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Regions of New York
Downstate New York New York City Long Island Hudson Valley (Lower)
Upstate New York Hudson Valley (Middle and Upper) Capital District North Country Southern Tier Mohawk Valley Central New York Finger Lakes Western New York
Administrative divisions Counties Cities Towns Indian reservations Villages Census-designated places Places (including hamlets)
Timelines of town creation Downstate New York Hudson Valley Capital District North Country Central New York Southern Tier Western New York
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Upstate New York is a geographic region ofNew York that lies north and northwest of theNew York City metropolitan area ofdownstate New York.^[1][2] Upstate includes the middle and upperHudson Valley, theCapital District, theMohawk Valley region,Central New York, theSouthern Tier, theFinger Lakes region,Western New York, and theNorth Country.^[3][4] Major cities across upstate New York from east to west include the state capital ofAlbany,Utica,Binghamton,Syracuse,Rochester, andBuffalo.^[4][5]

Before theEuropean colonization of theUnited States, upstate New York was populated by severalNative American tribes. It was home to theIroquois Confederacy, anindigenous confederation of six tribes, known as the Six Nations.^[6]Henry Hudson made the first recorded European exploration of the region in 1609,^[7] and theDutch erectedFort Orange (present-day Albany) in 1624, which was the first permanent European settlement in New York.^[8][9][10] The region saw many battles during theAmerican Revolutionary War, with the Iroquois split between supporters of the loyalists and supporters of the revolutionaries. After the war ended, the1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix kicked off a series of treaties and purchases that saw the Iroquois cede the vast majority of their land in upstate New York to the newly formed United States.^[11]

The 1825 opening of theErie Canal across upstate New York transformed the economy of the region and the state. The canal greatly eased the movement of goods from across the upperMidwest and the cities along theGreat Lakes through upstate New York and to the port of New York City. As a result, upstate New York became a hotbed for manufacturing during theSecond Industrial Revolution, giving birth to such firms asGeneral Electric,IBM,Kodak, andXerox. The rapid industrialization led to a large influx of immigrants seeking jobs at factories across the region. Since the mid-20th century, Americandeindustrialization has contributed to economic andpopulation decline,^[12][13] and the region is largely considered part of theRust Belt.

There are a wide variety of land uses in the region, including urban, suburban, forested preserve, and rural landscapes. Due to its vast areas of rural land, upstate also supports a strong agricultural industry, and is notable for itsdairy,maple syrup, and fruit production (especiallyapples), as well aswinemaking.^[14] Upstate New York includes a number of notable waterways, with theSusquehanna,Delaware, andHudson Rivers all originating in the region, and is bordered on its northern and western edges by theSaint Lawrence River and theGreat Lakes. As a result, the region is a significant source ofhydroelectric power (going back to the creation of the world's first hydroelectric dam byNikola Tesla atNiagara Falls) and drinking water (with multiple reservoirs serving New York City). Upstate New York is home to numerous popular tourist and recreational destinations, includingNiagara Falls, theAdirondack andCatskill Mountains, theThousand Islands, theNational Baseball Hall of Fame, and theFinger Lakes.

There is no clear official boundary between upstate New York anddownstate New York. The most expansive definition of the upstate New York region excludes only New York City andLong Island, which are always considered to be part of downstate New York; this usage is common among New York City residents and significantly less farther north.^[15] This definition is used by theDepartment of Environmental Conservation.^[16] A cheeky joke among Manhattanites is that anything north of14th Street is "upstate".^[17][18]

Another usage locates the upstate/downstate boundary farther north, at the point where New York City'ssuburbs segue into itsexurbs, as the exurbs do not generally fall within theCensus Bureau-definedNew York–Newark Urban Area. This latter boundary places most of the Lower Hudson Valley, orWestchester andRockland counties and about one-third ofPutnam County, downstate, while putting the northwestern edge of Rockland County as well as the northernmost quarter of Westchester County (includingPeekskill) upstate.^[19] Conversely, area residents often useInterstate 84 to delineate a boundary between upstate and downstate New York.^{[citation needed]}

Yet another usage follows the U.S. Census definition of theNew York metropolitan area prior to 2010, which includes all of included Westchester, Rockland, andPutnam counties. This definition was used by theplaintiffs in the federalredistricting caseRodriguez v. Pataki.^[20]

In New York state law, the definition of the upstate boundary also varies: while Westchester is seemingly always considered downstate under state law, some definitions include Rockland and Putnam counties in the downstate region, and others also includeOrange andDutchess counties; all of these counties are served byMetro-North Railroad lines.^[15][4]Ulster County, and, in the largest state-defined extent of downstate,Columbia County, are also sometimes included.^[15] The division line between theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New York and theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of New York placesSullivan County and Dutchess County in the Southern District, and Ulster and Columbia counties in the Northern District.^[21]

Residents of upstate New York typically prefer to identify withsubregions, such as theHudson Valley (Middle and Upper), theCapital District, theMohawk Valley, theNorth Country,Western New York orCentral New York.

