For a small town, Ithaca is frequently heralded on lists of “Best” places in the United States – best place to live, best small town, best college town, smartest town, etc. Situated at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Ithaca offers small town life with big city culture. A place of great natural beauty (surrounded by gorges, waterfalls and lakes), Ithaca boasts a wide range of dining options, theatre and music, eclectic shopping, and educational opportunities.
Just to give you a taste, Ithaca has recently been named / ranked:
- #4 Best College Town by the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), January 2017
- #2 Best Small College Town by USA Today, April 2016
- Best Places to Live by Men’s Journal, March 2016
- Ithaca named Coffee Capital of New York State, January 2016
- Healthiest City in NY State by 24/7 Wall Street, September 2015
- Robert H. Treman State Park named Best Swimming Spot in New York State, March 2015
- The Finger Lakes wine region is ranked as the Number One Wine Region to Visit in America by Thrillist, April 2016
For a complete listing of accolades, go to: http://www.visitithaca.com/top-10s.html
Cornell University has received a few fun accolades of its own recently:
- #15 on list of Best Colleges by US News, 2017
- #9 in producing “Unicorn” Founders by Sage, February 2017
- “unicorn” is used as a term for a billion-dollar start-up
- #9 on the list of Top US Colleges by the Wall Street Journal, September 2016
- #3 for Best Campus Food by Princeton Review, 2016
- #8 for Best College Newspaper by Princeton Review, 2016
- Cornell has the 8th Tallest University Clock Tower by Best College Reviews
- Cornell in the Top 30 list of LGBTQ-friendly Colleges and Universities by Campus Pride, 2016