Livingston County, New York

Livingston County is a county in New York, United States, in the Finger Lakes region south of Rochester. It had a population of 61,834 at the 2020 census and covers 640 square miles (1,700 km2) centred near 42°44′N 77°46′W.

Geneseo is the county seat, and its postal code is 14454. The county has 9 incorporated villages, 17 towns and a scatter of unincorporated hamlets, all in the Eastern time zone.

Towns & Villages in Livingston County

Livingston County has no cities. Its population centres are 9 incorporated villages, each seated inside one of the county’s 17 towns, plus a long list of unincorporated hamlets, lake communities and mobile-home parks that carry local names but no municipal charter of their own (marked Unincorp. below). Several small clusters around Conesus Lake and Hemlock Lake are seasonal cottage colonies rather than year-round settlements.

A few names in the old list were dropped as unverifiable or duplicated entries (see notes). Linwood straddles the York–Genesee County line, and Hemlock and Lakeville sit across town boundaries around the two lakes that give them their names — both are treated here as single communities rather than split rows.

ZIP Codes

• 14454 — Geneseo (also serves the SUNY Geneseo campus and Wadsworth)
• 14414 — Avon (also serves East Avon, North Avon, South Avon)
• 14423 — Caledonia
• 14437 — Dansville (also serves Coopersville)
• 14481 — Leicester (also serves Cuylerville)
• 14485 — Lima (also serves South Lima)
• 14487 — Livonia (also serves Livonia Center, South Livonia)
• 14510 — Mount Morris
• 14517 — Nunda (also serves Kysorville, Woodsville)
• 14435 — Conesus (also serves the Conesus Lake shoreline)
• 14480 — Lakeville
• 14466 — Hemlock
• 14560 — Springwater
• 14592 — York (also serves Retsof, Piffard, Fowlerville, Greigsville)
• 14416 — Scottsburg

Smaller hamlets such as Tuscarora, Byersville and Groveland Station are served by a neighbouring village’s post office rather than carrying a ZIP code of their own.

Geography

Livingston County sits in the Genesee River valley on the northern edge of the Finger Lakes’ western hills. The Genesee River runs north through the county’s centre past Mount Morris and Geneseo on its way to Rochester, and the county holds the western shores of Conesus Lake and all of Hemlock Lake, two of the smaller Finger Lakes. The Genesee flows through the Mount Morris Dam and Letchworth State Park’s gorge along the county’s southern border, a stretch known locally as the “Grand Canyon of the East.” Terrain rises from flat river-valley farmland in the north to steep, forested hill country toward the Allegany Plateau in the south.

Livingston County borders Monroe County to the north, Ontario County to the east, Steuben County to the southeast, Allegany County to the south, Wyoming County to the west and Genesee County to the northwest.

Demographics

Livingston County’s population was 61,834 at the 2020 census, spread across roughly 632 square miles of land for a density of about 98 people per square mile. Geneseo and Dansville are the county’s two largest villages; Geneseo’s population is inflated on the academic calendar by students at SUNY Geneseo, the county’s largest single institution. The county’s median household income runs below the New York state median of $82,095, reflecting its largely rural, agricultural economic base outside the Rochester commuter fringe in Avon and Lima.

Economy & Local Life

Agriculture remains central to Livingston County’s economy — dairy farming, field crops and orchards cover much of the river-valley land, and the county consistently ranks among New York’s leading dairy producers. SUNY Geneseo, a public liberal-arts college with roughly 5,000 students, is the county’s largest employer and dominates the village of Geneseo’s economy and housing market. Noyes Health operates the county’s hospital system out of Dansville. Retsof, in the town of York, was once home to one of the largest rock-salt mines in North America before a roof collapse flooded and closed it in 1994. Letchworth State Park, straddling the Livingston–Wyoming county line, draws visitors for the Genesee River gorge and its waterfalls, and is a major seasonal draw for the local economy.

History

Livingston County was formed on February 23, 1821, from parts of Ontario and Genesee counties. It is named for Robert R. Livingston, who helped draft the Declaration of Independence, served as the first U.S. Minister to France, and negotiated the Louisiana Purchase alongside James Monroe. The area was Seneca territory before the Sullivan Expedition of 1779 opened the Genesee valley to settlement; Mary Jemison, the “White Woman of the Genesee,” lived among the Seneca along the river near present-day Letchworth State Park and is buried there. The Genesee Valley Canal, built through the county in the mid-1800s, and later the railroads, brought the flour-milling and salt industries that shaped towns like Mount Morris and Retsof.

Getting There

Interstate 390 runs the length of the county north–south, connecting Geneseo and Avon directly to Rochester. US Routes 20 and 20A and NY Routes 5, 15, 36, 39, 63 and 65 cross the county and link its villages.

• Rochester — 30 miles north
• Letchworth State Park — 12 miles southwest of Geneseo
• Buffalo — 55 miles west
• Ithaca — 55 miles southeast

The nearest commercial airport is Greater Rochester International Airport (ROC), about 30 miles north of Geneseo.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Livingston County, New York?
It is in the Finger Lakes region of western New York, south of Rochester and east of Buffalo, along the Genesee River.

What is the population of Livingston County?
61,834 people at the 2020 census.

How big is Livingston County?
640 square miles (1,700 km2) total — 632 square miles of land and 8.5 square miles of water.

What is the county seat of Livingston County?
Geneseo is the county seat.

How many towns and villages are in Livingston County?
17 towns and 9 incorporated villages, plus numerous unincorporated hamlets.

What ZIP codes are in Livingston County?
Geneseo is 14454; other village ZIPs include Avon 14414, Dansville 14437, Mount Morris 14510, Livonia 14487, Caledonia 14423, Lima 14485, Nunda 14517 and Leicester 14481.

What happened at the Retsof salt mine?
The Retsof mine, once one of North America’s largest rock-salt operations, flooded after a roof collapse in March 1994 and was permanently closed; a smaller mine reopened nearby under new ownership.

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