Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Utica earns a D, ranked 720th of 745 in New York, mostly because of safety and health. Its police reported 287 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 90% of U.S. towns. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 89% of the country. One bright spot: it is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 99% of U.S. towns, with 37 places on the National Register. 28% of residents live below the poverty line in Utica, where New York’s towns sit at 9.5% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Its National Register listings include Utica State Hospital and Roscoe Conkling House. Only 83 of New York’s 1,187 towns score lower on civic life.
Where Utica beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Utica State Hospital
Utica State Hospital is one of 2 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier. Its 37 National Register listings are more than in 96% of New York towns with a listing.
Census counts: 2,972 in 1820, a peak of 101,740 in 1930, 65,283 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1807 and 5 maps from 1898 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Utica is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Utica, 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 Utica.
Utica reports more crime than New Hartford and its other graded neighbors, but it has poverty well above the New York rate and scores below Deerfield and its other neighbors on health.
14 miles of trail in 21 parks and preserves. Utica’s trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile. Roscoe Conkling Park, at 371 acres with 4.8 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Roscoe Conkling Park | 4.8 mi | 371 |
| 2. T R Proctor Park | 0.5 mi | 55 |
| 3. Utica Marsh Wildlife Management Area | — | 105 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Each of its 6 graded neighbors has a higher School Grade than its C−, New Hartford highest at A.
Its public schools are run by the Utica City School District. Two of its 17 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senator James H Donovan Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 749 | D |
| Thomas R Proctor High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,820 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
The median property tax bill is $3,246, against $6,582 across New York, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The typical Utica home is worth about $210,000, up 5.8% in a year, 60% below the New York typical home. 50% of households own their home in Utica.
| Utica | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 50% | 75% | 73% |
| Median rent | $951 a month | $1,103 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 53% | 49% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Each of the 4 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from New Hartford (C−) to Whitestown (A+).
The property crime rate in Utica is 29.6 per 1,000 residents. Utica reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 90% report less. The violent crime rate in Utica is 4.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Utica | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 29.6 per 1,000 residents | 7.5 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.5 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
All 6 graded neighbors score healthier than its D, from Deerfield (C+) to New Hartford (A).
36% of Utica adults get no exercise outside work. Utica beats the New York average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 22. 43% of Utica adults sleep under 7 hours.
| Utica | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 36% | 25% | 25% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 43% | 37% | 36% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 17% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Utica | NY |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 14% | 8.2% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 14.6% | 8.6% |
| More smokers | 18.7% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 88% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 44 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Utica.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Utica has cold winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82° and January nights drop to 13°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 22,034 working residents takes 19.5 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
About one in 3 of Utica’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Utica has lost 3,633 jobs, to 28,382 in 2023. The top destinations are New Hartford (12%), Whitestown (6%) and New York (5%).
| Utica | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 34% | 10% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $52,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 7.5% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Utica. Close and well known come first.
Big draw31 mi MuseumNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum315K visitors a year
in town Stadium & arenaUtica Memorial Auditorium13 mi LandmarkFort Dayton
14 mi National MonumentFort Stanwix National Monument78K visitors a year
in town MuseumMunson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute
in town TheatreStanley TheaterNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Utica Memorial Auditorium: Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Fort Stanwix National Monument: NPS photo, Public domain · Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Stanley Theater: Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0
6 within 15 miles of the center of Utica
About 7 of every 100 Utica residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New York.
3 colleges in town.
37 places in Utica on the National Register of Historic Places.
City in New York, United States
Utica ( ) is a city in the state of New York, and the county seat of Oneida County. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains, approximately 95 mi (153 km) west-northwest of Albany, 55 mi (89 km) east of Syracuse and 240 mi (386 km) northwest of New York City. Utica and the nearby city of Rome anchor the Utica–Rome metropolitan area comprising all of Oneida and Herkimer counties. Formerly a river settlement inhabited by the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, Utica attracted European-American settlers from New England during and after the Americ…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Utica.
All 6 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its D; Frankfort (B−) is closest.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utica | #720 | D | C+ | D | C− | D |
| New Hartford | #269 | B+ | C+ | C− | A | A |
| Marcy | #175 | A− | C | — | B+ | B+ |
| Frankfort | #407 | B− | B− | B+ | C | B |
| Deerfield | #144 | A− | B | — | B+ | C+ |
| New Hartford | — | — | C− | — | A | A |
| Whitestown | #67 | A | B− | A+ | B+ | B+ |
| New York Mills | #297 | B | B | B− | C | A− |
New Hartford has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Marcy, Deerfield and New Hartford report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Utica with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Utica grades D overall, better than 6% of U.S. towns and #720 of 745 in New York. It grades D for health, D for safety and C− for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D.
That is 3 years of the area's median household income ($69,779 across the Utica-Rome, NY metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
