Business pulse: Tompkins County, NY
Tompkins County, NY by the numbers, counted from the public records this site reads for it. The county’s page →
- 3,438open businesses and organizations
- 90first appeared in public records in the last 12 months
- 28%possibly run from home (town only)
- 635nonprofits
- People
- 104,537
- Median household income
- $74,024
- Unemployment rate
- 4.2% (August 2026)
- Jobs in the county
- 47,754 (Q1 2026)
- Employers
- 2,717
- Average weekly wage
- $1,405
Census Bureau (American Community Survey) and Bureau of Labor Statistics.
New in public records, by quarter
Businesses open today, counted by the quarter of their earliest dated public record (1,909 of the 3,438 have one). This county’s records are matched automatically and checked less closely than Chemung’s.
Openings and closings
- 90first public record in the last 12 months (including any since closed)
- 0closings confirmed in the last 12 months
- +90net change
| Quarter | First public record | Confirmed closed | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Q4 (so far) | 5 | 0 | +5 |
| 2026 Q3 | 22 | 0 | +22 |
| 2026 Q2 | 28 | 0 | +28 |
| 2026 Q1 | 21 | 0 | +21 |
| 2025 Q4 | 17 | 0 | +17 |
| 2025 Q3 | 31 | 1 | +30 |
| 2025 Q2 | 17 | 0 | +17 |
| 2025 Q1 | 21 | 0 | +21 |
| 2024 Q4 | 24 | 1 | +23 |
First public record: a new license, registration, filing or permit, so not always an opening day. Closings count once confirmed (from a public record, the business or a visit), in the quarter of the closing date when it’s known and otherwise the quarter it was confirmed; we began confirming them in October 2026, so quarters before that show few. The net is a rough guide.
New in the last 12 months, by kind
The largest kinds of business
Where they are
Businesses with a street address, by the town in it (the largest 12). Home-based businesses aren’t counted here.
Health care
87 hospital beds and 468 nursing home beds.
Practices, clinics and facilities in the directory (individual practitioners are never listed). Beds: Medicare cost reports and nursing home records.
Liquor licenses
271 NYS Liquor Authority licenses in force at businesses in the directory.
Bank deposits at local branches
$2.9 billion held at 19 bank branches in the county, June 2026 (FDIC Summary of Deposits).
SBA-backed loans
74 7(a) and 504 loans to businesses here, $41.1 million in all, backing 695 jobs (the borrowers’ own estimates). 16 went to startups. U.S. Small Business Administration loan data; loans to individuals are left out.
SBA lenders
A 504 loan counts under its certified development company.
Commercial property
| Type | Parcels | Acres | Full market value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retail, restaurants and shopping | 626 | 1,519 | $485.7 million |
| Offices and banks | 220 | 319 | $299.4 million |
| Auto and gas | 187 | 253 | $106.5 million |
| Industrial and warehouses | 243 | 3,202 | $196.3 million |
| Hotels, apartments and mobile home parks | 1,192 | 2,476 | $2.1 billion |
| Vacant commercial and industrial land | 468 | 3,786 | $85.9 million |
| Other commercial | 32 | 328 | $10.2 million |
Commercial, industrial and vacant business parcels only (not homes), from the state’s public tax-parcel map. Market values are the assessor’s estimates.
Public money
- IDA tax-break projects
- 58
- Full-time jobs at those projects, before → latest report
- 1,375 → 1,919
- At the 28 projects that estimated new jobs, jobs added since
- +665 of 843 estimated
- Their tax breaks this year: exemptions − PILOTs = net
- $13.3 million − $4.3 million = $9.2 million
- Empire State Development awards
- $89.1 million (145)
- Total project cost, including private investment
- $300.8 million
- New jobs at the awards that report progress: created so far of promised
- 12 of 997
- Federal contracts to local businesses and organizations
- $28.1 million (17)
- Federal grants to local businesses and organizations
- $151.4 million (53)
- Open local bids
- 2
- New homes and apartments permitted this year
- 253
State Authorities Budget Office (IDA reports), USAspending.gov, the county’s bid pages and the Census Bureau’s permit survey. Public projects → · Spending and market size → · Public budgets →
Food safety
- Restaurants and food service with a recent inspection
- 197
- No violations at the last inspection
- 115 (58%)
- At least one critical violation
- 26 (13%)
New York State Department of Health (or the county health department).
What the county is known for
- Wineries, breweries and distilleries
- 23
What we know about them
From the businesses’ own websites, state records and open map data. Browse Tompkins County, NY’s businesses →