Within New York, surveys have had difficulty determining a consensus. In a 2016 poll of New York voters in which respondents were asked to choose among four definitions of where upstate begins, three were about equally common, selected by between 25% and 30% of respondents each: north of New York City, north of Westchester County, and north ofPoughkeepsie inDutchess County. (The fourth, which also started north of Poughkeepsie but excludedBuffalo as a unique region neither upstate nor downstate, drew only 7%.)^[22] An informal 2018 poll found theHudson Valley region is the most heavily disputed area regarding whether it is upstate or downstate.^[23]

A number of businesses and institutions in the area have "upstate" as part of their name.^[24][25] Examples of this include theState University of New York Upstate Medical University inSyracuse, the Upstate New York Chapter of theArthritis Foundation serving 31 ofNew York's 62 counties,^[26] and the VA Healthcare Network Upstate New York, which includes all of New York State northward and westward fromKingston inUlster County.^[27] Other organizations in New York with "upstate" in their name include the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association (now known as theLiberty League), theUpstate Correctional Facility, theUpstate New York Club Hockey League, theUpstate New York Synod, and theUpstate Citizens for Equality.

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Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was long inhabited byIroquoian-speaking people, mainly west of theHudson River and around theGreat Lakes andAlgonquian-speaking people, mainly east of the Hudson River. The conflict between the two peoples continued through the period of early European colonization, and the French, Dutch and English tended to ally with their trading partners among the indigenous peoples. The Haudenosaunee orIroquois confederacy of the Five (later Six) Nations was a powerful force in its home territory.

The Five Nations' territory extended from the Mohawk River Valley through the western part of the state and into current Pennsylvania. From this home base they also controlled at various times large swaths of additional territory throughout what is now the northeastern United States. TheGuswhenta (Two Row Wampum Treaty), made with the Dutch government in 1613, codified relations between the Haudenosaunee and European colonizers, and formed the basis of subsequent treaties.

In the mid-17th century, during theBeaver Wars, the Iroquois were victorious and dominated the tribes ofNeutral Indians,Wenrohronon and theErie Indians in western New York. Survivors were mostly assimilated into theSeneca people of the Iroquois; some are believed to have escaped toSouth Carolina, where they merged with other Indian tribes.

The region was important from the first days of bothFrench andDutch colonization in the seventeenth century. TheNew Netherland colony encompassed the Hudson Valley from Manhattan island north to the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, whereFort Orange (later Albany) was established in 1624. The fort atSchenectady was built in 1661. The upper Hudson Valley was the center of much of the colony'sfur trade, which was highly lucrative, serving a demand for furs in Europe.

North and west of New Netherland, the French established trading posts along the St. Lawrence River and as far south as the shores ofOnondaga Lake. They found both trading and proselytizing difficult among the Haudenosaunee, asSamuel de Champlain had alienated the Haudenosaunee during military forays fromNew France. In the 1640s, threeFrench Jesuit missionaries to New France—St.René Goupil, St.Isaac Jogues, and St.Jean de Lalande—were killed near the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, which was located at the confluence of theSchoharie and Mohawk rivers, where the modern hamlet ofAuriesville was later developed. They are considered to be the first threeU.S. saints.

England seized New Netherland by force in 1664, renaming it New York. The Dutch recaptured the colony nine years later, but ceded it to England under theTreaty of Westminster of 1674.

In the eighteenth century, the British consolidated their hold on the region.William Johnson, a Scottish trader, established an estate in the Mohawk Valley, living among the Mohawk, learning their language, and forging an alliance with them. He was appointed as the British Indian agent to the Iroquois. The British also encouraged settlement in the Mohawk Valley by other Europeans, includingGerman Palatines beginning in the 1720s.

In what became known as theAlbany Congress in 1754, delegates from seven of the thirteen British North American colonies met at Albany to pursue a treaty with the powerful Mohawk.Benjamin Franklin, a Pennsylvania delegate, proposed a plan for uniting the seven colonies that greatly exceeded the scope of the congress. The delegates spent most of their time debating thisAlbany Plan of union, one of the first attempts to form a union of thecolonies "under one government as far as might be necessary for defense and other general important purposes".^[28] The delegates approved an amended version, but the colonies rejected it.

