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Binghamton ( ) is a
city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
in the
U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
state of
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
, and serves as 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 ...
of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's
Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York, Upstate region of New York (state), New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary wide ...
region near the
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. Binghamton is the principal city and
cultural center A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Africa * ...
of the
Binghamton metropolitan area The Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area, also called Greater Binghamton or the Triple Cities, is a region of southern Upstate New York in the Northeastern United States, anchored by Binghamton. The MSA encompasses Broome and Tioga count ...
(also known as Greater Binghamton, or historically the Triple Cities, including Endicott and Johnson City), home to a quarter million people. The city's population, according to the 2020 United States census, is 47,969. From the days of the
railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
, Binghamton was a transportation crossroads and a manufacturing center, and has been known at different times for the production of cigars, shoes, and computers.
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
was founded nearby, and the
flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...
was invented in the city, leading to a notable concentration of electronics- and defense-oriented firms. This sustained economic prosperity earned Binghamton the moniker of the Valley of Opportunity. However, starting with job cuts made by defense firms towards the end of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, the region lost a large part of its manufacturing industry. Today, while there is a continued concentration of high-tech firms, Binghamton is emerging as a healthcare- and education-focused city, with
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
acting as much of the driving force behind this revitalization.


History


Early settlement

The first known people of European descent to come to the area were the troops of the
Sullivan Expedition The 1779 Sullivan Expedition (also known as the Sullivan-Clinton Expedition, the Sullivan Campaign, and the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign) was a United States military campaign under the command of General John Sullivan (general), John Sullivan duri ...
in 1779, during 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 ...
, who destroyed local villages of the Onondaga and Oneida tribes. The city was named after
William Bingham William Bingham (March 8, 1752February 7, 1804) was an American statesman from Philadelphia. He was a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress from 1786 to 1788 and served in the United States Senate from 1795 to 1801. Bingham was o ...
, a wealthy Philadelphian who bought the 10,000 acre
patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...
for the land in 1786, then consisting of parts of the towns of Union and Chenango. Joshua Whitney, Jr., Bingham's land agent, chose land at the junction of the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers to develop a settlement, then named Chenango Point. After being officially conveyed the land by Bingham on July 4, 1800, Whitney arranged for the construction of the settlement's first two streets, Court Street and Water Street, and the first residence was built later that year. Whitney continued to expand Chenango Point and sell plots to new settlers, and helped erect the first
bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
in 1808. The significant growth of Chenango Point led to its incorporation as a
village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
, and its official renaming as Binghamton, in 1834. Daniel S. Dickinson was chosen to be the first village president. The
Chenango Canal The Chenango Canal was a towpath canal in central New York in the United States which linked the Susquehanna River to the Erie Canal. Built and operated in the mid-19th century, it was 97 miles long and for much of its course followed the Che ...
, completed in 1837, connected Binghamton to 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, ...
, and was the impetus for the initial industrial development of the area. This growth accelerated with the completion of the
Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...
between Binghamton and Jersey City, NJ in 1849. With the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of . The railroad was ...
arriving soon afterward, the village became an important regional transportation center. Several buildings of importance were built at this time, including the
New York State Inebriate Asylum The New York State Inebriate Asylum, later known as Binghamton State Hospital, was the first institution designed and constructed to treat alcoholism as a mental disorder in the United States. Located in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, NY, its i ...
, opened in 1858 as the first center in the United States to treat alcoholism as a disease.


Growth as a manufacturing hub

Binghamton incorporated as a
city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
in 1867 and, due to the presence of several stately homes, was nicknamed the Parlor City. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many immigrants moved to the area, finding an abundance of jobs. During the 1880s, Binghamton became the second-largest manufacturer of
cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...
s in the United States. By the early 1920s, Endicott Johnson, a shoe manufacturer whose development of
welfare capitalism Welfare capitalism is capitalism that includes social welfare policies and/or the practice of businesses providing welfare services to their employees. Welfare capitalism in this second sense, or industrial paternalism, was centered on indust ...
resulted in many amenities for local residents, became the region's largest employer. An even larger influx of Europeans immigrated to Binghamton, and the working class prosperity resulted in the area being called the Valley of Opportunity. In 1913, 31 people perished in the Binghamton Clothing Company fire, which resulted in reforms to the New York fire code. Major floods in 1935 and 1936 resulted in a number of deaths and washed out the Ferry Street Bridge (now the Clinton Street Bridge). The floods led the city to build flood walls along the length of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, growth continued as
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
, which was founded in greater Binghamton, emerged as a global technology leader. Along with Edwin Link's invention of the
flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...
in Binghamton, IBM's growth helped transition the region to a
high-tech High technology (high tech or high-tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or ...
economy. Other major manufacturers included
Ansco Ansco was the brand name of a photography, photographic company based in Binghamton, New York, which produced photographic films, photographic paper, papers and cameras from the mid-19th century until the 1980s. In the late 1880s, Ansco's pred ...
and
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
. Until the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
ended, the area never experienced an economic downfall, due in part to its defense-oriented industries. The city's population peaked at around 85,000 in the mid-1950s.


Decline and recovery

Post-war
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
an development led to a decline in the city's population and the rapid growth of the towns of Vestal and Union. Like many other
Rust Belt The Rust Belt, formerly the Steel Belt or Factory Belt, is an area of the United States that underwent substantial Deindustrialization, industrial decline in the late 20th century. The region is centered in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (Uni ...
cities, traditional manufacturers saw steep declines, though Binghamton's technology industry limited this impact.
Urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...
efforts to reverse these trends dominated construction in the city during the 1960s and early 1970s and led to the destruction of many ornate city buildings. The construction included the creation of Government Plaza, the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, and the Brandywine Highway. While these projects failed to stem most of the losses, they established Binghamton as the region's government and cultural center. The city's population declined from approximately 64,000 in 1969 to 56,000 by the early 1980s. As the Cold War ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, defense-related industries in the Binghamton area began to falter, resulting in several closures and widespread layoffs These were most notable at IBM, which sold its Federal Systems division and laid off several thousands of workers. The local economy went into a deep recession, and the long-prevalent manufacturing jobs dropped by 64% from 1990 to 2013. In the 21st century, the city has tried to diversify its economic base to spur revitalization. The local economy has slowly transitioned toward services and healthcare. Major emphasis has been placed on
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
, which built a downtown campus in 2007 and several student housing complexes. The increased downtown residential population and the university's plans to build additional student housing have spurred development of supporting businesses and a renewed focus on the riverfront. Unfortunately, two severe floods have stymied the recovery: while most of the impact of the
Mid-Atlantic United States flood of 2006 A significant flood affected much of the Mid-Atlantic region of the eastern United States in 2006. The flooding was very widespread, affecting numerous rivers, lakes and communities from Upstate New York to North Carolina. It was widely consider ...
was in the surrounding metropolitan area, the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee topped city flood walls in September 2011, causing $1 billion of damage in greater Binghamton. On April 3, 2009, the deadliest mass shooting in New York history occurred at the American Civic Association's offices in Binghamton.


