New York Porch

Finger Lakes

Ithaca, New York

Ithaca is a small city at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes, the seat of Tompkins County and home to Cornell University and Ithaca College — a college town wrapped in gorges and waterfalls.

Like the rest of upstate New York, an Ithaca assessment isn't the market value; the equalization rate reconciles the two, and STAR can lower the school-tax part. The waterfalls (Taughannock, Buttermilk Falls) are the local fame; the snapshot below is the local rate.

Type
City
County
Tompkins
Region
Finger Lakes
Population (2020)
32,108
Local notes Tax snapshot Statewide links Nearby places

Local Almanac

Notes in and around Ithaca

Short, sourced notes tied to this place, its county, or nearby communities.

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This place · The Outdoors

The Waterfall in Town That Beats Niagara on Height

Taughannock Falls drops 215 feet straight down — taller than Niagara — and it's one of more than 150 waterfalls hiding in the gorges around Ithaca.

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This place · Home & Property

Ithaca Renovations Need the Building Permit Portal Early

Ithaca owners should check the city Building Division before treating electrical, demolition, tent, sign, or compliance work as informal.

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This place · History & Culture

The Two Schools That Shape Ithaca

Ithaca has been a college town since Cornell University was founded here in 1865. Together with Ithaca College, the campuses give the small Finger Lakes city its outsized buzz.

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This place · Cars & Driving

Tompkins DMV has a lunch break and two permit-test windows

Tompkins County DMV trips should account for the Ithaca office lunch break, permit-test windows, and driving-test timing.

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This place · Money & Taxes

Ithaca City Tax Payments Are a Chamberlain's Office Question

Ithaca owners should route city tax, water and sewer, and some payment questions through the Chamberlain's Office.

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This place · Home & Property

Ithaca general permits run through the city building route

Ithaca owners and businesses should check the city general-permit and department pages before starting permit-sensitive work.

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This place · The Outdoors

Cornell Botanic Gardens turns Ithaca’s campus edge into living landscape

Cornell Botanic Gardens helps explain Ithaca through planted collections, campus landscape, and gorge-country ecology.

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This place · History & Culture

Ithaca Commons Makes Downtown Work at Walking Speed

The Ithaca Commons gives downtown Ithaca a pedestrian spine where storefronts, civic events, and student-town life meet.

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This place · History & Culture

The History Center Keeps Ithaca's Local Memory Close to Daily Life

The History Center in Tompkins County gives Ithaca a local-history institution connected to county memory and public interpretation.

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Property tax snapshot

Roughly $24–$25 per $1,000

Combined full-value rate — county + town/city + school district, per $1,000 of market value (FY2025). On a $300,000 home that's about $7,167–$7,427 a year before the STAR break.

A planning estimate, not a bill. Your exact rate depends on your school district and any village. Confirm with the assessor.

Nearby

Nearby places

Cayuga Heights

Village · Tompkins County · 4,114

Forest Home

Hamlet (CDP) · Tompkins County · 1,168

Northwest Ithaca

Hamlet (CDP) · Tompkins County · 2,231

South Hill

Hamlet (CDP) · Tompkins County · 7,245

East Ithaca

Hamlet (CDP) · Tompkins County · 3,175

Northeast Ithaca

Hamlet (CDP) · Tompkins County · 2,701

Tax rates: NYS Dept of Taxation & Finance (ORPTS), Real Property Tax Rates and Levy Data by Municipality, data.ny.gov dataset iq85-sdzs. (FY2025). Population: U.S. Census 2020. Reviewed June 2026. Source data ->

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