Since launching in 2010, Instagram has carved out a strong place in the American mind; the average person spends around 30 minutes a day on the app and website. The platform has had a historical emphasis on visually documenting experiences that are tied to people and locations, thanks to its geo-tagging feature. As the platform has evolved, it’s become much more than just a platform for pushing out messages and marketing; it’s a reflection of where people of all ages are spending time and creating memories.
As a New York marketing agency that’s not in New York City, we’re specifically interested in how Instagram is used in all of the small cities of New York State; not just in measuring how many photos different cities have, but comparing it to their relative population size.
The following list ranks New York’s 62 Most-Instagrammed Cities per capita; i.e., the number of geo-tagged Instagram photos divided by the population of the city.
1. Hudson, NY
220,000 Posts*
Population: 5,894 (37.3 posts per capita)
The cities up and down the Hudson River are going to be well-represented on this list.
Originally a whaling town, Hudson was built up into a shipping and manufacturing hub in the 1800s. It was at a great central location to Albany, with a water connection to the Midwest via the Erie Canal, and it was still accessible from New York City. A testament to its beauty is found at the Olana State Historic Site (22,800 posts), the landscape that was shaped and architected by Hudson River School standout Frederic Church.
He once wrote, “I have made about 1 ¾ miles of road this season, opening entirely new and beautiful views—I can make more and better landscapes in this way than by tampering with canvas and paint in the studio.”
Although it’s hard to capture the sublimity of a Church painting in an Instagram post, it doesn’t stop people from trying. Some local hotspots with the most photos, as well as content creators, include the Maker Hotel (6,253 posts), Wm Farmer and Sons (4,338 posts) and Stair Galleries (3,133 posts).
2. Beacon, NY
406,000 Posts
Population: 13,769 (29.5 posts per capita)
We last looked into Beacon’s Instagram scene in 2017, and many of the insights are still true today. Dia:Beacon (228,000 posts), Mount Beacon (14,500), Long Dock Park (24,600) and The Roundhouse (31,600) have historically carried Beacon as the most-Instagrammed locations. Some other entrants include Bank Square Coffeehouse’s outdoor ambience (5,400 photos), dramatically staged beer pours at Industrial Arts Brewing Company (2,400 posts), and the red-tinged moodiness at Quinn’s Restaurant (6,100).
3. Long Beach, NY
780,000 Posts
Population: 35,029 (22.3 posts per capita)
Known as “The City by the Sea,” Nassau County’s Long Beach combines laid-back coastal charm with an urban vibe, making it a beloved destination for day-trippers and locals alike. Its legendary boardwalk catches some amazing sunsets, and there are no shortage of surf shots from Skudin Surf, gratuitous food pictures at eateries like Brixx & Barley (9,600 posts) and Bungalow Bar (24,100), and libations at Bright Eye Beer Co (2,660).
4. Ithaca, NY
709,000 Posts
Population: 32,108 (22.1 posts per capita)
Ithaca is home to Cornell (149,000 posts); ever heard of it? In addition to Ithaca College (115,000 posts) some favorite locations for Instagrammers in the region include over 9,000 posts at Ithaca Falls, flights at Ithaca Beer Company (14,200) and outings to Ithaca Commons (23,100).
5. Saratoga Springs, NY
620,000 Posts
Population: 28,491 (21.8 posts per capita)
A city of 28,000 in New York’s Capital District, the slogan of Saratoga Springs is “Health, History and Horses.” The health comes from the hundreds of years of history of people revering local mineral springs (like at Congress Park, 3,100 posts) for alleged healing properties. The history comes from the Revolutionary War: pivotal battles took place nearby. And the horses come from the longtime presence of the Saratoga Race Course (143,000 posts). Also, potato chips were invented here.
Many photos are taken at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (131,000 posts), the Adelphi Hotel (10,400 posts) and Skidmore College (53,200 posts).
6. Niagara Falls, NY
815,000 Posts
Population: 48,671 (16.7 posts per capita)
Niagara Falls, the city, is built around Niagara Falls State Park (778,000 posts), the world-caliber destination and Moses Niagara hydroelectric plant (479 posts), which is the largest power producer in New York State at 2.4 GW. In a fun connection to Hudson, NY (#1 on this list), the same people that designed Olana, like Frederick Olmstead, Calvert Vaux and Frederic Church, also designed Niagara Falls State Park.
Beyond the falls and its stalwart boat the Maid of the Mist (35,000 posts) some local hotspots include pictures of wings at the Anchor Bar (1,700 posts), performances at the Hard Rock Cafe (11,000 posts) and gratuitous sandwich shots at Power City Eatery (2,000 posts).
7. Rye, NY
217,000 Posts
Population: 16,592 (13.1 posts per capita)
Rye is actually the smallest city in New York State by area. It’s known for being the childhood home of John Jay (1,759 posts) and is home to the Boston Post Road Historic District, home to five distinct properties like pre-Civil War mansions and a nature preserve.
