Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Spencer grades D overall, 677th of 745 graded towns in New York, mostly because of incomes. The median household income is $63K, and 14% of residents live below the poverty line. It also has a long history, with 2 places on the National Register. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 86% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include First Presbyterian Church and Nichols Park. Homes are expensive, about $174K for a typical one and 2.7 times the Binghamton metro’s $65K median household income.
Where Spencer beats most towns.
First Presbyterian ChurchWhere Spencer’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 Spencer is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,252 in 1820, a low of 1,252 in 1820, 2,976 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1940 and 3 maps from 1903 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Spencer, 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 Spencer.
Spencer is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has added a third more jobs in ten years, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of New York (mostly inland flooding).
Jobs based here grew from 356 in 2013 to 470.
Only nearly a tenth of working residents stay in Spencer for work; the rest commute out. Jobs in Spencer grew by 114 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 470. Its mean commuting time stands at 29 minutes, above both the New York town median (25 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). Half commute less than 17 miles.
| Spencer | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its public schools are run by the Spencer-Van Etten Central School District. Two of the 3 schools are below, and why each made the list. 2 public schools serve Spencer, with 470 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer-Van Etten Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 5–8 | Grades 5–8 | 236 | C |
| Spencer-Van Etten High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 234 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 91% of New York towns, with expected losses of about $397 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
Spencer’s FEMA hazard score stands at 71 of 100, against 31 of 100 in New York’s towns and 44 of 100 across U.S. towns. 32 flood insurance claims have been paid here since 1981. 84% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding. Also worth knowing: households locally have drawn federal disaster aid in 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2021.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The range runs from 15° on a January night to 82° on a July afternoon, with about 64 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The biggest park or preserve is Danby State Forest, at 325 acres. There are 5.7 miles of trail across 1 park or preserve. The trail network density in Spencer is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Spencer | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.7% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Danby State Forest | — | 325 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 9,622 U.S. towns with household incomes like Spencer’s, it is healthier than 81%, so its B isn’t only a matter of income.
15% of adults smoke cigarettes in Spencer. CDC measures, 32 in all: Spencer beats New York on 5 and trails on 8. In Spencer, 38% of adults sleep under 7 hours, and 31% have obesity.
| Spencer | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 32% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 37% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 33% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Spencer | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 6% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 11.7% | 14.5% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.2% | 6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Spencer. Close and well known come first.
37 mi LakeSeneca Lake
34 mi LakeCayuga Lake
23 mi State parkWatkins Glen State Park
23 mi State parkTaughannock Falls State Park
30 mi MuseumCorning Museum of Glass400K visitors a year
15 mi Stadium & arenaSchoellkopf FieldSeneca Lake: RochesterNY, Public domain · Cayuga Lake: The original uploader was Cornellrockey at English Wikipedia. Later versions we, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Watkins Glen State Park: Flickr user: Peter Rivera Stamford, Connecticut https://www.flickr.com/people/ri, CC BY 2.0 · Taughannock Falls State Park: Michael C. Rygel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Corning Museum of Glass: User:Stilfehler, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Schoellkopf Field: Alex Sergeev, (www.asergeev.com) Originally uploaded by en:User:Cornell010, CC BY-SA 3.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Spencer
About 3 of every 100 Spencer residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
3 notable people were born in Spencer.
Town in New York, United States
Spencer is a town in Tioga County, New York, United States. The population was 2,976 at the 2020 census. The town and its primary village are named after Ambrose Spencer. It lies on the western border of the county and is south of Ithaca. Inside the town is the Village of Spencer. The village of Candor borders the town to the east and southeast, with Waverly to the southwest and Van Etten to the west, while Danby is to the north.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Spencer.
All 3 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its D; Candor (D) is closest.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer | #677 | D | C | — | B− | B |
| Candor | #667 | D | B | — | C+ | C+ |
| Danby | #339 | B | C+ | — | B | A− |
| Van Etten | — | — | B− | — | B− | B |
| Barton | #647 | C− | C+ | — | C+ | B |
Van Etten has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Spencer, Candor, Danby, Van Etten and Barton report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Spencer with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Spencer grades D overall, better than 12% of U.S. towns and #677 of 745 in New York. It grades B for health and B− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
3 notable people were born here, including Woodbridge N. Ferris and George Barker Stevens.