Geography


Cityscape

According to the
U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...
, the city has an area of , of which is land and (5.83%) is water. Binghamton, like all of the
Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York, Upstate region of New York (state), New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary wide ...
of New York, lies on the
Allegheny Plateau The Allegheny Plateau ( ) is a large dissected plateau area of the Appalachian Mountains in western and central New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, northern and western West Virginia, and eastern Ohio. It is divided into the unglacia ...
; hence its hilly terrain. As such, elevations can vary in the city--
Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...
, for example, is at an elevation of around 860 feet (262 meters), while residential homes in the hills can go up to over 1,800 feet (548 meters), such as on Ingram Hill. The highest peak in Binghamton is Table Rock Ridge, which is at 1,854 feet. The Downtown area sits at the confluence of the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers, in the middle of a long but relatively narrow valley. The north branch of the
Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...
passes south of downtown. This branch rises in eastern New York and receives a number of tributaries above Binghamton. In the center of the city, the
Chenango River The Chenango River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in central New York in the United States. It drains a dissec ...
feeds into the Susquehanna from the north at Confluence Park. The Binghamton River Trail, a 1.5 mile trail along the Chenango, runs between Cheri Lindsey Park on the Northside and Confluence Park in Downtown. Eleven bridges span the rivers inside city limits. Broome County has 17.5 miles of
levee A levee ( or ), dike (American English), dyke (British English; see American and British English spelling differences#Miscellaneous spelling differences, spelling differences), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is an elevated ridge, natural ...
s, many of which are in Binghamton. Major floods have occurred in 1865, 1935, 1936,
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
, and
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
. The incorporation of Binghamton united various communities on both shores of the two rivers. The majority of the city's population and development lies along the rolling terrain nearest the riverbanks with sparse development in the hills that define the city limits. The old city was laid out on a grid system by Joshua Whitney, Jr., but as development spread to the outer regions of the city and merged with other settlements, several grids were eventually juxtaposed against each other. In the Southside, the grid breaks down, as more curvilinear roads make up the predominantly residential areas along the hills. The city was the traditional economic center of the region and is home to several historic districts. The Railroad Terminal Historic District consists of several factories and buildings along the railroad line in the northern limits of downtown. Over 1,000 properties on the West Side contribute to the Abel Bennett Tract Historic District, mainly made up of residential properties along Riverside Drive. Downtown's State Street-Henry Street Historic District consists of several older low-rise buildings. The Court Street Historic District has some of the city's most notable architecture, including the Press Building and Security Mutual Building, early 20th century high rises, and the Broome County Courthouse. The Press Building was the tallest building in Binghamton until the completion of the State Office Building in Government Plaza, which remains the tallest in the city. Away from downtown, most of the buildings are single- and multi-family dwellings, along with low-rise business buildings lining commercial arteries. Along the railroad corridors, several factories, mostly abandoned, rise above the otherwise-uniform landscape. Main Street runs through the West Side, and continues west to serve as Main Street in the villages of Johnson City and Endicott. On the east side of the Chenango River, the road becomes Court Street, the major east–west artery in downtown and the East Side.


Neighborhoods

Binghamton is divided into seven neighborhoods. Downtown Binghamton, also known as Center City, is home to most of the city's largest buildings and government services. Located at the northeast corner of the river confluence and increasingly populated by college students, it supports a flourishing arts scene. The North Side is across the
Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
rail tracks from downtown, along the Chenango River. The North Side is a light commercial and working-class residential area of the city, with Chenango Street serving as its major artery. The East Side lies east of the Brandywine Highway, along the north bank of the Susquehanna River. The neighborhood is largely residential with commercial corridors along Robinson and Court streets, and it has pockets of industrial development along its borders. Across the Chenango River lies the West Side, a primarily residential neighborhood along the banks of the Susquehanna that has a combination of family homes, student housing, and stately mansions. Main Street's large supermarkets, pharmacies, bank branches, pubs, restaurants, auto shops, and a few strip malls form the West Side's commercial corridor. The First Ward, a largely residential neighborhood opposite the railroad tracks from the West Side, is best known for Antique Row, a series of antique shops that line Clinton Street. This part of the city is home to several gold-domed Christian churches built by the area's many Eastern European immigrants. It is also home to several large supermarkets, churches, pharmacies, bank branches, a few bars and restaurants as well as mom and pop shops that provide such goods as video games and music. Ely Park, Binghamton's northernmost neighborhood, contains its municipal golf course. It lies on parts of Prospect Mountain and other hills north of the First Ward. The Southside lies along the south bank of the Susquehanna River and is connected to downtown by several bridges. At the base of the historic South Washington Street Bridge is the Southbridge commercial district. The neighborhood is partitioned into two neighborhood assemblies, divided by Pennsylvania Avenue and Southbridge, due to their distinct characters. Southside East has working-class residences and some public housing projects and is home to the Islamic Awareness Center, while Southside West is primarily made up of larger middle-class residences.


Climate

Binghamton has a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
''Dfb''), with cold, snowy winters and warm, wet summers. Summers in Binghamton are typified by warm yet temperate days, and there are an average of only 2.6 days annually where the high exceeds , with the highest recorded temperature at on July 16, 1988. Winters are somewhat less moderate, with 5.8 days with sub- lows annually on average; the lowest recorded temperature was on January 15, 1957. As with most cities in upstate New York, precipitation in Binghamton is spread evenly throughout the year. Binghamton is the 10th rainiest city in the United States, with 162 rainy days a year. With 212 cloudy days annually, it is also the seventh cloudiest city in the country, and the cloudiest east of the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...
. Binghamton's proximity to the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...
results in significant cloudiness and precipitation. Weather systems traveling over the lake pick up significant moisture, and cooler air masses from the west and the north culminate in a continuously unsettled weather pattern. Snowfall is significant, with an annual total of . Binghamton is not as greatly affected by
lake-effect snow Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises through colde ...
as cities further north or west such as
Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...
and Buffalo, which are part of the Great Lakes
snowbelt The Snowbelt, Snow Belt, Frostbelt, or Frost Belt is the region near the Great Lakes in North America where heavy snowfall in the form of lake-effect snow is particularly common. Snowbelts are typically found downwind of the lakes, principally off ...
. However, persistent snow bands from both the Great Lakes and the
Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located directly south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York (state), New York, in the United States. This region straddles th ...
occasionally result in moderate snows. Binghamton receives occasional major snowfall from
nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a large-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. Typically, such storms originate as a low ...
storms as well (such as the
1993 Storm of the Century The 1993 Storm of the Century (also known as the 93 Superstorm, The No Name Storm, or the Great Blizzard of '93/1993) was a devastating cyclonic storm, or nor'easter, that formed over the Gulf of Mexico on March 12, 1993. The cold weather, heav ...
, or nearly four feet of snow in December 2020), and competes for the Golden Snowball Award with other upstate cities.