To counter the French militarily, the British established forts along Lake Ontario and at portages between the Mohawk Valley and the adjacent Lake Champlain and Lake Ontario watersheds. The region became the area for many conflicts of theFrench and Indian War, such as theBattle of Fort Oswego (1756) and theSiege of Fort William Henry (which was later depicted in the work ofJames Fenimore Cooper), during theSeven Years' War.

The British conquered New France by 1760 with thefall of Quebec. France formally ceded New France to the British in theTreaty of Paris of 1763. The same year,King George III issued theRoyal Proclamation of 1763, which established the western and northern boundary of the Province of New York at the limits of the Hudson, Mohawk and Delaware River watersheds. The area between that boundary and the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River, including west of the Appalachian Mountains, was to be the "Indian Reserve."

Between 1774 and 1783, deeply divided colonists waged civil war on each other directly and by proxy, through attacks such as the Seneca-ledCherry Valley and the Mohawk-ledCobleskill massacre. In 1779, theSullivan Expedition, a campaign by the Continental Army ordered by GeneralGeorge Washington, drove thousands of the Haudenosaunee from their villages, farms and lands in the region in an effort to both avenge and prevent such attacks.

The region was strategically important to the war plans of both the British and the Continental forces. British efforts to divide the New England colonies from the rest led to battles including theBattle of Valcour Island and theBattle of Saratoga, a significant turning point in the war. While New York City remained in the hands of the British during most of the war, the upstate region was eventually dominated by the Colonial forces. At the end of the war, the Continental Army was headquartered inNewburgh. Uncertain that the Continental Congress would pay back wages, some Continental officers threatened an uprising in what became known as theNewburgh Conspiracy.

After the American Revolution, theTreaty of Paris established the border between New York andBritish North America. The 45th Parallel became the border with Quebec orLower Canada. The St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, the Niagara River and Lake Erie became the border withUpper Canada. Great Britain continued to occupy military installations along the American shores of the Great Lakes until 1794, including Fort Niagara at the mouth of the Niagara River and Fort Ontario at the mouth of theOswego River.

The government of the new State of New York seized the property of New Yorkers who hadremained loyal to the British crown. Thousands emigrated to colonies that remained under British rule, such asNova Scotia and the newly established Upper Canada (nowOntario). Haudenosaunee who had fought with the British also fled. The British Crown granted a large tract of land in Upper Canada to their Haudenosaunee allies, who established theGrand River settlement.

In the federalTreaty of Canandaigua, the new United States recognized the title of the remaining Haudenosaunee to the land north and west of the Proclamation Line of 1763. Nevertheless, New York state officials and private land agents sought through the early 19th century to extinguish Indian title to these lands via non-Federally-sanctioned treaties, such as theTreaty of Big Tree.^[29] TheTreaties of Buffalo Creek were designed to finally remove the last of the native claims in Western New York as part of the federalIndian Removal program, but the purchaser failed to buy most of the land in time, and some of the tribes objected to their exclusion. Three of the four reservations remain in the region to this day; one of the reservations leased out their land to form the city ofSalamanca, and the coexistence of the predominantly white city and the reservation has been a source of contention since the 1990s.

Both before and after the Revolution, boundary disputes with other colonies and their successor states also complicated American settlement. In conflict with theNew York Colony's claims west of the Hudson Valley, which placed the entire region in the sprawlingAlbany County, theProvince of Pennsylvania claimed much of theSouthern Tier until 1774, while theMassachusetts Bay Colony claimed all of the region west of Massachusetts to theGreat Lakes.

The Province of New York also claimed jurisdiction east to theConnecticut River. To pursue this claim north of Connecticut and Massachusetts, New York granted lands to settlers in what is now Vermont at the same time thatNew Hampshire made grants of the same lands. When Vermont declared independence in 1777, the newRepublic of Vermont recognized the New Hampshire grants over those of New York. New Yorkers who lost land in Vermont came to be known as the "Vermont Sufferers" and were granted new lands in 1788 in the town ofBainbridge, New York.