Capitol Theatre (96,500 posts), Playland Park (68,500 posts), Edith Read Wildlife Sanctuary (6,000 posts), Rye Town Park (7,800 posts) are some of the highlights for local and visiting Instagrammers alike.
8. Kingston, NY
296,000 Posts
Population: 24,069 (12.3 posts per capita)
Our stomping grounds, Kingston was the first community that we completed a Most-Instagrammed list for back in 2015. After working with many local businesses, political figures, movements and government agencies of all shapes and sizes, and seeing various trends and currents comes and go, the aspect of Kingston that holds up the best is its historical character; as a “hotbed of perfidy” against the British in the Revolutionary War, as a major shipping port between Scranton’s coal mines and New York City, and as a gateway to the Catskills.
Kingston’s Stockade District (8,907 posts) is well-represented by Friends of Historic Kingston, while the Thomas Cornell’s steamboat building is now host to Ole Savannah Table and Bar (5,100 posts).
9. Poughkeepsie, NY
365,000 Posts
Population: 31,577 (11.6 posts per capita)
We last wrote about Poughkeepsie’s Most-Instagrammed locations in 2016. In it, we found that this Hudson River city has its Instagram posts driven by its students: Marist College (130,000 posts), Vassar College (73,700 posts) and SUNY Dutchess (8,009 posts) are all well-represented in academia, while the Walkway Over the Hudson (53,700 posts), the defunct (for now) Chance Theater (22,500 posts) and Mid-Hudson Civic Center (14,900 posts) provide popular photography spots for residents and visitors a like.
10. Buffalo, NY
278,349 Posts
Population: 278,349 (11.5 posts per capita)
Josh Allen. Some of the Instagram hotspots in the Queen City include Shea’s Performing Arts Center (59,200 posts), wing porn at Duff’s Famous Wings (8,939 posts), food and nightlife at Tappo (11,700 posts) and performances at Town Ballroom (44,600 posts) and Mohawk Place (15,900 posts).
11. Rochester, NY
2,400,000 Posts
Population: 211,328 (11.4 posts per capita)
A leading misperception in upstate New York history is the branding of Rochester as the “garbage plate” city. A spin through its 2.4 million Instagram posts show it has much more to offer: including the Frederick Law Olmstead-designed landscapes at Highland Park (30,400 posts), the world-class University of Rochester (153,000 posts), the views from the Genesee Brew House (11,500 posts), the environs at the George Eastman Museum (31,500 posts) and the beautiful infrastructure at the Cobbs Hill Reservoir (17,500 posts).
12. Oneonta, NY
143,000 Posts
Population: 13,079 (10.9 posts per capita)
We covered a number of Oneonta Instagram hotspots in our article about the Catskills’ Most-Instagrammed Places. Some hotspots include Neahwa Park (3,444 posts), Jimmy T’s Cocktail Lounge (4,792 posts), Red Jug Pub (1,525 posts), and the educational anchors of SUNY Oneonta (81,000 posts) and Hartwick College (20,800 posts).
13. Albany, NY
1,000,000 Posts
Population: 99,224 (10.1 posts per capita)
We covered Albany in our post about the Capital Region’s Most-Instagrammed Places; hotspots include SUNY Albany (152,000 posts), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (58,700 posts), College of Saint Rose (28,800 posts), MVP Arena (119,000 posts), Albany International Airport (33,500 posts),
14. Newburgh, NY
278,000 Posts
Population: 28,856 (9.6 posts per capita)
Besides Mount Saint Mary’s College (31,700 posts), Newburgh is home to Instagram hotspots like the riverfront Billy Joe’s Ribworks (26,600 posts) and Blu Pointe restaurant (12,000 posts), taco merchants Hudson Taco (10,500 posts), the fashionable Cream Newburgh (7,784 posts), the brewchacho experts at Newburgh Brewing Company (16,200 posts), and of course, the irreplaceable history at Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site (2,044 posts).
15. Geneva, NY
115,000 Posts
Population: 12,812 (9.0 posts per capita)
In the Finger Lakes, the “uniquely urban” Geneva, NY is represented by resort pictures at Geneva On The Lake (4,427 posts), the beachy vibes at Seneca Lake (12,800 posts), and the vibrant academic scene at Hobart and William Smith Colleges (54,300 posts).
16. White Plains, NY
522,000 Posts
Population: 59,559 (8.8 posts per capita)
With over half a million posts, the City of White Plains is far more than just a suburb of New York City; it’s where New York State’s Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and the site of a key battle by George Washington’s army against the British. Its most-Instagrammed places range from serene hiking spots like Cranberry Lake Preserve (6,424 posts), the site of world-class performances at Westchester County Center (46,300 posts), gain shots at the New York Sports Club (6,881 posts) and clubbing at the Brazen Fox (14,300 posts).
