City · Ontario County, New York

Canandaigua, New York

Canandaigua is a city in Ontario County, New York, part of the Rochester, NY metro area. It has 10,514 residents. Canandaigua, New York has a quality-of-life score of 74 out of 100 (high), ranking #4,010 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within New York it ranks #445 of 859 cities and towns. It ranks best on public EV charging ports (high), students per teacher (low) and hot days (low). It ranks worst on effective property tax rate (high), new business applications (low) and comfortable days (low).

74High

Quality-of-life score: #4,010 of 15,651 cities and towns
New York: #445 of 859 in NY
Population: 10,514 (2020-2024)
Land area: 5 mi²
Density: 2,302.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 3612144

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety72#4,447/15,637
Economy32#10,637/15,631
Housing51#7,387/14,977
Health76#3,684/15,609
Healthcare62#5,995/15,650
Environment85#2,248/15,453
Education73#4,291/15,649
Infrastructure49#8,006/15,650
Community61#6,070/15,651
Leisure & amenities85#2,321/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Canandaigua, New York ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Ontario County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Public EV charging ports · high31.7 /10k
99/100New York 10.8 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyOntario County value
Students per teacher · low10.0×
98/100New York 12.0×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsOntario County value
Hot days · low3 days
90/100New York 3 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationOntario County value
Arts, entertainment and recreation · high7.3 /10k
90/100New York 7.5 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsOntario County value
Gyms and fitness centers · high1.9 /10k
88/100New York 1.3 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsOntario County value
Natural hazard risk · low7.9
87/100New York 12.22025Federal Emergency Management AgencyOntario County value

Weaknesses

Effective property tax rate · high2.29%
3/100New York 1.30%United States 0.94%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25090
New business applications · low7.6 /1k
5/100New York 15.1 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauOntario County value
Comfortable days · low22.9%
7/100New York 22.7%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationOntario County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100New York 2.8United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesOntario County value
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100New York 4.8United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationOntario County value
Child care cost burden · high38.1%
13/100New York 37.7%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteOntario County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

New homes permittedWorsening
3.6 /1k (2021) → 0.6 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−84%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
79.4% (2015-2019) → 86.8% (2020-2024)
+7.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$49,130 (2015-2019) → $64,929 (2020-2024)
+32%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Child poverty rateImproving
17.1% (2015-2019) → 12.0% (2020-2024)
−5.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Bachelor's degree or higherWorsening
39.7% (2015-2019) → 37.6% (2020-2024)
−2.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
High school diploma or higherWorsening
94.4% (2015-2019) → 92.6% (2020-2024)
−1.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Canandaigua, New York improved on 2 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 12 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Household income+32%$49,130 → $64,929
Broadband+7.5 points79.4% → 86.8%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Canandaigua, New York between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.7 min2015-2019	19.6 min2020-2024	−1.2 min	Within the margin of error	62%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.7%2015-2019	37.6%2020-2024	−2.1 points	Within the margin of error	16%
Broadband subscriptions	79.4%2015-2019	86.8%2020-2024	+7.5 points	Improved	46%
Child poverty rate	17.1%2015-2019	12.0%2020-2024	−5.1 points	Within the margin of error	69%
Effective property tax rate	2.40%2015-2019	2.28%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	39%
High school diploma or higher	94.4%2015-2019	92.6%2020-2024	−1.8 points	Within the margin of error	17%
Home price to income ratio	3.3×2015-2019	3.5×2020-2024	+0.2×	Within the margin of error	69%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4752015-2019	0.4712020-2024	−0.004	Within the margin of error	54%
Median household income	$49,1302015-2019	$64,9292020-2024	+32%	Improved	60%
Poverty rate	10.7%2015-2019	10.8%2020-2024	+0.1 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Rent as share of income	27.4%2015-2019	27.6%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	53%
Rent-burdened households	41.6%2015-2019	40.2%2020-2024	−1.4 points	Within the margin of error	61%
Unemployment rate	3.1%2015-2019	4.5%2020-2024	+1.4 points	Within the margin of error	24%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	4.7%2015-2019	5.2%2020-2024	+0.5 points	Within the margin of error	40%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Canandaigua, New York five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Canandaigua, New York in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Canandaigua, New York itself moved −1.7 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

10,514 residents (±29)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

5,181 households (±236)

Canandaigua, New York
New York share

Under $25k15%791
$25k–50k23%1,201
$50k–75k18%932

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

5,181 households (±236)

Canandaigua, New York
New York share

Own51%2,627
Rent49%2,554

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−4.8 points).

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

4,929 workers (±337)

Canandaigua, New York
New York share

Drive alone74%3,638
Carpool7.4%†366
Public transit0.9%†45

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Rochester, NY

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Ontario County, the county holding most of Canandaigua's residents.

Ontario County has 2,895 employer establishments, 258 for every 10,000 residents (1.04× the US rate of 248; 0.94× New York's), with 45,420 paid employees at an average annual pay of $57,842. The Census Bureau also counts 8,244 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 2,895; 8,244 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 258; US 248 · New York 274
Paid employees: 45,420
Average annual pay: $57,842; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Ontario County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Restaurants and other eating places	269	23.9	1.30×More than typical	4,009	$23,456	44
Specialty trade contractors	204	18.2	1.17×About typical	2,767	$85,586	503
Ambulatory health care services	196	17.4	0.84×About typical	1,755	$59,605	472
Full-service restaurants	117	10.4	1.36×More than typical	2,135	$25,094	20
Construction of buildings	108	9.6	1.27×More than typical	477	$63,132	209
Services to buildings and dwellings	106	9.4	1.40×More than typical	414	$57,140	372
Limited-service restaurants	103	9.2	1.14×About typical	1,500	$21,273	18
Lessors of real estate	96	8.5	0.69×Fewer than typical	320	$40,769	854
Clothing and accessories stores	81	7.2	1.99×More than typical	1,218	$21,499	80
Offices of other health practitioners	80	7.1	1.17×About typical	470	$44,521	272
Landscaping services	79	7	2.01×More than typical	289	$60,450	145
Automotive repair and maintenance	77	6.9	1.36×More than typical	425	$44,285	79

Rank places for an industry Open Ontario County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 112,374 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $1.2M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Canandaigua, New York: $119 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $1.2M; +206% vs FY2025
Per resident: $119; US $1,994
Sole-source: 5.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 62%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Department of the Army$664.9K53%
Department of Veterans Affairs$583.6K47%
Federal Communications Commission$8320.1%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

322.3KFY2017
5.4MFY2018
1.3MFY2019
7.6MFY2020
1.3MFY2021
1.6MFY2022
1.7MFY2023
1.9M

Top industries (NAICS)

Nonresidential building construction · 2362$662.2K53%
Building equipment contractors · 2382$150.4K12%
Employment services · 5613$148.4K12%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$98.1K7.8%
Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing · 3345$81K6.5%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Canandaigua, New York, so they do not add up across cities.

Canandaigua, New York's figures are part of those of Ontario County, NY ($48.8M in FY2026), never added to them: 2.6% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Canandaigua is mostly in Ontario County.

See federal money in Ontario County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Canandaigua, New York is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Ontario County94100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Rochester, NY83

Other cities and towns in Ontario County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/3612144

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends