Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The best of Wilmington’s subject grades are an A− for health and an A for the outdoors and history; the weakest is a C for hazard risk. Wilmington’s July high is 73°F, where New York’s towns sit at 81°F and U.S. towns at 85°F. Among 759 New York towns, just 1 have a lower January low than Wilmington. 64% of the land in Wilmington is conserved, above both the New York town median (5.2%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). Wilmington Wild Forest, at 10,391 acres with 34.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. On civic life, just 76 of New York’s 1,187 towns do worse. Wilmington has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Wilmington beats most towns.
Census counts: 695 in 1830, a low of 545 in 1920, 1,139 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1898 and 3 maps from 1896 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New York), ordered by how far Wilmington is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wilmington, 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 Wilmington.
63 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves. The trail density in Wilmington is 1.0 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Wilmington Wild Forest | 34.4 mi | 10,391 |
| 2. New Vida Preserve | 5.7 mi | 572 |
| 3. Sentinel Range Wilderness | 2.7 mi | 8,068 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adirondack Christian School PrivateLargest high schoolGrades PK–12 | Grades PK–12 | 78 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NY on state tests and graduation
Wilmington beats the New York average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 30% of Wilmington adults feel lonely.
| Wilmington | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 37% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 9.2% | 13% | 14% |
| What stands out | Wilmington | NY |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 9.2% | 17.2% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4.5% | 7.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.9% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Wilmington for work: only 6% work in town. Wilmington’s average trip to work is 34 minutes. Since 2013, Wilmington has added 81 jobs, to 235 in 2023.
| Wilmington | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 34 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 14% | 12% | 11% |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.5% | 10% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Wilmington has cold, snowy winters and cool summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 73°, January nights drop to 4° and about 104 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Adults 35 to 64 are 46% of residents (39% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (23% statewide). Wilmington has grown 3.8% since 2020, to 1,182 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 19% of residents are under 18 in Wilmington.
| Wilmington | New York towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 19% | 20% | 22% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 35% | 32% | 29% |
| Median age | 43.6 years | 43 years | 40.5 years |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±5.9 points. Across New York, 51.2% of residents are women.
| Wilmington | NY | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.8% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.8% | 9.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.6% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 9.8% | 14.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 18.7% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.6% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15% | 13.3% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9.6% | 10.3% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9.1% | 7.6% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.3% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 27.2% | 24.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 22.1% | 14.6% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.9% | 8.8% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 15.9% | 22.4% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 19.5% | 17.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,200, single groups can be off by several points
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 61% of U.S. communities. Since 1992, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Wilmington.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Wilmington. Close and well known come first.
in town MountainWhiteface Mountain
Big draw30 mi LakeLake Champlain
18 mi MountainMount Marcy
34 mi State parkAdirondack Park
19 mi LakeLake Tear of the Clouds
9 mi LandmarkJohn Brown Farm State Historic SiteWhiteface Mountain: Mwanner, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake Champlain: Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Mount Marcy: Daniel Tripp, Public domain · Adirondack Park: Original uploader was Mwanner at en.wikipedia Later version(s) were uploaded by, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake Tear of the Clouds: TheKilimanjaro, CC BY-SA 4.0 · John Brown Farm State Historic Site: Mwanner | Talk, CC BY-SA 3.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Wilmington
About 1 of every 100 Wilmington residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across New York.
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
4 notable people were born in Wilmington.
Town in New York, United States
Wilmington is a town in northern Essex County, New York, United States located within the Adirondack Park. As of 2020 the population was 1,139 with a projection of ~1,280 for 2023. The town is named after the town of Wilmington, Vermont. Wilmington is on the county's northern border and is southwest of Plattsburgh. It is in the Whiteface region of the Adirondack Park.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
4 notable people were born here, including Henry Markham and Joseph Hazelton.
