford working residents work locally. Jobs based in Spafford grew to 89 in 2023, 30 more than in 2013. Spafford’s average trip to work is 32 minutes.
| Spafford | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 19% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $111,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.3% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Spafford has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 78°, January nights drop to 14° and about 117 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
9.1 miles of trail in 9 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Hinchcliff Family Preserve, 212 acres with 2.1 miles of trail.
| Spafford | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 7.6% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hinchcliff Family Preserve | 2.1 mi | 212 |
| 2. Withey Parcel | 0.4 mi | 151 |
| 3. Otisco Lake Preserve | 0.4 mi | 39 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Spafford
About 3 of every 100 Spafford residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
2 places in Spafford on the National Register of Historic Places.
6 towns share a border with Spafford.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spafford | — | — | C− | — | B+ | A− |
| Otisco | — | — | C+ | — | B | A− |
| Skaneateles | #109 | A | C− | — | A | A− |
| Niles | — | — | C− | — | C+ | B− |
| Scott | — | — | B+ | — | B− | A |
| Sempronius | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tully | #217 | B+ | C | — | B | A− |
Spafford, Otisco, Niles and Scott have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Spafford, Otisco, Skaneateles, Niles, Scott and Tully report no FBI crime data of their own. Sempronius isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Spafford with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $324,000, 38% 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 C−.
2 notable people were born here, including Martin Augustine Knapp and Elliott Anthony.
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