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
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
, 47,376 people, 21,150 households, and 9,986 families resided in the city. The population density was . There were 23,842 housing units at an average density of . Of all households, 20.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.9% 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, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 52.8% were non-families. 40.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 25.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.94.


Race and ethnicity

Binghamton is home to an ethnically diverse population. During its industrial heyday, thousands of European immigrants moved to the city as they found an abundance of jobs and working-class prosperity. Many Irish, Italians, and Eastern Europeans settled in the area, and the American Civic Association was created to help their transition to life and assimilation in the United States. This influx led to a temporary rise in the local
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
during the 1920s, with Binghamton serving as state headquarters. Area residents, who primarily embraced the different cultural heritages, quelled such anti-immigrant sentiment by founding several ethnic organizations and holding ethnic celebrations, at the encouragement of Endicott-Johnson. This has had a lasting effect on the city, which sports many churches and contemporary ethnic festivals, along with a population that is still predominantly white (though steadily decreasing in proportion). Binghamton also has a sizeable
Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...
community. As of 2010, Binghamton's racial makeup was 77.6%
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 ...
, 11.4%
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
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 ...
, 0.3% Native American, 4.2% Asian, 0.04%
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 ...
, 2.0% from other races, and 4.4% from two or more races. 6.4% of the population were
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. Due to its diversity, the region is home to many religious denominations. The First Ward, the historic home to much of the city's Eastern European population, houses several gold domed Orthodox churches. As a result of its strong Italian and Irish heritage, the largest religious body in Broome County is the Catholic Church. Binghamton falls under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. Throughout the county, 105,064 people, or 52.4% of the total population, are listed as congregational adherents.


Population trends

Until the mid-1950s, Binghamton saw its population grow rapidly due to its industrial boom, and it was one of the largest 100 cities in the United States between 1890 and 1910. Since 1950, the city has experienced sustained population loss, some of which was the result of
suburbanization Suburbanization (American English), also spelled suburbanisation (British English), is a population shift from historic core cities or rural areas into suburbs. Most suburbs are built in a formation of (sub)urban sprawl. As a consequence ...
. Much of the recent population loss has occurred throughout the region, and is skewed toward the younger population, resulting in the growth of the relative proportion of the elderly in Broome County.


Age and sex

In the city, the age distribution was: 19.3% of the population under the age of 18, 15.0% from 18 to 24, 24.7% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males.


Metropolitan area

As of 2020, the
Binghamton metropolitan area The Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area, also called Greater Binghamton or the Triple Cities, is a region of southern Upstate New York in the Northeastern United States, anchored by Binghamton. The MSA encompasses Broome and Tioga count ...
is home to 247,138 people. The MSA is composed of all of Broome County and neighboring Tioga County. The
urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...
, which includes parts of
Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Susquehanna County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 38,434 Its county seat is Montrose, Pennsylvania, Montro ...
, has a population of 158,054 as of 2010. Alternatively defined, the number of people living in an approximately 30-mile radius of the city center is 316,270. This count includes Broome County and parts of Tioga, Cortland,
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
, Chenango, and Tompkins Counties in New York, and parts of Susquehanna,
Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
, and Wayne Counties in Pennsylvania.


Income and poverty

The city's median household income was $30,978, and the median family income was $43,436. Males had a median full-time income of $40,170 versus $35,060 for females. The city's
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 ...
was $20,576. About 23.6% of families and 33.3% 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 47.3% of those under age 18 and 14.9% of those age 65 or over.


