Finger Lakes
South Lansing, New York
South Lansing is a hamlet — a community without a village government of its own — in Tompkins County, part of New York's Finger Lakes region, with about 1,100 residents at the 2020 census.
Eleven glacial lakes lined with waterfalls, gorges, and the state's biggest wine country. South Lansing sits in that part of the state.
- Type
- Hamlet (CDP)
- County
- Tompkins
- Region
- Finger Lakes
- Population (2020)
- 1,078
Local Almanac
Notes in and around South Lansing
Short, sourced notes tied to this place, its county, or nearby communities.
Nearby · The Outdoors
Ulysses Has a Gorge-and-Lake Identity at Taughannock
Ulysses reads as a Cayuga Lake town with a dramatic gorge landscape at Taughannock Falls.
Read this note ->Nearby · History & Culture
Lansing's Salt Point Turns Industry Into Lakefront Memory
Salt Point explains Lansing through Cayuga Lake industry, Syrian worker families, canal-era shipping, and a reclaimed natural area.
Read this note ->Nearby · Rules & Licenses
Ulysses Building and Zoning Starts With the BCPZ Page
Ulysses keeps building permits, zoning map, flood-hazard resources, and fee-payment links under its BCPZ department.
Read this note ->Nearby · The Outdoors
The Waterfall in Town That Beats Niagara on Height
Taughannock Falls drops 215 feet straight down — taller than Niagara — and it's one of more than 150 waterfalls hiding in the gorges around Ithaca.
Read this note ->Nearby · The Outdoors
Dryden Reads Like a Rail-Trail Town
Dryden gets a practical and visual spine from a rail trail that ties village, hamlet, and town edges together.
Read this note ->Nearby · History & Culture
Cayuga Heights Was Planned as a Cornell-Edge Village
Cayuga Heights reads differently when you know it was planned as a home-focused village beside a growing Cornell.
Read this note ->Nearby · Home & Property
Ithaca Renovations Need the Building Permit Portal Early
Ithaca owners should check the city Building Division before treating electrical, demolition, tent, sign, or compliance work as informal.
Read this note ->Nearby · Rules & Licenses
Ulysses Small Structures Can Still Need Zoning and Site-Plan Attention
Ulysses rules say some small accessory buildings avoid building permits, but zoning, site plan, and other review can still matter.
Read this note ->Nearby · History & Culture
The Two Schools That Shape Ithaca
Ithaca has been a college town since Cornell University was founded here in 1865. Together with Ithaca College, the campuses give the small Finger Lakes city its outsized buzz.
Read this note ->Property tax snapshot
About $15–$28 per $1,000 in Tompkins County
Combined full-value rate — county + town/city + school district, per $1,000 of market value (FY2025). On a $300,000 home that's about $4,584–$8,478 a year before the STAR break. A hamlet has no government of its own — it's taxed at the rates of the town it sits in.
A planning estimate, not a bill. Your exact rate depends on your school district and any village. Confirm with the assessor.
Statewide links
Statewide starting points.
Good to know
- • Your assessed value usually isn't your market value — ask for the equalization rate.
- • Register for STAR; new applicants generally receive a credit instead of an automatic exemption on the bill.
- • Outside the cities, check the well, the septic, and the FEMA flood map before you buy.
Nearby
Nearby places
Tax rates: NYS Dept of Taxation & Finance (ORPTS), Real Property Tax Rates and Levy Data by Municipality, data.ny.gov dataset iq85-sdzs. (FY2025). Population: U.S. Census 2020. Reviewed June 2026. Source data ->
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