Watkins Glen, NY population, income and ZIP codes

Watkins Glen village is a small town in New York, with 1,712 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #692 of 1,292 ranked by population — larger than 46% of them. The median age here is 50.8 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Watkins Glen village earn a median of $46,279 a year, 41.1% below the national figure of $78,538 and 50% below the $91,806 median for the 847 New York cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 11.2% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Watkins Glen village is valued at $200,000, 34.1% below the national figure and 37% below the $315,800 peer median, while median gross rent runs $793 a month, 43.6% below the national figure, or roughly $9,516 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 20.6% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 4.3×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 41.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, a renter-majority market, so rent figures matter more here than the home-value line. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

A median age of 50.8 puts Watkins Glen village well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.