Economy

After the boom of the cigar industry in the 1880s, the Binghamton area became increasingly reliant on large manufacturers, with both Endicott Johnson, a shoe manufacturer, and
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
employing 15,000 to 20,000 local workers at their peak. Other companies with a large historical presence included Link Aviation Devices,
Ansco Ansco was the brand name of a photography, photographic company based in Binghamton, New York, which produced photographic films, photographic paper, papers and cameras from the mid-19th century until the 1980s. In the late 1880s, Ansco's pred ...
, and
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
. Several other notable businesses started in Binghamton, such as
Valvoline Valvoline Inc. ( ) is an American retail automotive services company based in Lexington, Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky. It licenses the name for a number of Valvoline-labeled Motor oil, automotive oil, Oil additive, additives, and lubricants. It ...
, the Nineteen Hundred Washer Company (which merged to form
Whirlpool A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...
), and ''Dr. Kilmer's Swamp Root'', a famous
patent medicine A patent medicine (sometimes called a proprietary medicine) is a non-prescription medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name, and claimed to be effective against minor disorders a ...
.
Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized in all caps as DICK'S Sporting Goods) is an American chain of sporting goods stores founded in 1948 by Richard "Dick" Stack. It is the largest sporting goods retailer in the United States and is listed ...
began as a fishing store in the East Side in 1948, and was headquartered in Binghamton until 1994. Much of Binghamton's current employment base is oriented toward technology and defense manufacturing, though the sector has been diminishing since 1990. Areas of specialization include
systems integration System integration is defined in engineering as the process of bringing together the component sub-systems into one system (an aggregation of subsystems cooperating so that the system is able to deliver the overarching functionality) and ensuring ...
, flight simulation, and
printed circuit board A printed circuit board (PCB), also called printed wiring board (PWB), is a Lamination, laminated sandwich structure of electrical conduction, conductive and Insulator (electricity), insulating layers, each with a pattern of traces, planes ...
manufacturing. The largest such companies in the area are
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...
,
BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...
, IBM,
Sanmina-SCI Sanmina Corporation is an American electronics manufacturing services, electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider headquartered in San Jose, California that serves original equipment manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) ...
, and Universal Instruments. Other notable technology firms include i3 Electronics,
Rockwell Collins Rockwell Collins, Inc. was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radi ...
, and
L-3 Communications L3 Technologies, formerly L-3 Communications Holdings, was an American company that supplied command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance ( C3ISR) systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training ...
, which absorbed the Link Aviation operations. Although not a large employer, the
McIntosh Laboratory McIntosh Laboratory is an American manufacturer of handcrafted high-end audio equipment that is headquartered in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, New York (state), New York. It is a subsidiary of McIntosh Group, which in November 2024 was acquir ...
is a well-known high-end manufacturer of audio amplifiers, receivers, and other components. Despite the sustained job losses, the Binghamton MSA had 13% of New York State's computer and electronics manufacturing jobs as of 2010. Education and health care are also becoming significant sectors in the regional economy. In particular,
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
and
Broome Community College SUNY Broome Community College (BCC or SUNY Broome) is a public community college in Broome County, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY). The college was founded in 1946 and has gone through several name changes. The sc ...
employ many researchers and educators. Binghamton University has a New York State Center of Excellence for small-scale systems integration, and it has provided the major impetus for the Southern Tier High Technology Incubator in downtown Binghamton, which encourages the growth of local
startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses tha ...
. Upstate Medical University has worked to expand its clinical campus by establishing a permanent home at the former
New York State Inebriate Asylum The New York State Inebriate Asylum, later known as Binghamton State Hospital, was the first institution designed and constructed to treat alcoholism as a mental disorder in the United States. Located in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, NY, its i ...
on the East Side. Major companies in the private healthcare industry include United Health Services and Lourdes Hospital. Binghamton also has many food services and distribution companies. Maines Paper & Food Service and Willow Run Foods - two of the nation's largest food distributors who serve restaurants throughout the United States - have their headquarters in the area. Maines is one of the largest private companies in the country.
Crowley Foods Crowley Foods (legal name Crowley Foods LLC) is an American dairy company formerly based in Binghamton, New York. It has been a subsidiary of HP Hood LLC since being purchased by the company in 2004, which is headquartered in Lynnfield, Massachus ...
, a subsidiary of
HP Hood HP Hood LLC is an American dairy company based in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. Hood was founded in 1846 in Derry, New Hampshire, by Harvey Perley Hood. After two years in Derry, Hood took his milk south and established a factory in Charlestown, Mas ...
, maintains headquarters in Binghamton, and
Frito-Lay Frito-Lay, Inc. (; ) is an American food company that manufactures, markets, and sells snack foods. It began in the early 1930s as two companies, Fritos, the Frito Company and Lay's, H.W. Lay & Company, that merged in 1961. Frito-Lay itself merg ...
has a large plant in the region. Agriculture has long played a notable role in the regional economy, and the
farm bureau The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), more informally called the American Farm Bureau (AFB) or simply the Farm Bureau, is a United States–based 501(c)(5) tax-exempt agricultural organization and lobbying group. Headquartered in Wash ...
movement started in Binghamton in 1911. Other notable local employers include
New York State Electric & Gas New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) is an electric and gas utility company owned by Avangrid that serves customers in New York. NYSEG was incorporated in 1852 as the Ithaca Gas Light Company. Throughout the end of the 19th century and the ear ...
and
Johnson Outdoors Johnson Outdoors Inc. () produces outdoor recreational products such as watercraft, diving equipment, camping gear, and outdoor clothing. It has operations in 24 locations worldwide, employs 1,400 people and reports sales of more than $315 millio ...
. Two insurance companies, Security Mutual Life and Columbian Financial Group, maintain headquarters in the area. The region has several large shopping areas. Downtown Binghamton is home to a
Boscov's Boscov's Inc. is a family-owned department store with over fifty locations in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, West Virginia, and Rhode Island. Twenty-six of the stores are located in Pennsylvania. Corpo ...
department store, and the development of large student housing projects has led to a resurgence of restaurants and service-oriented businesses. While downtown was home to several major department stores and the center of regional shopping, most shopping has moved toward the suburbs. The town of Vestal has several shopping centers and
big-box store A big-box store, a hyperstore, a supercenter, a superstore, or a megastore is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain of stores. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. The ...
s along a five-mile stretch of the Vestal Parkway. The village of Johnson City is home to the Oakdale Mall, the area's only indoor super regional mall. Significant commercial development has also taken place in the town of Dickinson, with many shopping centers just north of the city. In the First Ward, Clinton Street is home to Antique Row, a collection of antique shops.


