Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Van Buren grades B+ overall, 250th among New York's 745 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. Residents are healthier than 79% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. It also does better than most on incomes: the median household earns $74K. Its lowest everyday mark is in cost of living: the typical home is worth about $170K, 2.2 years of the Syracuse metro’s $75K median household income. Its National Register listings include New York State Barge Canal and Mrs.. I.L. Crego House. 62% of households own their home in Van Buren, against 75% in New York’s towns and 73% across U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Van Buren Central Park, at 108 acres.
Where Van Buren beats most towns.
Where Van Buren’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 Van Buren is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
New York State Barge Canal is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 2,890 in 1830, 14,367 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2007 and 3 maps from 1900 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Van Buren. Close and well known come first.
13 mi Stadium & arenaJMA Wireless Dome
8 mi LakeOnondaga Lake
35 mi LakeCayuga Lake
12 mi Stadium & arenaOncenter War Memorial Arena
10 mi Stadium & arenaAlliance Bank Stadium
20 mi State parkGreen Lakes State ParkJMA Wireless Dome: Jimhoward03, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Onondaga Lake: R. A. Nonenmacher, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cayuga Lake: The original uploader was Cornellrockey at English Wikipedia. Later versions we, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Oncenter War Memorial Arena: Crazyale, Public domain · Alliance Bank Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0 · Green Lakes State Park: Ebedgert at English Wikipedia, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Van Buren, 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 Van Buren.
Van Buren gets more snow than nearly all U.S. towns, has homes that are cheap against local pay and has less no health insurance than most of New York.
Its widest gap with New York is no health insurance: 4.6% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 7.9% statewide.
21% of adults get no exercise outside work in Van Buren. Van Buren beats the New York average on 12 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 82% of adults had a checkup this year in Van Buren.
| Van Buren | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 25% | 25% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 81% | 79% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 17% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Van Buren | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.6% | 7.9% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 10.1% | 17.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Baldwinsville Central School District. One of its 5 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donald S Ray SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–7 | Grades 6–7 | 846 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
The average commute for its 6,290 working residents takes 25.1 minutes, against 32.6 across New York.
Most working residents leave Van Buren for work: only 6% work in town. Jobs based in Van Buren grew to 4,266 in 2023, 835 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Syracuse (24%), Lysander (8%) and DeWitt (8%).
| Van Buren | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 6% | 10% | 8% |
| Work from home | 13% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $74,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 8.5% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The Baldwinsville weather station records that 79 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 95% of U.S. towns.
Van Buren has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 81° and January nights drop to 16°.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 59% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 29 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Van Buren.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the New York average. 39% of Van Buren adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Van Buren has lost 2.3% of its people since 2020, down to 14,038 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Van Buren | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 39% | 32% | 29% |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 20% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 20% | 22% |
| Median age | 42.1 years | 43 years | 40.5 years |
53% women, 47% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.8 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Van Buren | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 12% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.4% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.8% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 15.5% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.4% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.2% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.4% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 12.4% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.6% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.2% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 17.9% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.2% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 24.1% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 15% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
2.0 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The trail density in Van Buren is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Van Buren | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 1.8% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Baldwinsville Community Park | 0.4 mi | 41 |
| 2. Van Buren Central Park | — | 108 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 2.2 years of the Syracuse metro’s $75K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 83% of New York towns; that ratio is one input to its C for cost of living.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
7 within 15 miles of the center of Van Buren
About 4 of every 100 Van Buren residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
2 places in Van Buren on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in New York, United States
Van Buren is a town located in Onondaga County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 14,367. The town is named after then-Senator Martin Van Buren, who would later become the eighth president of the United States. The town of Van Buren is located northwest of the city of Syracuse and is in the northwest part of the county. The portion of the town north and east of New York State Route 690 and south of the Seneca River is suburban in character, consisting primarily of single-family tract housing, some low-rise apartment buildings, park land, and some light industry. The rest of the town is primarily rural.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Van Buren.
Geddes next door grades lower for schools (C to Van Buren’s B+) and higher for cost of living (B to C).
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Van Buren grades B+ overall, better than 69% of U.S. towns and #250 of 745 in New York. It grades A− for health and B+ for schools.
The typical home is worth about $170,000, 68% 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.
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