17. New York City, NY
76,900,000 Posts
Population: 8,804,190 (8.7 posts per capita)
This is where NYC nets out on our list.
18. Corning, NY
81,500 Posts
Population: 10,551 (7.7 posts per capita)
Corning’s Instagram activity is largely focused on the Cornell Museum of Glass (80k+ posts), “the world’s largest collection of glass, and is a center for glass art, history, and science.”
Here’s the full list of the data we collected:
| City | Population | # of Posts | Posts Per Capita |
| Hudson | 5,894 | 220,000* | 37.3 |
| Beacon | 13,769 | 406,000 | 29.5 |
| Long Beach | 35,029 | 780,000 | 22.3 |
| Ithaca | 32,108 | 709,000 | 22.1 |
| Saratoga Springs | 28,491 | 620,000 | 21.8 |
| Niagara Falls | 48,671 | 815,000 | 16.7 |
| Rye | 16,592 | 217,000 | 13.1 |
| Kingston | 24,069 | 296,000 | 12.3 |
| Poughkeepsie | 31,577 | 365,000 | 11.6 |
| Buffalo | 278,349 | 3,200,000 | 11.5 |
| Rochester | 211,328 | 2,400,000 | 11.4 |
| Oneonta | 13,079 | 143,000 | 10.9 |
| Albany | 99,224 | 1,000,000 | 10.1 |
| Newburgh | 28,856 | 278,000 | 9.6 |
| Geneva | 12,812 | 115,000 | 9.0 |
| White Plains | 59,559 | 522,000 | 8.8 |
| New York City | 8,804,190 | 76,900,000 | 8.7 |
| Corning | 10,551 | 81,500 | 7.7 |
| Oswego | 16,921 | 127,000 | 7.5 |
| Syracuse | 148,620 | 1,100,000 | 7.4 |
| Plattsburgh | 19,841 | 141,000 | 7.1 |
| Binghamton | 47,969 | 322,000 | 6.7 |
| Troy | 51,401 | 343,000 | 6.7 |
| Peekskill | 25,431 | 164,000 | 6.4 |
| Cortland | 17,556 | 111,000 | 6.3 |
| Middletown | 30,345 | 183,000 | 6.0 |
| Port Jervis | 8,775 | 52,500 | 6.0 |
| Glens Falls | 14,830 | 88,000 | 5.9 |
| Watertown | 24,685 | 145,000 | 5.9 |
| Tonawanda | 15,129 | 88,300 | 5.8 |
| New Rochelle | 79,726 | 450,000 | 5.6 |
| Amsterdam | 18,219 | 84,600 | 4.6 |
| Yonkers | 211,569 | 977,000 | 4.6 |
| Little Falls | 4,605 | 20,900 | 4.5 |
| Glen Cove | 28,365 | 128,000 | 4.5 |
| Mount Vernon | 73,893 | 306,000 | 4.1 |
| Norwich | 7,051 | 27,000 | 3.8 |
| Lockport | 20,876 | 77,200 | 3.7 |
| Olean | 13,937 | 48,700 | 3.5 |
| Utica | 65,283 | 228,000 | 3.5 |
| Johnstown | 8,204 | 28,400 | 3.5 |
| Schenectady | 67,047 | 222,000 | 3.3 |
| Sherrill | 3,077 | 10,100 | 3.3 |
| Hornell | 8,263 | 27,100 | 3.3 |
| Jamestown | 28,712 | 88,200 | 3.1 |
| Auburn | 26,866 | 80,000 | 3.0 |
| Mechanicville | 5,163 | 15,200 | 2.9 |
| Elmira | 26,523 | 75,300 | 2.8 |
| Rensselaer | 9,210 | 25,200 | 2.7 |
| North Tonawanda | 30,496 | 82,000 | 2.7 |
| Canandaigua | 10,576 | 12,400 | 1.4 |
| Salamanca | 5,929 | 14,300 | 2.4 |
| Dunkirk | 12,743 | 30,600 | 2.4 |
| Cohoes | 18,147 | 43,400 | 2.4 |
| Watervliet | 10,375 | 24,200 | 2.3 |
| Oneida | 10,329 | 23,100 | 2.2 |
| Fulton | 11,389 | 23,000 | 2.0 |
| Rome | 32,127 | 62,700 | 2.0 |
| Ogdensburg | 10,064 | 18,100 | 1.8 |
| Gloversville | 15,131 | 24,900 | 1.6 |
| Batavia | 15,600 | 20,600 | 1.3 |
| Lackawanna | 19,949 | 21,100 | 1.1 |
Hudson, NY’s raw total of posts is 322,000; however, historically, it has been used by people visiting the Hudson River or the Hudson Valley. Upon doing a sampled analysis of thousands of posts, we determined that the real number is closer to 220,000, which is still enough to be #1 on this list.
