Cayuga County, NY

County Profile

75,102 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Cayuga County, NY.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 42% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 13 sources
OpportunityTop 48% of 1,463 counties measured56
Schools872nd of 1,377 counties measured40
Growth1,158th of 1,453 counties measured34
Housing affordability781st of 1,462 counties measured73
Climate1,108th of 1,463 counties measured61
Physical resilienceTop 39% of 1,463 counties measured67
AccessTop 30% of 1,463 counties measured89
Economic stability918th of 1,463 counties measured51
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.0% and median household income $67,904, putting employment conditions in the middle range of counties measured.

In the public schools here, 59% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 11.2 students for every teacher.

116 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 11% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
75,102
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$67,904
Top 42% nationally
Density
109/sq mi
691.6 sq mi of land
Median age
43.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Cayuga County
New York
Micro area
Nearest major airport
SYR
25 mi · Syracuse Hancock Intl
Median home value
$171,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.0%, lower than in 53% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 0.5% over the past year, to 33,919 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$55,41641st percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$56,33845th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$2,5662024 ACS 5-Year$67,904Top 42%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,0152024 ACS 5-Year$36,905Top 39%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$54,181Bottom 43%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year13.1%Bottom 48%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.7 min2024 ACS 5-Year24.0 minTop 38%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year24.6%Top 40%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year78.8%59th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202633,919Top 50%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−1.1%Bottom 35%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+0.5%Top 29%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202635,34550th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year74.6%Bottom 45%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year0.3%59th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.1%Bottom 33%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.0%Top 47%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year7.7%42nd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/074.92.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.0% in July 2026. It has been rising, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202468k60k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $67,904 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

59% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 51% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 11.2 students for every full-time teacher across 20 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
22
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
11.2
across 20 of them
Math proficiency
59.1%
Bottom 39% in New York
Reading proficiency
51.3%
Bottom 11% in New York
The 12 largest of 22 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Auburn High SchoolAUBURN CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT1,17613.893%92%
Auburn Junior High SchoolAUBURN CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT56010.036%25%
William H Seward Elementary SchoolAUBURN CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT49110.450%33%
Cato-Meridian Elementary SchoolCATO-MERIDIAN CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT46311.662%42%
A a Gates Elementary SchoolPORT BYRON CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT44714.038%29%
Moravia Junior-Senior High SchoolMORAVIA CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT44210.054%55%
Millard Fillmore Elementary SchoolMORAVIA CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT40810.736%38%
Herman Avenue Elementary SchoolAUBURN CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT39910.249%33%
Cato-Meridian Junior-Senior High SchoolCATO-MERIDIAN CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT38311.395%95%
Casey Park Elementary SchoolAUBURN CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT38110.026%18%
Weedsport Junior-Senior High SchoolWEEDSPORT CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT3749.377%62%
Genesee Street Elementary SchoolAUBURN CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT36910.342%26%

50.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against New York’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of New York is up 52% over five years, and up 6.7% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $3,740 a year in real estate taxes, about 2.19% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,124, some 19% above the $942 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,124 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $45,000 a year, about 66% of the median household income here of $67,904.

The typical renter household here spends 30% of its income on rent, at the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $942 a month.

A median home at $171,000 costs 2.1 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $83,243, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
30.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.1×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,124
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$942
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$171,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Cayuga County’s median household income of $67,904, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of New York’s figure2026 Q2+6.7%94th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of New York’s figure2026 Q2+52.3%79th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of New York’s figure2026 Q2+101.7%63rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year2.1Top 25%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year71.4%35th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±1152024 ACS 5-Year36,82977th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$889Top 40%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,463Top 44%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,124Top 44%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$462024 ACS 5-Year$942Bottom 38%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$3,7602024 ACS 5-Year$171,00044th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$892024 ACS 5-Year$3,74091st percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$2,6752024 ACS 5-Year$83,243Top 36%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.07%2024 ACS 5-Year2.19%98th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year30.0%Bottom 28%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2302024 ACS 5-Year2,57287th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year7.0%73rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year7.4%36th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±4062024 ACS 5-Year5,30581st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

34/ 100
Ranks 1,158 of 1,453 published county profiles
The most recent move in permitting was downward, in a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 2% since 2020, to 74,567 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before: 116 units authorized in 2025, 28% below the prior year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 116 units permitted over the past twelve months, only 17% are in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Cayuga County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $55,416, close to the $56,338 of households that moved out.

At 1.5 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
116
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.5
Bottom 29% nationally
Year over year
−11%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
17.2%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202476k75k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.1%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
28%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$55,416
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$56,338
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Onondaga County, NY 567 people · 26% of arrivals
  2. Oswego County, NY 159 people · 7.3% of arrivals
  3. Tompkins County, NY 148 people · 6.8% of arrivals
  4. Wayne County, NY 121 people · 5.6% of arrivals
  5. Seneca County, NY 85 people · 3.9% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Onondaga County, NY 462 people · 22% of departures
  2. Oswego County, NY 151 people · 7.2% of departures
  3. Wayne County, NY 117 people · 5.6% of departures
  4. Tompkins County, NY 116 people · 5.5% of departures
  5. Cortland County, NY 88 people · 4.2% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

202220232024202516165
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+78%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 17°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 39.9 inches, including 127.8 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SYRACUSE HANCOCK INTL AP, 24.8 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND3.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals39.9"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals127.8"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals17°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals48°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

67 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, tornado and strong wind, with inland flooding alone responsible for 80% of it. Tornado is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

Inland floodingElevated
HurricaneModerate
Strong windModerate
HailModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: ice storm, winter weather, drought, earthquake, lightning, landslide, tornado, wildfire, avalanche, cold wave, coastal flooding, volcanic activity, tsunami.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Cayuga County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at about 7.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 12.7 per 100,000 residents in Cayuga County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
7.9
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Drug overdose
12.7
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
20.1
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Cayuga County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Syracuse Hancock Intl at 25 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year89.1%Top 33%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle25 miTop 34%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle4Top 43%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1.0%2024 ACS 5-Year7.9%Top 30%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Syracuse Hancock IntlSYR25 mi9,013 ft
Frederick Douglass/Greater Rochester IntlROC56 mi8,001 ft
Elmira/Corning RgnlELM61 mi8,001 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
57
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.

Cities in Cayuga County, NY

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.