Oneida County ( ) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

of New York, United States. As of February 26, 2024, the population was 226,654. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League or '' Haudenosaunee'', which had long occupied this territory at the time of European encounter and colonization. The federally recognized Oneida Indian Nation has had a reservation in the region since the late 18th century, after the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. The county is part of the Mohawk Valley region of the state. Oneida County is part of the Utica–Rome, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

When England established colonial counties in the

Province of New York The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later a royal colony on the northeast coast of North America from 1664 to 1783. It extended from Long Island on the Atlantic, up the Hudson River and Mohawk River valleys to ...

in 1683, the territory of present Oneida County was included in a very large, mostly undeveloped Albany County. This county included the northern part of present-day New York State as well as all of the present state of

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

and, in theory, extended westward to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. This county was reduced in size on July 3, 1766, to create Cumberland County, and further on March 16, 1770, by the creation of Gloucester County, both containing territory now in Vermont. On March 12, 1772, what was left of Albany County was split into three parts, one remaining under the name Albany County. Tryon County contained the western portion (and thus, since no western boundary was specified, theoretically still extended west to the Pacific). The eastern boundary of Tryon County was approximately five miles west of the present city of Schenectady in the Mohawk River Valley, and the county included the western part of the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains ( ) are a massif of mountains in Northeastern New York which form a circular dome approximately wide and covering about . The region contains more than 100 peaks, including Mount Marcy, which is the highest point in Ne ...

and the area west of the West Branch of the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

. Tryon County was later divided to organize 37 distinct counties of New York State. The county was named for

William Tryon Lieutenant-General William Tryon (8 June 172927 January 1788) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as governor of North Carolina from 1764 to 1771 and the governor of New York from 1771 to 1777. He also served durin ...

, colonial governor of New York. During and after the Revolution, most of the Loyalists in Tryon County fled to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. In 1784, following the peace treaty that ended the

, Americans changed the name of Tryon County to Montgomery County to honor the general, Richard Montgomery, who had captured several places in Canada and died attempting to capture the city of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. They replaced the name of the British governor. In 1789, Montgomery County was reduced by the splitting off of Ontario County from Montgomery. The area taken from Montgomery County contained all of present-day Allegany, Cattaraugus,

Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) is an adult education and social movement in the United States that peaked in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Cha ...

, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, Steuben,

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, Yates, and part of Schuyler and Wayne counties, as well as Ontario County. After continued new settlement, in 1791 Herkimer County was one of three counties taken from Montgomery (the other two being Otsego, and Tioga County). It was much larger than the present Herkimer County, however, and was reduced by a number of subsequent splits. In 1794, Herkimer County was reduced in size by the creation of Onondaga County. This county was larger than the current Onondaga County, including the present Cayuga, Cortland, and part of Oswego counties. In 1798, Oneida County was created from another part of Herkimer County. This county was larger than the current Oneida County, as it included the present-day Jefferson (which extends along Lake Ontario), Lewis, and part of Oswego counties. In 1805, Jefferson and Lewis counties were split off from Oneida. In 1816, parts of Oneida and Onondaga counties were taken to form the new Oswego County. Together with Utica, Oneida county was the cultural centre of Welsh settlement in New York state. By the mid-nineteenth century, the lexicorapher John Russell Bartlett noted that the area had a number of

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

newspapers and magazines, as well as Welsh churches. Indeed Bartlett noted in his ''Dictionary of Americanisms'' that "one may travel for miles and hear nothing but the Welsh language". By 1855, there were four thousand Welshmen in Oneida. In 1848, John Humphrey Noyes founded a religious and Utopian community, the

Oneida Community The Oneida Community ( ) was a Christian perfection, perfectionist religious communal society founded by John Humphrey Noyes and his followers in 1848 near Oneida, New York. The community believed that Jesus had Hyper-preterism, already return ...