The dispute withMassachusetts over lands to the west of Massachusetts was settled in the 1786Treaty of Hartford by dividing the rights to the land. The treaty granted sovereignty to the State of New York, but granted to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the "pre-emptive" right to seek title to the land from the Haudenosaunee. The eastern boundary of the Massachusetts lands was thus known as thePreemption Line. This line runs from the Pennsylvania line due north to Lake Ontario, passing throughSeneca Lake. The line was surveyed a second time due to initial errors. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts sold this land in large tracts, including thePhelps and Gorham Purchase and theHolland Purchase.

Many of the settlers of what then became Central and Western New York came from the New England states. TheCentral New York Military Tract, where many of the townships were given the names of classical military and literary figures byRobert Harpur, was established to grant land to Revolutionary War veterans. Some of Northern New York was founded by the hundreds of Canadian exiles who had fought in theFirst andSecond Canadian Regiments of theContinental Army, who were banished from Canada due to their rebellion against the Crown.

Battles of theWar of 1812 (1812–1815) were fought on theNiagara Frontier; in theChamplain Valley, including theBattle of Plattsburgh; in theSt. Lawrence Valley; and onLake Ontario, including theBattle of Sackett's Harbor. British forces also burnt Buffalo in retaliation for the American destruction ofNewark in Canada.^[30] After the war, the US government began to constructFort Montgomery just south of the border atRouses Point on Lake Champlain. Subsequently, it was discovered that at that point, the actual 45th parallel was three-quarters of a mile south of the surveyed line, putting the fort, which became known as "Fort Blunder", in Canada. This was not resolved until 1842 with theWebster–Ashburton Treaty, in which Great Britain and the United States decided to leave the border on the meandering line as surveyed.

Slavery existed inNew Netherland and theProvince of New York. New York was in the 1690s the largest importer of slaves among the American colonies. Slavery did not end with theAmerican Revolution, althoughJohn Jay introduced an emancipation bill into the State Assembly as early as 1777.Sojourner Truth was held as a slave in theHudson Valley from the time she was born in 1797 until she escaped in 1826. Through efforts of theNew York Manumission Society and others, New York began to adopt a policy of gradual emancipation in 1799. The law passed in 1817 that would finally emancipate slaves did not take effect for ten years, giving slaveowners an entire decade to sell their slaves away to other states. When the law finally took effect, the last 2,800 slaves in New York State were emancipated on July 4, 1827.

Although routes for travel on foot and by canoe had existed across the region for hundreds of years, transportation of agricultural goods to market was expensive and slow. Influenced by the canals being built in Britain, leading citizens of New York began to press for the construction of a canal across the state. GovernorDeWitt Clinton prevailed upon the legislature to charter and fund construction of a canal from Albany to Buffalo. Construction of theErie Canal began in 1817 and was completed in 1825. The canal allowed the area to become an important component of the 19th century industrial expansion in the United States. The canal also promoted trade withBritish North America and settlement of newer states in western territories. Later in the century theNew York Central Railroad followed the "water-level route" from New York City to the Great Lakes, contributing to the industrialization of cities along its route.

Several times in the nineteenth century, upstate New York served as a staging area and refuge for Canadian rebels against Great Britain, as well as Irish-American invaders of Canada, straining British–American relations. In 1837 and 1838, in the aftermath of theLower Canada Rebellion, someQuébécois rebels escaped south to the North Country, while on theNiagara Frontier, events of theUpper Canada Rebellion, also known as thePatriot War, took place. In the late 1860s, some of theFenian raids were launched across the Niagara Frontier;Fenians also assembled inMalone.

Although now largely discredited, the report of the 1905–1907Mills Commission, charged with investigating theorigins of baseball, namedCooperstown as the place wherebaseball was invented in the 1830s or 1840s byAbner Doubleday. Cooperstown is the home of theNational Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. (Modern research suggests that the game was actually developed in its modern form in New York City.)

In the pre–Civil War era, upstate New York became a major center of radicalabolitionist activity and was an important nexus of theUnderground Railroad. Resistance to theFugitive Slave Act was particularly heated in the region, as evidenced by such events as theJerry Rescue. The Americanwomen's rights movement was also born in upstate New York at this time. TheSeneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention, was held atSeneca Falls in 1848. TheRochester Convention, the second such convention, was held two weeks later inRochester.

Through the nineteenth century, upstate New York was a hotbed of religious revivalism. A number of sects, such as theShakers and theOneida Community, established themselves in upstate New York during that time. This led evangelistCharles Grandison Finney to coin the term the "Burned-Over District" for the region. Because of the comparative isolation of the region, many of the sects wereNonconformist, and because of their non-traditional tenets they had numerous difficulties with government and other local people. The region is considered to be the cradle ofMormonism. TheMormons,Seventh-day Adventists andSpiritualists are the only 21st century survivors of the hundreds of sects created during this time; some more mainstream churches, such as theWesleyan Church andFree Methodist Church (both offshoots of Methodism that originated in political disputes with the mainlineMethodist church), also survive.