Arts and culture

Since the early 2000s, the region has developed a growing and pervasive arts scene. These include a large cluster of art galleries and shops centered around downtown Binghamton. These galleries have given rise to the First Friday Art Walk, through the efforts an association of local artists and merchants in Downtown Binghamton. These events have drawn large crowds downtown since 2004. Artists of local prominence that display or have galleries include
photorealist Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another Medium (arts), medium. Although ...
painter Anthony Brunelli, Orazio Salati, and Marla Olmstead, a local child who achieved fame in the art world for her abstract art. The Binghamton Philharmonic is the region's premier professional orchestra. Founded in 1955, it provides symphonic music to all of the
Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York, Upstate region of New York (state), New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary wide ...
. Concerts are performed throughout the year, with a variety of classical, pops and chamber music. The Tri-Cities Opera stages full-scale operas at the Broome County Forum. The professional company has performed since 1949, and is famed for its actor training program. The region also has several other semi-professional and amateur orchestras and theaters such as the Cider Mill Playhouse. The Roberson Museum and Science Center, in the heart of Binghamton, is home to the Binghamton Visitor Center, the Link Planetarium, and a number of exhibits detailing the culture and history of Greater Binghamton and the Southern Tier. The Kopernik Observatory & Science Center observatory is the largest public observatory in the northeast United States.Attractions
The Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park, in the Southside, opened in 1875 and is the fifth-oldest zoo in the nation. Binghamton is known as the Carousel Capital of the World, as it houses six of the remaining antique
carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...
s. Two are within city limits, one at Recreation Park and another at the Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park. Other visitor attractions include the Phelps Mansion museum, the Cutler Botanic Garden, the Bundy Museum of History and Art, and the interactive, child-oriented Discovery Center. The Center for Technology & Innovation, a museum dedicated to local industry, is under construction. The area is home to a popular regional dish known as the spiedie. Many of the area's restaurants serve spiedies, but they have only experienced limited penetration beyond the
Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York, Upstate region of New York (state), New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary wide ...
and
Central New York The central region of New York state includes: * Auburn in Cayuga County * Cortland in Cortland County * Oneida in Madison County * Syracuse, the largest city of Central New York, in Onondaga County * Fulton and Oswego in Oswego County ...
. Spiedies are celebrated at the Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally, which is held at Otsiningo Park each August and attracts over 100,000 people annually. The city's other annual events include the
St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...
parade in March, July Fest (a festival of jazz music, arts, and crafts held downtown since 1962), the 100-year-old St. Mary of the Assumption Bazaar in August, the LUMA Projection Arts Festival in September, Binghamton Porchfest (a free annual music festival featuring hundreds of performances staged on West Side residential porches), Blues on the Bridge (a September music festival that takes place on the South Washington Street Bridge), and the Columbus Day Parade and Italian Festival every October, which includes a marching band competition. Broome County is home to several festivals (including a significant concentration of ethnic celebrations due to its heritage), which the New York Department of Economic Development recognized in 2001 as the year's official
I Love New York I Love New York (stylized ) is a slogan, a logo, and a song that are the basis of an advertising campaign developed by the marketing firm Wells, Rich, and Greene under the directorship of Mary Wells Lawrence used since 1977 to promote tourism ...
festival, and collectively dubbed the "Festival of Festivals." Notable former festivities include the Yegatta Regatta and the Pops on the River concert. Residents of Binghamton typically speak the Inland Northern dialect of
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
, and the region falls within a distinct set of
isogloss An isogloss, also called a heterogloss, is the geographic boundary of a certain linguistics, linguistic feature, such as the pronunciation of a vowel, the meaning of a word, or the use of some morphological or syntactic feature. Isoglosses are a ...
es that also contain Buffalo, Rochester, and
Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...
. Much of the local accent has been subject to the
Northern cities vowel shift Inland Northern (American) English, also known in American linguistics as the Inland North or Great Lakes dialect, is an American English dialect spoken primarily by White Americans throughout much of the U.S. Great Lakes region. The most di ...
, though this has not fully taken hold. Unlike other Inland Northern cities, people in Binghamton typically refer to
athletic shoe Sneakers ( US) or trainers ( UK), also known by a wide variety of other names, are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but are also widely used for everyday casual wear. They were popularized by compani ...
s as sneakers (as opposed to tennis shoes), and to
soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...
s as soda (and not pop). Binghamton was also the home of a branch of the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company from the television show the Office. The branch was closed down on a drunken bender by CEO Robert California starting a branch war between Scranton and Albany.


Sports


Professional and semi-pro teams

Binghamton has a long history with
minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...
sports, having been home to several teams over the years. The Eastern League, one of the older Double-A baseball leagues in the United States prior to the 2021
Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
reorganization, was founded at the Arlington Hotel in downtown Binghamton in 1923. Today, the city hosts two professional minor league teams, the
Binghamton Rumble Ponies The Binghamton Rumble Ponies are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Binghamton, New York. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets major-league club. The Rumble Ponies play in Mi ...
(a baseball team affiliated with the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...
) and the Binghamton Black Bears (an ice hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League). In 2018, the ''
Sports Business Journal This is a list of subsidiaries of the American media company Advance Publications Inc. Local media groups The following subsidiaries are owned through Advance Local Advance Media New York *'' The Post-Standard'' (Syracuse, New York) **Syracuse. ...
'' ranked the city as the 10th best minor-league sports market in the country.


Baseball

The area is home to the Eastern League's
Binghamton Rumble Ponies The Binghamton Rumble Ponies are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Binghamton, New York. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets major-league club. The Rumble Ponies play in Mi ...
, the Double-A affiliate of the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...
. The former Binghamton Mets have sent stars like Daniel Murphy, Noah Syndergaard,
Steven Matz Steven Jakob Matz (born May 29, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays. Matz was born and raised ...
, Juan Lagares, José Reyes,
David Wright David Allen Wright (born December 20, 1982) is an American former professional baseball third baseman who spent his entire 14-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Mets. Chosen by the Mets in the 2001 Major League Baseball dr ...
, Preston Wilson,
Ike Davis Isaac Benjamin Davis (born March 22, 1987) is an American former professional baseball first baseman. From 2010 through 2016, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Oakland Athletics, and New York Ya ...
, Zack Wheeler,
Edgardo Alfonzo Edgardo Antonio Alfonzo (born November 8, 1973), nicknamed "Fonzie", is a Venezuelans, Venezuelan former professional baseball infielder and Coach (baseball), coach. He played Major League Baseball (MLB) as an infielder from to , most notably a ...
,
Jon Niese Jonathon Joseph Niese (born October 27, 1986) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates. Early life Niese was born to Jeffery and Annette Niese in L ...
, Pete Alonso and Jay Payton to the majors. Binghamton has a long history in
professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...
dating back to 1877. Teams nicknamed the Crickets, the Bingoes, and for many years the Triplets represented Binghamton in the
New York State League The New York State League was an independent baseball league that played six seasons between 2007 and 2012 in New York State and the New York City metro area. Over 500 NYSL players have been signed by professional teams. Players from forty-eigh ...
(now defunct), the New York–Pennsylvania League, the
International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...
, and the Eastern League (1892–94, 1938–1963, 1967–1968, 1992–2021). The 1887 Binghamton Bingoes of the International League attracted national attention when the white players revolted against the two black players on the team. The reaction around the league forced Binghamton to release the black players, and the team folded soon after. The
Binghamton Triplets The Binghamton Triplets were a minor league baseball team based in Binghamton, New York between 1923 and 1963. The franchise played as members of the New York–Penn League (1923–1937), Eastern League (1938–1963), New York–Penn League ( ...
of the Eastern League, founded in 1923, became a farm club of the New York Yankees in 1932, and sent many players to New York through 1968, when the team folded. Notably, the
Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
pitcher
Whitey Ford Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (October 21, 1928 – October 8, 2020), nicknamed "the Chairman of the Board", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played his entire 16-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees. ...
was a starting pitcher for the Triplets in 1949.


Football

Binghamton has also been home to two semiprofessional football teams, the Broome County Dragons (members of the Empire Football League) and the Southern Tier Green Machine (members of the North American Football League). In addition, two women's football teams called Binghamton home; the Binghamton Tiger Cats (members of the Independent Women's Football League) and the Southern Tier Spitfire (members of the
Women's Football Alliance The Women's Football Alliance (WFA) is a semi-pro full-contact women's American football league in the United States. Founded in 2009, it is the largest 11-on-11 football league for women in the world, and the longest running active women's ...
). As of 2015, none of these teams play. Founded in 2018, the Broome County Stallions play as part of the Northeastern Football Alliance.


