Cayuga County, New York

Cayuga County is a county in New York, United States, in the Finger Lakes region about 30 miles
west of Syracuse. It had a population of 76,248 at the 2020 census, an estimated 75,102 by 2024,
and covers 692 square miles (1,790 km2) of land centred near 43°00′N 76°34′W.

Auburn is the county seat and only city; its postal code is 13021. The county holds 1 city, 9
incorporated villages and 23 towns, plus a scatter of unincorporated hamlets, and it runs on
Eastern Time. Lake Ontario forms the county’s entire northern border.

Towns & Villages in Cayuga County

Cayuga County has 10 incorporated places on record — the city of Auburn and 9 villages
— plus a group of smaller hamlets with their own ZIP codes but no local government. CDP
stands for census designated place; Unincorp. covers hamlets and crossroads with no formal
boundary.

Two village names track their surrounding town closely and are easy to confuse: the village of
Cayuga sits in the town of Springport, not the town of Cayuga — there is no town of that
name, only the lake and the county itself. Cato has both a village and a much larger surrounding
town sharing the one name; the figures above are the village’s alone.

ZIP Codes

• 13021 — Auburn (also serves 13024, an Auburn PO box ZIP, and 13022)
• 13166 — Weedsport
• 13140 — Port Byron
• 13118 — Moravia
• 13160 — Union Springs
• 13026 — Aurora
• 13064 — Fair Haven
• 13034 — Cayuga
• 13033 — Cato
• 13113 — Meridian
• 13081 — King Ferry
• 13111 — Martville
• 13147 — Scipio Center
• 13139 — Poplar Ridge
• 13117 — Montezuma
• 13092 — Locke
• 13156 — Sterling
• 13071 — Genoa

The county’s remaining towns — Aurelius, Fleming, Ira, Niles, Owasco, Sempronius,
Sennett, Summerhill, Throop, Venice and Victory — have no dedicated post office of their
own; mail there is delivered under a neighboring village or town’s ZIP code.

Geography

Cayuga County stretches from the shore of Lake Ontario in the north to the hill country of the
Finger Lakes plateau in the south, with Cayuga Lake — the longest of the Finger Lakes
— running along most of the county’s western edge. Of the county’s 864 square
miles, 692 are land and 172 are water, about 20 percent, among the higher water shares of any New
York county because the county holds both Lake Ontario frontage and the northern half of Cayuga
Lake. Owasco Lake, entirely within the county, sits east of Auburn and supplies the city’s
drinking water.

Oswego County lies to the northeast, Onondaga County to the east, Cortland County to the
southeast, Tompkins County to the south, Seneca County to the west, and Wayne County to the
northwest, with Lake Ontario and the Canadian border beyond it forming the county’s entire
north edge. Oswego County, Onondaga County, Tompkins County and Wayne County all have their own
pages on this site; Cortland and Seneca counties do not yet.

Demographics

Cayuga County had a population of 76,248 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the
county near 75,102 residents as of 2024, a slight decline. Auburn is by far the largest community,
holding more than a third of the county’s population on its own; Weedsport and Moravia are
the next-largest incorporated places. Median household income runs $67,904 (2024), below the statewide New York figure of $82,095 (2023 ACS). Population density works out to about 110
people per square mile of land, concentrated heavily around Auburn and the Owasco Lake shore, with
the county’s southern and eastern towns much more sparsely settled.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 5,470 people,
followed by manufacturing at 4,534 and educational services at 4,293. Auburn Community Hospital
and Cayuga Medical Center satellite services anchor much of the health care employment. Auburn
Correctional Facility, a maximum-security state prison opened in 1816, remains one of the
county’s largest single employers and one of the oldest continuously operating prisons in
the country. Agriculture, particularly dairy and field crops, runs across the county’s rural
towns, and the Finger Lakes wine trail extends into Cayuga County along Cayuga Lake’s
eastern shore through the towns of Springport, Genoa and Ledyard.

History

New York’s legislature formed Cayuga County in 1799, splitting it from Onondaga County.
It takes its name from the Cayuga people, one of the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy,
whose homeland centred on the lake that now carries the same name. Auburn was incorporated as the
county seat in 1793 and grew into the county’s only city.

Auburn Prison, built in 1816, developed the “Auburn system” of strict silent
congregate confinement that other American prisons later copied. On 6 August 1890 the facility
carried out the first execution by electric chair in the United States; presidential assassin Leon
Czolgosz was executed there in 1901. William H. Seward, U.S. Secretary of State under Lincoln and
Johnson and the man behind the 1867 purchase of Alaska, lived in Auburn from 1823 until his death
in 1872, and opened his home as a safe house for fugitive slaves in the 1850s. Harriet Tubman
bought a plot of Auburn land from Seward in 1859 and settled her family there; the Harriet Tubman
Home is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Getting There

No interstate highway crosses Cayuga County directly, though Interstate 90, the New York State
Thruway, clips the county’s southeastern corner near Weedsport with an exit onto Route 34.
US 20 and NY Routes 5, 34, 38, 90 and 104 are the main routes through the county.

• Syracuse — about 30 miles east
• Ithaca — about 30 miles south
• Rochester — about 60 miles west
• Cortland — about 25 miles southeast

Syracuse Hancock International Airport, about 30 miles east of Auburn, is the nearest major
commercial airport. Amtrak does not stop in Cayuga County; the closest station is in Syracuse,
served by the Empire Service and Lake Shore Limited lines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Cayuga County located?
It sits in New York’s Finger Lakes region, about 30 miles west of Syracuse, on the northern
end of Cayuga Lake with Lake Ontario forming its entire northern edge.

What is the population of Cayuga County?
76,248 at the 2020 census, with a 2024 estimate near 75,102.

How big is Cayuga County?
864 square miles (2,240 km2) in total, of which 692 square miles are land and 172 square miles
are water.

What is the county seat of Cayuga County?
Auburn is the county seat and the county’s only city.

How many towns and villages are in Cayuga County?
One city (Auburn), 9 incorporated villages — Weedsport, Port Byron, Moravia, Union Springs,
Aurora, Fair Haven, Cayuga, Cato and Meridian — and 23 towns.

What ZIP codes does Cayuga County use?
13021 for Auburn, plus separate codes for each village and several hamlets, including 13166
Weedsport, 13140 Port Byron and 13118 Moravia.

What is Cayuga County known for?
Auburn Prison’s 1890 first-ever electric chair execution, and Harriet Tubman’s home,
a National Register of Historic Places site she bought from William Seward in 1859.

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