In the 19th century, extractive industries changed the landscape.Potash was manufactured as the land was cleared for farming.Logging was rampant in the Adirondacks.Iron was mined in the Adirondacks and the North Country. By the 1870s, business leaders, concerned about the effect of deforestation on the water supply necessary to the Erie Canal, advocated for the creation of forest preserves in the Adirondacks and the Catskills. TheAdirondack Park andCatskill Park were created and strengthened by a series of legislation between 1885 and 1894, when the "forever wild" provision of theNew York State Constitution was added.

During the era immediately following World War II, upstate reached what was probably its peak influence in the national economy. Major local corporations such asIBM,General Electric,Kodak,Xerox andCarrier had national success, producing cutting-edge products for business, government and consumers, and leadership in corporate culture. The opening of theNew York State Thruway in the mid-1950s gave the region superior access to other eastern markets. This regional advantage faded as many local firms relocated certain operations to other states, or downsized in the face of foreign competition, similar to events in other areas in the AmericanRust Belt. There have, however, been recent efforts at economic revitalization. In April 2021,GlobalFoundries, a company specializing in thesemiconductor industry, moved its headquarters fromSilicon Valley, California to itssemiconductor chip manufacturing facility inMalta, New York.^[31]

Since the late 20th century, with the decline of manufacturing and its jobs, the area has generally suffered a net population loss, most heavily in Western New York.^{[citation needed]} By contrast, manyAmish andMennonite families are recent arrivals to the area and have helped revive agriculture as part of the economy. Beginning in 1974, many Mennonite families moved to thePenn Yan area ofYates County fromLancaster County, Pennsylvania, seeking cheaper farmland. Amish communities have also been established in St. Lawrence,Montgomery,Chautauqua andCattaraugus counties, and are making farming profitable.

Artisans are reviving traditional specialty cheeses and developing growing markets for their products, including shipping some items to the New York metropolitan market. A Greek-style yogurt,Chobani, is being produced upstate by a recent immigrant, who has expanded his operation nationally.

Additionally, upstate New York continues to boast low crime rates, high educational prospects, and readily affordable daily essentials, earning Syracuse, Rochester, Albany,Schenectady, and Buffalo spots in theForbes magazine list of top ten places to raise a family in the United States.^[32]

Five of the six Iroquois nations have filed land claims against New York State (or have sought settlement of pending claims), based on late 18th-century treaties following theAmerican Revolutionary War with theState of New York (which did not have constitutional authority to treat with American Indian nations) and the United States.

The headwaters of theDelaware,Susquehanna,Mohawk, Hudson, andAllegheny rivers are located in the region. Several regions upstate are characterized by major mountain ranges, large lakes, and extensive forests.

TheAllegheny Plateau extends into west and central New York from the south. TheCatskill Mountains lie within Lower New York in the southeastern part of the state, closer to New York City. The Catskills and the Allegheny Plateau are part of theAppalachian chain. By contrast, Northern New York contains theAdirondack Mountains, which are sometimes mistaken as part of the Appalachians but are in fact a southern extension of theCanadian Shield.

In the more mountainous eastern parts of upstate New York, along the valleys of the Hudson River and theMohawk River, have been historically important travel corridors and remain so today. Western New York in the vicinity of Buffalo is very flat, as it was once the bottom of a glacial lake. The only "hills" inNiagara County are theNiagara Escarpment, which formed theFalls.

Upstate New York has a long shared border with the Canadian province ofOntario stretching from Western New York across Northern New York. It is primarily divided by water boundaries alongLake Erie, theNiagara River,Lake Ontario and theSt. Lawrence River. At the conflux of New York, Québec and Ontario lies the Mohawk Nation of Iroquois. To the east, across the remainder of the North Country region, New York shares a land border with the province ofQuébec.

Upstate counties and towns are generally larger in area and smaller in population, compared with those downstate, although there are exceptions. The state's smallest county in population (Hamilton County) and largest county in area (St. Lawrence County on the state's northern border) are both in upstate New York, within the North Country andThousand Islands regions of northern New York. The counties with the largest in population (Kings County) and smallest in area (New York County) are both parts of New York City.