Golf

The B.C. Open was an official
PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...
event held annually from 1971 to 2005 at Endicott's En-Joie Golf Course. (Note that the 2006 B.C. Open had to be played in Verona, N.Y. due to extensive damage during the June 2006 Flooding of the Susquehanna River.) Beginning in 2007, the area hosted a PGA Tour Champions event, the
Dick's Sporting Goods Open The Dick's Open is a golf tournament held in Endicott, New York, United States as part of the PGA Tour Champions. It debuted in July 2007, supplanting the B.C. Open, a former PGA Tour event from 1971 through 2006. It is sponsored by Dick's Sportin ...
. The event replaced the B.C. Open and continues to be played at En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott.


Hockey

Professional hockey arrived in Binghamton in 1973 with the founding of the
Broome Dusters The Broome Dusters were an ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League. They played in Binghamton, New York, United States at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. The team logo was designed by Johnny Hart, artist of the comic stri ...
of the
North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 50th season of operation in 2024–25. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternati ...
. The Dusters were known for their wide-open style of play, which was unusual in professional hockey at the time. While crowds were sparse at the beginning of the 1973 season, the team's popularity grew and the strength of the Dusters fan base, combined with continuous sellouts, led ''
The Hockey News ''The Hockey News'' (''THN'') is a Canadian-based ice hockey magazine. ''The Hockey News'' was founded in 1947 by Ken McKenzie and Will Cote and has since become the most recognized hockey publication in North America. The magazine has a reader ...
'' to declare Binghamton as Hockey Town USA. When the league folded in 1977, the Providence team of the
American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...
moved to Binghamton and became the
Binghamton Dusters The Binghamton Dusters were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Binghamton, New York, USA at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. The team logo was designed by Johnny Hart, artist of the comic strip " B.C." an ...
. The team became the
Binghamton Whalers The Binghamton Whalers were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League, playing in Binghamton, New York, USA, at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. History The Whalers were generally a successful team, making the playoffs seven ti ...
from 1980 to 1990 and the
Binghamton Rangers The Binghamton Rangers were a former United States, American professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Binghamton, New York, USA at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. History The market was previously serv ...
from 1990 to 1997 as a result of affiliations with the
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
's (NHL)
Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its 25-year existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1 ...
and
New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...
. Later the
Binghamton Senators The Binghamton Senators were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that played from 2002 to 2017. Nicknamed the B-Sens, they played in Binghamton, New York, at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. The B-Sens w ...
who were the AHL affiliate of the
Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...
were formed. The B-Sens won division titles in 2003 and 2005, reached the AHL conference finals in 2003 and won the
Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League (AHL). It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In it ...
in 2011. The B-Sens sent players such as
Jason Spezza Jason Rocco Anthony Spezza (born June 13, 1983) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre and current assistant general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. Spezza played 19 career seas ...
, Robin Lehner, Chris Kelly, Jakob Silfverberg, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau to the NHL. The B-Sens relocated to Canada for the 2017–18 season. When the Senators were relocated, the NHL's
New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...
brought their AHL franchise to the city as the
Binghamton Devils The Binghamton Devils were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that played from 2017 to 2021 as the top minor league affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s New Jersey Devils. During the 2017–18 and 2 ...
with home games at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. The B-Devils left Binghamton in 2020 during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and then relocated as the
Utica Comets The Utica Comets are a professional ice hockey team based in Utica, New York. They are members of the North Division in the Eastern Conference of the American Hockey League (AHL) and affiliated with the National Hockey League's (NHL) New Jersey D ...
in 2021. An expansion team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) called the Binghamton Black Bears replaced the Devils at the Veterans Memorial Arena starting with the 2021–22 season. In May 2024, the Binghamton Black Bears won the Commissioner's Cup, sweeping the
Carolina Thunderbirds The Carolina Thunderbirds were a professional ice hockey team located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. The Thunderbirds played their home games at the old Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum before the arena was demolished in 1989. ...
3-0 in the
best-of-five There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the ''single elimination'', the ''best-of-'' series, the ''total points series'' more commonly kn ...
FPHL Finals.


Tennis

The area was home to an annual Professional Tennis Challenger, the Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger, part of the
USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national Sport governing body, governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and devel ...
pro circuit (Known as the
Frito-Lay Frito-Lay, Inc. (; ) is an American food company that manufactures, markets, and sells snack foods. It began in the early 1930s as two companies, Fritos, the Frito Company and Lay's, H.W. Lay & Company, that merged in 1961. Frito-Lay itself merg ...
Tennis Challenger in years past) and
ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour (known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series) is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...
, from 1994 to 2019. Tennis greats such as
Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) fo ...
, James Blake and, more recently,
Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professio ...
found their start with this tournament, using it as a springboard to the
U.S. Open (tennis) The US Open Tennis Championships, commonly called the US Open, is a hardcourt tennis tournament organized by the United States Tennis Association annually in Queens, New York City. Grand Slam tennis the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbl ...
.


NCAA sports

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
plays Division I college sports as a member of the
America East Conference The America East Conference (AmEast) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference is headquartered in Boston, Massachu ...
. Division III College Sports are played at
Broome Community College SUNY Broome Community College (BCC or SUNY Broome) is a public community college in Broome County, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY). The college was founded in 1946 and has gone through several name changes. The sc ...
. Bobby Gonzalez, former head coach of Seton Hall's men's basketball team was born here, and still has family in the area. King Rice, head basketball coach at
Monmouth University Monmouth University is a private university in West Long Branch, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1933 as Monmouth Junior College, it became Monmouth College in 1956 and Monmouth University in 1995 after receiving its university charter, c ...
, attended
Binghamton High School Binghamton High School, a combined high school of the previous Binghamton North High School and Binghamton Central High School, is a large public high school located in the center of Binghamton, New York. The school is culturally diverse, with ...
.


Motorsports

Since 1978 a round of the
American Motorcyclist Association The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) is an American nonprofit organization of more than 200,000 motorcyclists that organizes numerous motorcycling activities and campaigns for motorcyclists' legal rights. Its motto, mission statement is "t ...
's
Motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...
Championship has taken place at the nearby Broome-Tioga Sports Center. This round of the series recently moved to Texas and is no longer hosted by the Broome-Tioga Sports Center. They also host the New York State Motocross Championships each fall and many other semi-pro events throughout the season.


Parks and recreation

Binghamton is known for its bicycling and walking clubs, facilities, and trails. The Binghamton River Trail is an urban trail starting at Confluence Park, where the rivers merge, and traveling alongside the Chenango River, past the Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade and Noyes Island, up to Cheri A. Lindsey Park in the North Side.


