Steuben County, New York

Steuben County is a county in New York, United States, part of the Southern Tier region along the Pennsylvania border. It had a population of 93,584 at the 2020 census and covers 1,404 square miles (3,640 km2), of which 1,391 square miles are land, centred near 42°16′N 77°23′W.

Bath is the county seat, and its postal code is 14810. The county has 2 cities, 14 incorporated villages, 31 towns and several unincorporated hamlets and census-designated places. Steuben sits in the Eastern time zone and carries FIPS code 36101.

Towns & Villages in Steuben County

Steuben County’s largest places are its two cities, Corning and Hornell, followed by the county-seat village of Bath. Most residents live in one of the county’s 14 villages or in unincorporated hamlets scattered across its 31 towns. The table below carries over the settlement names published on the site previously, corrected against verified populations and place types; hamlets and mobile-home parks without a separate census count are marked Unincorp.

Several county place names sound alike but are distinct: Cameron village-sized hamlet and the town of Cameron are not the same footprint as North Cameron, South Cameron and West Cameron, which are separate rural crossroads within that town; the same pattern holds for Bradford’s North/South Bradford and Woodhull’s neighboring hamlets. South Corning is a small incorporated village inside the town of Corning, distinct from the city of Corning itself.

Townships

New York’s 31 towns act as its civil townships, each governing the unincorporated land and hamlets outside any village or city boundary; several towns above contain no incorporated place at all and are covered by the towns list rather than a settlement table — Cameron, Bradford, Jasper, Greenwood, Troupsburg, Wheeler, Hartsville, Howard, Lindley, Caton, Dansville, Rathbone, West Union, Pulteney, Tuscarora and Woodhull.

ZIP Codes

• 14810 — Bath (also serves Savona area)
• 14830 — Corning (also serves Gang Mills, South Corning)
• 14843 — Hornell (also serves North Hornell)
• 14801 — Addison
• 14823 — Canisteo
• 14826 — Cohocton
• 14840 — Hammondsport
• 14870 — Painted Post
• 14572 — Wayland
• 14898 — Woodhull
• 14879 — Savona
• 14873 — Prattsburgh
• 14821 — Campbell
• 14809 — Avoca
• 14807 — Arkport

Smaller hamlets such as Riverside, Rathbone, Wheeler and Troupsburg generally share the ZIP code of their nearest post office town rather than carrying one of their own.

Geography

Steuben County lies in New York’s Southern Tier, a hilly, forested region cut by the Cohocton, Canisteo and Tioga river valleys and the southern arm of Keuka Lake near Hammondsport. Terrain rises from broad river-bottom farmland around Corning and Bath toward wooded ridges along the Pennsylvania border to the south. Of the county’s 1,404 square miles, about 1,391 are land and 14 are water.

Steuben County borders Ontario County and Yates County to the north, Schuyler County and Chemung County to the east, Allegany County to the west, and Livingston County to the northwest. To the south, across the state line, lie Tioga County and Potter County, Pennsylvania.

Demographics

Steuben County had 93,584 residents at the 2020 census, giving a density of roughly 67 people per square mile. Corning, at 11,183, and Hornell, at 8,563, are the two largest communities; Bath, the county seat, follows at 5,786. Household income across the county runs below the New York median of $82,095, consistent with the rural, manufacturing-and-agriculture economy of the Southern Tier.

Economy & Local Life

Corning Incorporated, the specialty-glass and ceramics manufacturer headquartered in the city of Corning, is the county’s largest employer and the successor to the historic Steuben Glass Works. The Corning Museum of Glass draws visitors from across the region. Around Hammondsport and the southern end of Keuka Lake, the county is a center of New York’s Finger Lakes wine industry, with vineyards lining the lakeshore. Hornell has long been a rail town, home to Erie Railroad and later Alstom locomotive-repair shops. Corning Community College, based in the town of Corning, serves the county and surrounding Southern Tier.

History

Steuben County was organized on March 8, 1796, from part of Ontario County. It is named for Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the Prussian-born general who drilled the Continental Army at Valley Forge during the American Revolutionary War. The county’s early economy relied on lumber and river transport along the Cohocton and Canisteo, and the arrival of the Erie Railroad in the 19th century turned Hornell into a major repair-shop town. Corning’s glassworks, later Corning Incorporated, grew into the county’s dominant industry through the 20th century.

Getting There

Interstate 86 (the Southern Tier Expressway) runs east-west through the county, connecting Corning, Painted Post and Hornell; State Route 15 runs north-south through Bath toward the Finger Lakes. Nearby communities include:

• Elmira — 20 miles east
• Watkins Glen — 25 miles northeast
• Wellsville — 30 miles west
• Geneseo — 35 miles north

Elmira Corning Regional Airport, just east of the county line, provides the nearest commercial air service.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Steuben County, New York?
It lies in the Southern Tier of western New York, along the Pennsylvania border, between the cities of Elmira and Wellsville.

What is the population of Steuben County?
93,584 people, according to the 2020 census.

How big is Steuben County?
1,404 square miles (3,640 km2), of which 1,391 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Steuben County?
Bath is the county seat.

How many towns and villages are in Steuben County?
The county has 2 cities, 14 incorporated villages and 31 towns.

What ZIP codes are in Steuben County?
Major ZIP codes include 14810 (Bath), 14830 (Corning) and 14843 (Hornell), among others listed above.

What is Steuben County known for?
Corning Incorporated’s glassworks, the Corning Museum of Glass, and the Finger Lakes wine region around Hammondsport and Keuka Lake.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in New York.