Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,831.
Willsboro’s best subject grade is an A+ for history; its weakest is a C− for incomes. A typical home costs about $238K, 3.3 years of the county’s $72K median household income. Its National Register listings include Flat Rock Camp and Ligonier Point Historic District. Willsboro has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Willsboro beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Willsboro is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 888 in 1820, 1,905 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1778 and 5 maps from 1895 on.
8 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Willsboro, 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 Willsboro.
At 55 years, Willsboro’s median age is above both New York’s towns (43 years) and U.S. towns (40.5 years). 28% of Willsboro residents are 65 or older. Willsboro has lost 3.9% of its people since 2020, down to 1,831 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Willsboro | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 55 years | 43 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 28% | 20% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 15% | 20% | 22% |
54% women, 46% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±8.2 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Willsboro | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.3% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.2% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 2.5% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 4.2% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.4% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 15.4% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 21.9% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 15.2% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 12.9% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.1% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 26.2% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.6% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 20.2% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18.8% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.1% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,800, single groups can be off by several points
Its public schools are run by the Willsboro Central School District. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Willsboro Central SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 246 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
About one in 4 of Willsboro’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Willsboro has lost 43 jobs, to 397 in 2023. 12% of residents live below the poverty line in Willsboro, above both the New York town median (9.5%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%).
| Willsboro | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 24% | 10% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $70,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Willsboro has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 11° and about 50 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 64% of U.S. communities. Since 1993, 10 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Willsboro.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Willsboro beats the New York average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 8. 40% of adults have high blood pressure in Willsboro.
| Willsboro | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 34% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 37% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 83% | 81% | 79% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| What stands out | Willsboro | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 9.3% | 14.5% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 5.1% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 12.3% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
24 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Taylor Pond Wild Forest, at 26 acres.
| Willsboro | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4.3% | 5.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Taylor Pond Wild Forest | — | 26 |
| 2. Wilsboro Dam Fish Dam | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Willsboro. Close and well known come first.
Big draw10 mi LakeLake Champlain
Big draw38 mi LandmarkFort Ticonderoga
32 mi MountainMount Marcy
31 mi MountainMount Mansfield
25 mi MountainWhiteface Mountain
8 mi MuseumShelburne MuseumLake Champlain: Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Fort Ticonderoga: Mwanner, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mount Marcy: Daniel Tripp, Public domain · Mount Mansfield: Original uploader was Calzarette (Joe Calzarette) at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Whiteface Mountain: Mwanner, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Shelburne Museum: Storylanding, CC0
3 within 15 miles of the center of Willsboro
About 1 of every 100 Willsboro residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
8 places in Willsboro on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in New York, United States
Willsboro is a town in Essex County, New York, United States, and lies 30 miles (48 km) south of the city of Plattsburgh. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was 1,905. The town is named after early landowner William Gilliland.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Willsboro.
| Town | NY rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willsboro | — | — | B+ | — | C− | B |
| Chesterfield | — | — | B+ | — | C | B |
| Essex | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lewis | — | — | B+ | — | C | B+ |
| Willsboro Point | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Willsboro, Chesterfield and Lewis have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Willsboro, Chesterfield and Lewis report no FBI crime data of their own. Essex and Willsboro Point aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Willsboro with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.