Upstate New York is well known for its cold and snowy winters, particularly in comparison to the more temperate climate of downstate New York. The snowy reputation is especially true for the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Oswego and Syracuse, and is largely due tolake-effect snow from Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The villages ofOld Forge andSaranac Lake, both in the Adirondacks, often vie on winter nights with places likeInternational Falls, Minnesota, andFargo, North Dakota, for the coldest spot in the nation.^[33]

Many of the features of upstate New York landscapes, such as theFinger Lakes and thedrumlins that dot the region, are the result ofglaciers during theIce Age.

Niagara Falls in theNiagara Falls National Heritage Area

• Albany (state capital) -Schenectady -Troy (Capital District)
• Binghamton (Triple Cities)
• Buffalo -Cheektowaga (largest metropolitan area with the largest city (Buffalo))
• Elmira
• Glens Falls
• Ithaca
• Kingston
• Poughkeepsie -Newburgh -Middletown
• Rochester
• Syracuse (Central New York)
• Utica -Rome (Mohawk Valley)
• Watertown -Fort Drum

• Adirondack Mountains
• Capital District (Albany and the surrounding area)
• Catskill Mountains
• Central-Leatherstocking Region (includesCooperstown)
• Central New York (Syracuse and the surrounding area)
• Finger Lakes (betweenRochester andSyracuse)
• Holland Purchase
• Hudson Valley (excluding Rockland and Westchester counties)
• Mohawk Valley (includesUtica andSchenectady)
• North Country (northern frontier of New York)
• Shawangunk Ridge
• Ski country (the northern boundary of the Southern Tier, includesCortland,Clymer andEllicottville)
• Southern Tier (just north ofPennsylvania, excluding the Catskills; includesBinghamton,Corning andElmira)
• Tug Hill
• Western New York (the westernmost tip; includesBuffalo,Niagara Falls,Jamestown, and sometimesRochester)

As of 2020, the population of New York State was 20,201,249, with 14,045,410 living in theNew York metropolitan area, leaving 6,155,839 for the entire rest of the state. This would mean if upstate New York was a state it would the 20th most populated state in the U.S., while the New York metropolitan area would be the 4th most populated state in the U.S. Upstate New York with its larger area has a population density much lower than downstate. By area, upstate is typified by farmland and forest, many large lakes, and two (major) mountain ranges, with metro areas dotting the map. Residents ofEnglish colonial ancestry are common, as well asGerman,Irish, andItalian, with most metropolitan counties having a similar number of residents from each group.

The North Country is heavilyFrench Canadian. Italian Americans are the largest ethnic group inOneida County andSchenectady County, as well as in some counties in theHudson Valley that are closest toNew York City. Irish Americans represent the largest ethnic group from the Capital District, Syracuse, Binghamton, and the rest of the Hudson Valley, though the regions also have large Italian American populations. Irish population is consistently above 15% in most of upstate New York (reaching over 20% in the upper Hudson Valley), compared to less than 8% in most of New York City.^[53]

Buffalo and Utica also contain notably large contingent of residents withPolish and other Slavic ancestries.African Americans, and Americans of African descent, while not as numerous as in New York City, make up at least 25% of the residents in cities such as Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany.

There is also a significant presence of the indigenousHaudenosaunee or Six Nations in the region, who retain enclaves of tribal land: theSeneca Nation andTonawanda Seneca Nation in Western New York, theOnondaga nation south of Syracuse and theOneida nation of Oneida County in Central New York, and in the North Country, theMohawk Nation caught betweenFranklin County,Ontario, andQuébec. Members of the Six Nations also live across upstate New York outside of tribal lands.

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The median household income across New York State was $75,157 in 2021, however most upstate counties fall short of the statewide average.^[54][55] As of January 2023, the minimum wage in New York State, excluding New York City, Long Island, andWestchester County is $14.20 per hour, with a plan to increase the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour.^[56] There are two Fortune 500 companies located in upstate New York:Constellation Brands, inVictor, inOntario County, andCorning Inc.^[57] Depending on the definition of upstate, there are nine or tenforeign trade zones in upstate New York (nine are located in counties almost always considered upstate, and one is located inOrange County).^[58] The upstate economy remains behind the economy of the New York Metropolitan Area, and downstate represented 88 percent of the job growth for the entire state.^[59] Between 2010 and 2018, job growth inBrooklyn alone exceeded that of upstate New York.^[60]

