BlockBefore

Cato, New York

26 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Ira town. It lies in ZIP code area 13033. The Survey maps it on the Cato quadrangle. 517 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 459 feet above sea level.

Cato within Cayuga County

Then and now

1902 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 83 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Cato, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Cato, surveyed 1902

Population over time

2 figures

Cato fell from 532 to 517 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010532
2020517-15 (-3%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 26 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

45 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 45 fires within 5 miles of Cato between 1999 and 2020, burning about 51 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 6 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined18
Debris and open burning9
Arson/incendiarism6
Equipment and vehicle use4
Natural3
Smoking2
Recreation and ceremony2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
4 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
17 September 2019Arson/incendiarismunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
16 September 2017Debris and open burningunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
1 September 1999Smoking1.0 acresNew York Forest Rangersnot named
2 August 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
19 August 2012Arson/incendiarismunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
14 August 2020Natural4.5 acresFire Department of New YorkNA
12 August 2012Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cayuga County

Storms near this place

41 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cato in 41 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 32 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
September 1998Thunderstorm WindCato$5,000,000no account filed
April 2017FloodCato$75,000no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindCato$50,000no account filed
June 2008HailCato$25,000no account filed
June 2006Thunderstorm WindCato$20,000no account filed
June 2016Thunderstorm WindCato$15,000Law enforcement reported trees and power lines down by thunderstorm winds.
September 2013Thunderstorm WindCato$15,000Law enforcement reported trees and wires down.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindCato$15,000no account filed
July 2006Thunderstorm WindCato$15,000no account filed
August 1998Thunderstorm WindCato$12,000no account filed
June 2024Thunderstorm WindCato$10,000Multiple trees and wires downed in the Town of Cato.
June 2017Thunderstorm WindCato$10,000Law enforcement reported trees and wires downed by thunderstorm winds.
September 2012Thunderstorm WindCato$10,000Law enforcement reported trees and wires down.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindCato$10,000no account filed
June 2007Thunderstorm WindCato$10,000no account filed
June 2006Thunderstorm WindCato$10,000no account filed
July 2002Thunderstorm WindCato$10,000no account filed
July 1997Thunderstorm WindCato$10,000no account filed
August 2017Thunderstorm WindCato$8,000Law enforcement reported trees downed by thunderstorm winds.
April 2006HailCato$8,000no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindCato$8,000no account filed
September 2000Thunderstorm WindCato$8,000no account filed
August 1995Thunderstorm WindCato$7,000no account filed
August 2025Thunderstorm WindCato$5,000Several trees downed in Cato.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindCato$5,000Multiple reports of trees and wires downed in Cato.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindCato$5,000no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindCato$5,000no account filed
July 2024Thunderstorm WindCato$2,000Trees and wires downed in the Town of Cato.
August 2019Thunderstorm WindCato$2,000Trees and wires were reported down.
May 2019Thunderstorm WindCato$2,000Trees were reported down.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindCato$2,000Trees down in Cato.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindCato$1,000Report of 2 trees downed in the town of Ira.
July 2018Thunderstorm WindCato$1,000Trees down in Cato.
August 2025HailCato-Image sent with hail and tape measure.
August 2025HailCato-Hail size estimated from picture.
July 2024Thunderstorm WindCato-Large tree downed on a carport.
July 2001Thunderstorm WindCato-Emergency management reported trees and wires blown down by thunderstorm winds 3 miles south of Cato.
August 2025HailCato-no account filed
June 2022HailCato-no account filed
August 2011HailCato-no account filed
June 2008Funnel CloudCato-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cayuga County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Meridian1.9 miles26
Ira3.8 miles26
Victory4.8 miles24
Conquest5.1 miles26
Emerson5.2 miles27
Bethel Corners5.6 miles26
Floridaville6.7 miles23
Spring Lake6.8 miles24

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on CatoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3461443The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 946053. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.