Where People Are Moving To In The Finger Lakes In 2026
Population growth in the Finger Lakes has concentrated in a handful of places that share almost nothing on the surface. Victor has added residents as builders put up new subdivisions on the Rochester side of Ontario County. Ithaca keeps drawing people who arrive for Cornell or Ithaca College and decide to stay, even with some of the tightest housing in the region. Several Wayne County towns near the Monroe County line have grown as buyers priced out of the eastern Rochester suburbs looked one town over. The Vintage 2025 municipal estimates, released in 2026 and covering the period through July 2025, separate places that are actually gaining year-round residents from towns that only fill up with visitors in summer.
Geneva
The growth near Geneva is happening in the town wrapped around the city rather than the city core, where the population has held roughly flat. The Town of Geneva has gained residents at a steady clip over the past several years, and Cornell's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station gives the area an employment anchor that few small Finger Lakes places can match, drawing researchers and technical staff who often settle nearby. Geneva sits at the north end of Seneca Lake in Ontario County, and Ontario County has continued to gain more residents through migration than it loses.
What pulls people in is a walkable small city with a real downtown. South Main Street holds one of the densest runs of Federal and Greek Revival row houses in upstate New York, and the blocks around Linden Street hold more than 30 restaurants, with a pedestrian-only stretch on summer weekend evenings. Hobart and William Smith Colleges sit along the lakefront, Seneca Lake State Park has a beach and boat launch at the water's edge, and Routes 5 and 20 tie the city into Waterloo, Canandaigua, and the Thruway. For a buyer who wants lake access and services in one place, Geneva has both without resort-town prices.
Ithaca
Few Finger Lakes communities draw the mix of newcomers that Ithaca does. Cornell University and Ithaca College bring in a steady stream of researchers, faculty, medical staff, graduate students, and workers in education and technology, and many of them stay after the job or the degree ends. The city estimate rose from about 32,100 in 2020 to roughly 33,600 in 2025 on the back of that demand. Some of the increase reflects students, but continued housing construction and persistent demand point to people settling in for the long term.
Residents live minutes from the trails through Cascadilla Gorge and Buttermilk Falls State Park, and Cayuga Lake begins at the city's northern edge. Downtown holds far more independent restaurants, bookstores, cafés, and live-music venues than a city of roughly 34,000 usually supports. The catch is housing: cost and scarcity push a good deal of the demand into Lansing and other Tompkins County towns nearby.
Victor
Victor grew because of where it sits, not because of any lakefront. The town reached about 16,400 residents in 2025, roughly 570 more than its 2020 base, on the strength of buyers who want suburban housing within reach of both Rochester and the lakes. Interstate 490 and the Thruway put Rochester within an easy drive, and Canandaigua is less than 20 minutes south. That location has left Victor one of Ontario County's main landing spots for commuting households.
The town also holds an outsized share of the area's shopping and services. Eastview Mall, the surrounding retail centers, medical offices, supermarkets, and restaurants sit within a few minutes of most homes, so residents skip the long trips other small towns require. Families weigh the Victor Central School District, and just southwest of the village, Ganondagan State Historic Site marks the location of a major 17th-century Seneca town that stood until 1687. Ontario County planners have singled out Victor as one of the county's fastest-growing communities.
Sodus
What Sodus offers is increasingly rare along New York's big lakes: real water access without resort-town prices. The town estimate rose from about 8,000 in 2020 to roughly 8,200 in 2025, while Wayne County as a whole posted positive net migration. Its northern edge meets Lake Ontario, where Sodus Bay forms a protected harbor ringed by marinas, fishing access, cottages, and year-round homes. Sodus Point Beach Park has a public swimming beach beside the bay, and the Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum occupies the former light-station grounds above the water.
The appeal reaches past recreation. Farmland and fruit orchards still surround the town, and housing runs cheaper than in the communities packed around Canandaigua or Seneca lakes. State Route 104 is the direct east-west line toward Rochester, Oswego, and the other Wayne County job centers.
