Hector, New York.
. Seneca Falls, NY metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,478 (+116%) since Jan 2020.
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- New York$2,755
- United States$1,922
Living in Hector, Schuyler County, New York
Hector is a town of 4,895 people in Schuyler County. Half its households earn more than $79,904 a year and half less, against $67,663 across Schuyler County; 16% of its people live below the poverty line. 91% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 9% are rented. Unemployment in Schuyler County was 3.8% in August 2026, and the county had 2.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then construction.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Hector is a small town in Schuyler County in the Finger Lakes region of New York, and its residents are older than in many American communities. Nearly everyone who lives here owns their home, and household incomes run above the county's, though a noticeable part of the population still lives below the poverty line. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month, and summers are mild, with July the warmest; a fair amount of rain and melted snow falls over the year.
Work. Residents of Hector work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by the building trades, manufacturing and retail. Across Schuyler County, some of the largest workplaces are Walmart, Schuyler Hospital and the Watkins Glen Central School District. Jobs across the county grew slightly last year, and unemployment there is a little higher than it was a year earlier. A fair number of people work from home, and the typical commute is on the long side.
Things to do. Finger Lakes National Forest and Watkins Glen State Park, both protected areas, are a short drive away. Seneca Lake, one of the best known of the Finger Lakes, is a longer drive away, as is Watkins Glen International, a race track. The Corning Museum of Glass is also a longer drive for anyone who enjoys a museum.
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- 2,065households
- 37%of adults have a degree
- 16%below the poverty line
- 27 mintypical commute
- 14%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Schuyler County had 5,185 jobs in 2025, 2.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 30° and lows near 14°; warmest in July, with highs near 79° and lows near 56°. About 39 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Mecklenburg 4SW weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Schuyler County
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters236
- Schuyler HospitalCritical access hospital209FTE
- Watkins Glen Central School DistrictSchool district208FTE
- US SaltSalt evaporation204
- Welliver McGuireOffice building construction140
- Odessa-montour Central School DistrictSchool district133FTE
- Cargill Salt - Watkins GlenSalt, table, manufacturing127
- The Baillie GroupWood chips made in sawmills116
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 10 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,316 people in all across the county; Hector has none of its own. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- DroughtRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Schuyler County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Schuyler County and the Seneca Falls, NY metro.
Hector home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Hector5
Zip codes with a Hector address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Hector — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.