Upstate New York boasts a sizeable mining sector. New York State is among the top third of states in the United States by value of minerals produced, much of which is from upstate regions.^[61]Central New York is a major salt producing area, contributing to the state's position as the third largest producer of salt in the U.S.^[62] Additionally, New York State ranks first in the production ofgarnet, the state gemstone, and is the only state that produceswollastonite.^[63][64] Mining of these two minerals within New York takes place entirely within upstate counties.^[65][66] Logging is also an important sector in the region. In 2019, New York State produced 124 million cubic feet of timber, 50.4% of which was sugar maple wood.^[67] Sawmills producing wood in New York are almost all within the upstate region.^[68]

Upstate New York also has a substantive outdoor recreation industry. The Adirondack Park, by far the largest in the state, is annually visited by between 7 and 12 million people, a greater number than annually visit theGrand Canyon.^[69] In 2020, over 241,000 jobs in New York State were supported by the outdoor recreation industry, and the sector plays an especially important role in rural parts of the state.^[70] New York State has the largest number of ski resorts in the United States at 52.^[71] The majority of these are located in upstate New York, and by most definitions of the region, it contains more than ski resorts than Michigan, the state with the next highest total.^[72][73]

A number of agricultural products are grown in upstate New York, includingdairy, corn, hay, fruits, cabbage, and potatoes.^[74] The region has a significant dairy industry, and New York State is the largest producer of yogurt, cottage cheese, and sour cream and third-largest producer of dairy overall in the United States.^[75][76]Chobani, the largest producer of yogurt in the United States, is located in upstate New York.^[77] The region is also a significant producer of wine. New York State produces the second most wine of any state, the majority of wine produced being from upstate regions (85% of which was produced in the area surrounding theFinger Lakes).^[78] New York State is also the second-largest producer of apples, snap peas,maple syrup, and cabbage in the United States, with agricultural output of these goods being highest in upstate counties.^[79][80]

Upstate New York also has a significant manufacturing sector. A number ofsemiconductor manufacturers are located in the region, including the headquarters and a manufacturing facility ofGlobalFoundries, the world's fourth largest semiconductor manufacturer, inMalta, inSaratoga County.^[81] Other facilities entering the region include aMicron location inClay, inOnondaga County, and aWolfspeed facility inMarcy, inOneida County.^[82][83] In addition to semiconductor manufacturing, upstate New York has notable glass production. Corning Inc., one of the largest glassmakers in the world and the developer ofGorilla Glass, is located inCorning, New York.^[84] In the late nineteenth century, the region was considered one of the centers of glassmaking in the country, earning Corning the name "The Crystal City".^[85][86] Other manufacturing includesTesla'sGigafactory 2 in Buffalo.^[87]

Upstate New York has a significant energy sector, and the region accounts for over half of the energy production in the state.^[88] The majority of upstate electricity produced comes from nuclear and renewable sources.^[89] In 2017, these sources accounted for 91% of energy produced in the upstate region, as defined by the New York State Independent Systems Operator.^[90] New York State as a whole is the third highest producer ofhydroelectric power in the United States, the majority of which is produced in upstate.^[91][92] The third-largest conventional hydroelectric power plant in the United States,Robert Moses Niagara Hydroelectric Power Plant, is located in the region.^[93] Upstate New York also produces all of the state'snuclear energy, and all three of New York State's Nuclear Power Plants are located upstate after the closure of theIndian Point Energy Center in 2021.^[94][95] Nuclear Power, the second largest in-state mode of electricity generation, is produced at theJames A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant and theNine Mile Nuclear Power Plant, both inScriba, and theR.E. Ginna Plant, inOntario, NY.^[96][97] Other major modes of energy production in the region include wind, and natural gas.^[98]

The other regions of New York are culturally and economically distinct from the New York City area and in many ways from each other. By area, most of New York is characterized by agricultural and forested rural communities, and by small and medium-sized cities and their surrounding suburbs located along major transportation corridors. The state's major metropolitan areas outside of New York City are Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany-Schenectady-Troy, each of whose population exceeds 500,000.

The different regions of New York are influenced by and have affinities with other adjacent regions. Western New York has cultural and economic ties to the otherGreat Lakes states as well asSouthern Ontario and is effectively, along with Northwestern Pennsylvania, an eastward extension ofMidwestern United States culture. TheCapital District, the Hudson Valley, theMohawk Valley and thePlattsburgh area have ties toNew England. The North Country, the extreme northern portion of the state, also has strong cultural, economic, linguistic and familial ties toQuebec andEastern Ontario. Thus, Plattsburgh has close ties to its neighbors in theMontreal area as well asVermont. Much of New York receives television and radio broadcasts from Canada, and there are often other cross-border ties, both historical and familial. A similar relationship can be seen in northernNew England.