, near Oneida. Its unconventional views on religion and relations between the sexes generated much controversy. The community lasted until 1881. The Oneida Silver Company was founded here to manufacture sterling silver, silverplate holloware and, later, stainless steel flatware.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.6%) is water. Oneida County is in the central portion of New York State, east of Syracuse, and west of Albany. Oneida Lake is on the northwestern corner of the county, and the

Adirondack Park The Adirondack Park is a park in northeastern New York (state), New York protecting the Adirondack Mountains. The park was established in 1892 for "the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure", and for watershed protection. At , ...

is on the northeast. Part of the Tug Hill Plateau is in the northern part of the county. Oneida County's highest point lies neither on the plateau nor in the Adirondack Park, but in the county's southern extremity. The peak's name is Tassel Hill. It is located slightly southeast of Hardscrabble Road (Tassel Hill Road), between the villages of Waterville and Cassville. The

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...

, completed in 1825, runs east–west along the Mohawk River through the county. It stimulated considerable trade and settlement. Oneida Lake and Oneida Creek form part of the western boundary. In the early 21st century, Oneida is the only county in New York state documented as having Chronic wasting disease among its wild

White-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

Adjacent counties

* Lewis County – north * Herkimer County – east * Otsego County – southeast * Madison County – southwest * Oswego County – west

National protected area

* Fort Stanwix National Monument

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 235,469 people, 90,496 households, and 59,184 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 102,803 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 90.21%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 5.74%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.23% Native American, 1.16% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.11% from other races, and 1.52% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 3.20% of the population. 21.7% were of Italian, 13.1% Irish, 12.1% German, 9.9% Polish, 8.5% English and 5.6% American ancestry according to self-identification of ethnic background in Census 2000. 90.6% spoke English, 2.7% Spanish, 1.3% Italian, 1.2%

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

and 1.1% Polish as their first language. There were 90,496 households, out of which 30.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.10% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 12.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.60% were non-families. 29.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.02. In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.90% under the age of 18, 8.60% from 18 to 24, 28.20% from 25 to 44, 22.90% from 45 to 64, and 16.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 98.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.30 males. The median income for a household in the county was $35,909, and the median income for a family was $45,341. Males had a median income of $32,194 versus $24,295 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $18,516. About 9.80% of families and 13.00% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 18.90% of those under age 18 and 8.50% of those age 65 or over.

2020 census

Government and politics

A board of supervisors governed Oneida County until 1962, when the county charter was changed to create a county executive and a 29-seat county legislature. The entire county elects the county executive. On January 1, 2014, the Oneida County Legislature was reduced to 23 seats. All 23 members are elected from single-member districts. Currently, there are 17 Republicans and 6 Democrats. Oneida County also leans Republican in major statewide and national elections. The last Democratic presidential nominee to carry Oneida County was

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

in 1996, by plurality. The last Democrat to win a majority in the county was

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

in his 1964 landslide. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Republican

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

won the county by 6,000 votes out of 90,000 cast. He won all municipalities in the county except the city of Utica and the town of Kirkland. In

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, Republican

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

won the county by even fewer votes, by around 4,000 plus votes. Republican

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

returned the county to its reliably red roots, posting strong victories in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Economy

The main product of Oneida County was once silverware, chiefly manufactured at Oneida Ltd.'s headquarters in Sherrill. In January 2005, the company ceased manufacturing their product, closing its main plant and selling its assets. The factory, under new ownership, continues to produce American-made silverware under the Liberty Tabletop brand. Currently the largest non-governmental, non-healthcare product of Oneida County is gambling. Turning Stone Casino Resort is an enterprise of the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, and the largest private employer in Oneida County.

Education

; Tertiary * Hamilton College * Mohawk Valley Community College * Oneida Institute (defunct) * State University of New York Polytechnic Institute *

Utica University Utica University is a private university in Utica, New York. The university has a main campus in Utica; the Robert Brvenik Center for Business Education, in downtown Utica; and satellite locations in Syracuse, New York; Latham, New York; and ...

Communities

Cities

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

* Sherrill * Utica (county seat)

Towns

* Annsville * Augusta * Ava * Boonville * Bridgewater * Camden * Deerfield *

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

* Floyd * Forestport * Kirkland * Lee * Marcy * Marshall * New Hartford *

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

* Remsen * Sangerfield * Steuben * Trenton * Vernon *

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

* Western * Westmoreland * Whitestown