Government

Since its incorporation as a city in 1867, Binghamton has been a municipality with a "strong" mayor–council form of government. The city government, originally housed in the old Municipal Building on Collier Street (now the Grand Royale Hotel), is now based at the Binghamton City Hall which occupies the west-wing of Government Plaza on the corner of State and Hawley streets. The mayor and councilors are elected to four-year terms and are limited to serving two terms. The Binghamton City Council is a unicameral body of seven Council members whose districts are defined by geographic population boundaries.


Executive

The mayor of Binghamton is Jared M. Kraham (R).


Education


Primary and secondary education

The public Binghamton City School District is the largest school district in the metropolitan area, with about 5,000 students enrolled . The district consists of
Binghamton High School Binghamton High School, a combined high school of the previous Binghamton North High School and Binghamton Central High School, is a large public high school located in the center of Binghamton, New York. The school is culturally diverse, with ...
, two middle schools, and seven elementary schools. While the district maintains an
International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...
program and has received several academic awards, it is classified as high needs, and has had difficulty meeting several educational requirements. The Catholic Schools of Broome County, a private school district affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse, operate
Seton Catholic Central High School Seton Catholic Central is a private Roman Catholic school located on the Westside of Binghamton, New York. It is run by the Catholic Schools of Broome County, which is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. The school was ranked 14 out ...
and an elementary school in the city of Binghamton.


Higher education

The city of Binghamton is home to three
satellite campus A satellite campus, branch campus or regional campus is a campus of a university or college that is physically at a distance from the original university or college area. This branch campus may be located in a different city, state, or country, ...
es: * The downtown campus of
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
(a
State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...
), which houses the College of Community and Public Affairs. * A clinical campus of
State University of New York Upstate Medical University The State University of New York Upstate Medical University (SUNY Upstate) is a public medical school in Syracuse, New York. Founded in 1834, Upstate is the 15th oldest medical school in the United States and is the only medical school in Centr ...
, established in the city limits for third and fourth year medical students in 1979. Students spend their first two years of medical school in
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...
and then complete their training in Binghamton. * An
Empire State College Empire State University (SUNY Empire) is a public university headquartered in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Empire State University is a multi-site institution offering associate degre ...
location in the State Office Building. The city was home to the now-defunct Ridley-Lowell Business & Technical Institute, which was founded in Binghamton in 1850. The suburb of Vestal is home to the main campus of
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
. The university, one of four university centers in the SUNY system, has approximately 15,000 students. Binghamton University is a selective top-ranking public university,"America's Best Colleges 2006: National Universities: Top Schools"
, ''U.S. News & World Report'', accessed August 8, 2006
and is considered to be a
Public Ivy "Public Ivy" is an informal term that refers to public colleges and universities in the United States that are perceived to provide a collegiate experience on the level of Ivy League universities. Richard Moll in his book ''Public Ivys: A Guide ...
. It also has a large research presence, including a New York State Center of Excellence for small-scale
systems integration System integration is defined in engineering as the process of bringing together the component sub-systems into one system (an aggregation of subsystems cooperating so that the system is able to deliver the overarching functionality) and ensuring ...
. While the campus is in Vestal, many students who live off-campus find housing in the West Side. There has also been a recent push for student housing downtown to help revitalize the business district. In addition to its downtown campus, the university operates the Southern Tier High Technology Incubator in the city, and it is restoring the
New York State Inebriate Asylum The New York State Inebriate Asylum, later known as Binghamton State Hospital, was the first institution designed and constructed to treat alcoholism as a mental disorder in the United States. Located in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, NY, its i ...
on the East Side for future use. SUNY Broome (formerly Broome Community College) is just north of the city in Dickinson. A two-year SUNY college, the school has 6,000 commuter students. Formerly specializing in technical education, SUNY Broome started in downtown Binghamton and stood at the Washington Street Armory until a fire in 1951. The college built the Student Village residence hall on campus in 2014 to attract residential students. SUNY Broome also offers courses at several off-campus locations, two of which are in the city. The college is renovating the former Carnegie Library into the SUNY Broome Culinary & Event Center, which will house its hospitality programs. Davis College (formerly Practical Bible College), a
Bible college A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute or theological seminary, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christianity, Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for C ...
, is in nearby Johnson City. The Elmira Business Institute also has a Vestal campus.


Media

The ''
Press & Sun-Bulletin The ''Press & Sun-Bulletin'' is a daily newspaper serving the area around Binghamton, New York. History The newspaper was formed by the 1985 merger of ''The Evening Press'' (which was known as ''The Binghamton Press'' prior to 1960) and ''Th ...
'' is the only major daily paper in Binghamton. As of 2014, the region makes up the 159th largest
television market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
in the United States, as well as the 187th largest radio market. The market is served by TV stations affiliated with the major American
broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...
networks Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...
, including
WBNG-TV WBNG-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Binghamton, New York, United States, affiliated with CBS and The CW Plus. The station is owned by Gray Media, and maintains studios on Columbia Drive in Johnson City and a transmitter on Ingraha ...
12 (
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
/ CW), WBGH-CD 20 (
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
), WIVT 34 (
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
), and
WICZ-TV WICZ-TV (channel 40) is a television station in Binghamton, New York, United States, affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Imagicomm Communications, the station has studios on Vestal Parkway East (NY 434) in Ves ...
40 (
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
). WSKG-TV 46 is Binghamton's
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
member station, and serves a large portion of the
Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York, Upstate region of New York (state), New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary wide ...
. Most Binghamton radio stations are owned by one of three groups:
Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...
,
iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...
, or the locally based Equinox Broadcasting.