Upstate New York from Western New York east toUtica is linguistically part of theInland North region of American English dialectology, a region which includes Midwestern cities as far west asChicago andMilwaukee. The Hudson and lower Mohawk Valley regions have more in common dialectologically with western New England and New York City.^[99] The boundary betweenthe use of the wordspop andsoda to refer to soft drinks falls farther west than the edge of the Inland North, running just to around the city of Rochester. Buffalo and areas west of Rochester usepop, like the rest of the Inland North to the west, whereas areas east of Rochester, like Syracuse and Binghamton, usesoda, like New England and New York City. In Ithaca and Elmira, the border is less clear, with some people having grown up withpop and some withsoda; however, current trends see Ithaca, at least, turning to mostly "soda".

Foodways indigenous to regions of upstate New York include:^{[100][101][102]}

• Buffalo wings andbeef on weck sandwich (Buffalo)
• Cornell chicken barbecue (Ithaca)
• Garbage Plate (Rochester)
• whitehot dogs, known as awhite hot or Coney (Rochester, Central and Western New York)
• salt potatoes (Syracuse)
• spiedies (Binghamton)
• chicken riggies,tomato pies,Utica greens, andhalfmoon cookies (Utica)
• Michigan hot dogs, a variety of theConey Island hot dog (Plattsburgh)

Although legends lay claim that thepotato chip was invented in Saratoga Springs, it has achieved such universal popularity that it is no longer identified with the region.Winemaking is a growing industry in theFinger Lakes as well as in Chautauqua County, whereWelch's operates one of theoldest extant grape juice factories in the United States. In the center of the Finger Lakes region,Ithaca is known for the Bo Burger, a cheeseburger with a fried egg on top.

Two of the most importantrock festivals of the 20th century were held in upstate New York. In 1969 theWoodstock Festival was held inBethel, New York, while in 1973 anothermultiday festival was held at theWatkins Glen International Raceway.

Some literary, documentary and cinematic depictions of upstate present a sense of small town, simple lifestyles, such asIt's a Wonderful Life, set in a small upstate town (probably based onSeneca Falls) in the 1940s.

Often attributed to the region's semi-rural to rural character, there is moreconservatism in culture and politics than found in the more urban downstate area, and the region is the power base of the state'sRepublican Party. Upstate New York does, however, have severalDemocratic-dominated counties, includingErie County (Buffalo),Monroe County (Rochester),Onondaga County (Syracuse),Tompkins County (Ithaca), andAlbany County (Albany).

As a whole, upstate New York is roughly equally divided in federal elections between Democrats and Republicans. In2004,John Kerry defeatedGeorge W. Bush by fewer than 1,500 votes (1,553,246 votes to 1,551,971) in the upstate region.

New York City is dependent on upstate New York for a variety of services: the latter is the source of the city's water supply via theDelaware Aqueduct and theCatskill Aqueduct; much of the city's electric power supply comes from state-ownedhydroelectric plants at Niagara Falls and theSt. Lawrence River; and most of the state's prisons are upstate; hence the popular term "being sent up the river" (however, the term originally referred toSing Sing, which is "up the Hudson River" from New York City, but being inOssining inWestchester County is still in the "downstate" region). Conversely, the operation of state facilities providing these services is an important part of the upstate economy.

State University of New York (SUNY)

United States Military Academy at West Point

• Downstate Illinois
• Hoaxes and legends of upstate New York
• List of people from New York (state)
• Northern Michigan
• Outline of New York
• Sports in upstate New York
  • Bills–Jets rivalry

• Eisenstadt, Peter, ed. (2005). "Syracuse".The Encyclopedia of New York State.Syracuse University Press.ISBN 0-8156-0808-X.
• Koch, Daniel (2023).Land of the Oneidas: Central New York State and the Creation of America, From Prehistory to the Present. Albany: State University of New York Press.
• Vidich, Arthur J.; Bebsman, Joseph (1968).Small Town in Mass Society: Class, Power, and Religion in a Rural Community. University of Illinois Press.ISBN 0252068904. (Excerpt focused on 1945–1960 inIthaca, New York)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Upstate New York.

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• New York History Net
• Oral History of Franklin County, history of Franklin County, New York, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
• TGR Forum Passionate debate devoted to defining the spatial and cultural extent of "Upstate" New YorK, -

• Upstate New York
• Regions of New York (state)

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