Geneseo
Geneseo grows on two engines at once: a state college and a county seat. The town estimate rose from about 10,200 in 2020 to roughly 10,400 in 2025, with Livingston County recording positive net migration over the latest year. SUNY Geneseo supplies a steady base of jobs and brings thousands of students to town, but county government, health care, retail, and professional offices give the local economy more range than the campus alone.
The historic village center holds a compact commercial district of restaurants, cafés, and local shops, with larger supermarkets and national chains out along Route 20A. Letchworth State Park lies about 15 minutes away, where the Genesee River drops over three major waterfalls inside a deep gorge. Housing runs the gamut, from older village homes within walking distance of Main Street to newer construction outside the center, wider than the choice most small Finger Lakes towns offer buyers.
Lansing
Lansing has turned into one of the main release valves for housing demand that Ithaca cannot hold. The town estimate rose from about 11,600 in 2020 to roughly 11,800 in 2025, and geography explains most of it. Lansing borders Ithaca to the north along the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake, so residents stay near Cornell and the city's job market with more room than central Ithaca neighborhoods allow.
Everyday amenities make the suburban trade-off easier. The Shops at Ithaca Mall and the commercial strip around it cover groceries, retail, restaurants, and medical care, and Myers Park reaches Cayuga Lake, with a beach, a marina, trails, and boat launches along the shore. Several gorge landscapes cut through town, including Ludlowville Falls. For anyone working at Cornell, Cayuga Health, the schools, or a Tompkins County business, Lansing can shorten the commute that a more distant rural town would lengthen, without forcing a dense city block.
Canandaigua
Most of the growth around Canandaigua is happening in the town, not the city it wraps around. The Town of Canandaigua reached about 11,300 residents in 2025, up from roughly 11,100 in 2020, and Ontario County housing research names it among the county's faster-growing communities. New subdivisions and apartment projects have spread along the roads running north and west from Canandaigua Lake, adding options beyond the older housing stock inside the city.
The town sits next to one of the region's more useful small urban centers. The neighboring City of Canandaigua holds Thompson Health, supermarkets, schools, restaurants, and the commercial run along Routes 5 and 20. Kershaw Park has a public beach and walking paths at the lakefront, and the historic boathouses still line Canandaigua City Pier. Rochester sits about 30 miles northwest, close enough for some commuters while the lake stays a few minutes from the door.
Macedon
Macedon marks the transition point between suburban Rochester and rural Wayne County, which is exactly what its newcomers are buying. The estimate rose from about 9,300 in 2020 to roughly 9,400 in 2025, modest on its own but more telling alongside Wayne County's positive domestic and international migration. The town lies just east of Perinton in Monroe County, so residents can reach the job clusters around Fairport, Victor, and Rochester without paying for housing inside the metro's older, pricier suburbs.
The Erie Canal runs straight through town. Macedon Canal Park at Lock 30 has a towpath for walking and cycling, and the waterway ties into a recreation corridor that stretches across Upstate New York. Most of the local retail and services line Route 31, which connects Macedon with Palmyra and Fairport. Housing spans established neighborhoods near the hamlet, newer subdivisions, and rural parcels, so buyers can pick between a suburban street and open land while keeping Rochester-area jobs within reach.
What the Numbers Point To
The eight towns split into three clear stories. Victor and Macedon are absorbing buyers who work near Rochester and want more house or land than Monroe County offers at the same price. Ithaca and Lansing grow on Cornell and the demand it generates, with Lansing catching what the city's housing market cannot. Sodus, Geneva, Geneseo, and the Town of Canandaigua each grow on a distinct draw of their own, whether that is Lake Ontario frontage, a research station and lakefront colleges, a state college and county seat, or new construction beside one of the region's most walkable small cities. In every case the migration figures, not the tourist traffic, mark these as places people are choosing to live.
