Livingston Profile

Livingston County:

Livingston County, formed from parts of Genesee and Ontario counties in 1821, is home to some of the region’s most picturesque Finger Lakes landscapes, as well as the highly ranked liberal arts college SUNY Geneseo. The Genesee River flows through the district; there are several beautiful lakes, Hemlock and Conesus, being the most noted. There are many streams which furnished waterpower to the pioneers, and some of these when canalized were the means of transportation in the early days. The whole country is an upland, with hills that in a few places reach an elevation of 2,000 feet; but the slopes are gentle, the terrain rolling rather than hilly, and the vast majority of its 380,665 acres are arable.

Livingston County has had growth in some sectors of the economy, and falling crime rates over the past decade, despite the economic downturn caused by the recession of 2008. Livingston maintained a high graduation rate in 2019 at 89%, but once again, performance on state tests was mixed. The teen pregnancy rate in the county was the lowest in the region at 1%. Livingston had one of the lowest mortality rates in the region.

Livingston began as an almost exclusively agricultural county, one of the foremost of the State, with agriculture and related agribusiness comprising a large and growing sector of the County’s economy. Its soil is almost universally good, being covered originally with a dense forest in which the hardwoods and deciduous trees were numerous. In particular, the dairy industry has grown in both acreage and herd size and management consolidations are occurring. In 2006, Livingston County completed its Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan that identified objectives and tactics to strengthen agricultural development.

The health care industry constitutes a significant portion of the Livingston County economy and continues to grow. The rapid pace of change can be seen in the development of senior-living complexes in Geneseo and the Livingston Health Services Ambulatory Care Center. The 2009 opening of Livingston County’s Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, a 266-bed skilled nursing facility in Mt. Morris has been successful with the center offering a transitional care unit, adult day health care, hospice, memory care and bariatric care units. An outpatient Kidney Dialysis Center in Geneseo serves county residents in need of dialysis services. Community-based solutions to providing needed services for seniors will continue to be a priority. A formal affiliation in the healthcare sector took place in Livingston County in January 2016 between Noyes Health and the University of Rochester Medical Center helping to further solidify and expand their role as a quality provider of health services.

Tourism is a key aspect of the County’s economy. Letchworth State Park, popularly referred to as the “Grand Canyon of the West,” has over 850,000 annual visitors, is a 14,000-acre destination that boasts a diverse range of terrain, hiking trails, and other outdoor activities. In 2017, Letchworth was voted USA Today Reader’s Choice for “Best Attraction in New York State” and has been named the “best State Park in the US” by USA Today. The park’s stunning scenery, gorges, miles of trails, swimming pools and facilities make it one of the region's crown jewels.

Livingston County Official Website

Livingston County Chamber of Commerce

Livingston County Census Data

All available data on the entire Genesee/Finger Lakes Region can be accessed here.