Infrastructure


Transportation

Binghamton is a major junction in the
Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Hi ...
, much as it was during the days of the railroad.
Interstate 81 Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 40, I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee, Dandridge, Tennessee; its nort ...
, a major north–south route, connects the city to Syracuse and
Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
, as well as to
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
and
Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...
. Binghamton is also the western terminus of Interstate 88, which gives a direct route to Albany.
New York State Route 17 New York State Route 17 (NY 17) is a major state highway that extends for through the Southern Tier and Downstate New York, Downstate regions of New York (state), New York in the United States. It begins at the New York–Pennsylvani ...
, the Southern Tier Expressway, is being upgraded to Interstate 86, and spans the southern border of New York, providing access to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, as well as to the western
Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York, Upstate region of New York (state), New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary wide ...
and
Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...
. Between 1953 and 1966, the state built an
arterial system An artery () is a blood vessel in humans and most other animals that takes oxygenated blood away from the heart in the systemic circulation to one or more parts of the body. Exceptions that carry deoxygenated blood are the pulmonary arteries in ...
to alleviate traffic, which includes the Brandywine Highway (
New York State Route 7 New York State Route 7 (NY 7) is a state highway in New York (state), New York in the United States. The highway runs from the New York–Pennsylvania border, Pennsylvania state line south of Binghamton (city), New York, Binghamton ...
), North Shore Drive ( New York State Route 363), and the portion of the Vestal Parkway ( New York State Route 434) within city limits. Other major thoroughfares in the city include Chenango Street, Main Street (
New York State Route 17C New York State Route 17C (NY 17C) is a state highway in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. Its western terminus is at an intersection with NY 34 in Waverly, Tioga County while its eastern terminus is at an inte ...
), and Court/Front Streets (
U.S. Route 11 U.S. Route 11 or U.S. Highway 11 (US 11) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway extending across the eastern U.S. The southern terminus of the route is at US 90 in Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refu ...
). B.C. Transit, a daily bus service provided by Broome County, offers public transportation in Binghamton and outlying areas.
Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...
students are also served by Off-Campus College Transport.
Intercity bus An intercity bus service (North American English) or intercity coach service (British English and Commonwealth English), also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public t ...
es originate from the Greater Binghamton Transportation Center, which was opened in 2010 and also serves as the B.C. Transit hub. OurBus offers bus daily service between Ithaca-Binghamton-Manhattan.
Greyhound Lines Greyhound Lines, Inc. is an American operator of Intercity bus service, intercity bus services. Greyhound operates the largest intercity bus network in the United States, and also operates charter and Amtrak Thruway services, as well as interci ...
provides direct routes to Buffalo,
Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...
, Rochester,
Scranton Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...
,
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, and
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Short Line Buses offer service to Olean,
Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...
, Utica, Albany, New York City, and
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
. Trailways of New York also has direct service to Albany and Rochester and Megabus has direct service to New York City. The Greater Binghamton Airport (
IATA code IATA codes are abbreviations that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) publishes to facilitate air travel. They are typically 1, 2, 3, or 4 character combinations (referred to as unigrams, digrams, trigrams, or tetragrams, respec ...
BGM, ICAO code KBGM) is a small regional airport, and the only area airport that offers scheduled
airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...
service. Located north of downtown, it currently has non-stop flights to
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
on
Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...
and to
Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
on
Avelo Airlines Avelo Airlines, Inc. () is an American ultra-low cost airline headquartered in Houston, Texas. It previously operated charter flights as ''Casino Express Airlines'' and ''Xtra Airways'' before transitioning to scheduled operations and rebrandi ...
. The region's
general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...
airport, Tri-Cities Airport, is to the west, in the town of Endicott. Three freight railroads serve Binghamton.
Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
serves Binghamton with its Southern Tier Main Line (the former
Erie Lackawanna The Erie Lackawanna Railway , known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route ...
mainline) and on the main line between
Schenectady Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...
and
Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...
(formerly the
Delaware and Hudson Railway The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP, which would it ...
). The
New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway , also referred to as the Susie-Q or the Susquehanna, and formerly the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, is an American Railroad classes#Class II, Class II Rail freight transport, freight r ...
maintains lines from Binghamton to Syracuse and Utica, and the Central New York Railroad offers freight service to
Port Jervis Port Jervis, named after John Bloomfield Jervis, a Roman civil engineer who oversaw the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, ...
. Binghamton has no railroad passenger service. The last scheduled service, the '' Lake Cities'' train from
Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the ...
to
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, ended on January 6, 1970. New York Senator
Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York, a seat he has held since 1999. ...
is pushing for passenger rail service between Binghamton and New York City via Scranton and the Lackawanna Cut-Off.


Utilities

Electricity and natural gas service are supplied and distributed by New York State Electric and Gas. The city's only cable provider is
Charter Spectrum Spectrum is the trade name of Charter Communications. The name is widely used by both market consumers and commercial businesses. Services that Spectrum offers include cable television, internet access, internet security, managed services, mo ...
, which also offers high-speed internet and digital phone.
Verizon Verizon Communications Inc. ( ), is an American telecommunications company headquartered in New York City. It is the world's second-largest telecommunications company by revenue and its mobile network is the largest wireless carrier in the ...
provides local telephone and internet service. Greenlight Networks offers fiber-optic internet. The City Department of Public Works handles garbage and recycling, and maintains city street lights. The city government maintains water and sewer services. Binghamton's primary source of
potable water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...
is the
Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...
, which is fed through a water treatment facility. Sewage is treated and released back into the Susquehanna downstream, at the Binghamton–Johnson City Joint Sewage Treatment Plant. The sewage plant was severely damaged by Tropical Storm Lee, and will require $90 million of repairs.


Healthcare

United Health Services (UHS) operates Binghamton General Hospital in the Southside and Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City, while Lourdes Hospital is run by Ascension Health out of St. Louis, MO. The Dr. Garabed A. Fattal Community Free Clinic is run by Upstate Medical University, and offers services with the Broome County Health Department and United Health Services. The New York State Office of Mental Health operates the Greater Binghamton Health Center, which will become a regional center of excellence for children's behavior.


Sister cities

*
Borovichi Borovichi () is the second largest town in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the Msta River in the northern spurs of the Valdai Hills, east of Veliky Novgorod, the administrative center of the oblast. As of the 2010 Census, its populati ...
,
Novgorod Oblast Novgorod Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Veliky Novgorod. Some of the oldest Russian cities, including Veliky Novgorod and Staraya Russa, are located in the oblast. The historic m ...
, Russia *
La Teste-de-Buch La Teste-de-Buch (; , ; "La Teste-of-Buch") is a coastal commune in the Gironde department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in Southwestern France.Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.
,
Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...
, France Binghamton also has a local sister city project: * El Charcón, La Libertad, El Salvador


See also

* List of people from Binghamton, New York *
National Register of Historic Places listings in Broome County, New York __NOTOC__ This is a list of the properties on the National Register of Historic Places in Broome County, New York, taken from the National Register of Historic Places for Broome County. This is intended to be a complete list of properties ...


Notes


References


External links

*
Greater Binghamton Convention & Visitors Bureau
* {{Authority control 1802 establishments in New York (state) Populated places established in 1802 * Cities in Broome County, New York Cities in New York (state) County seats in New York (state) New York (state) populated places on the Susquehanna River Ukrainian communities in the United States