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Welcome to Watertown ...

The city of Watertown is located in the Thousand Islands/Saint Lawrence River/Seaway region.

Watertown is located in Jefferson County<1> and is the County Seat for Jefferson County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Watertown, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1804.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Watertown has a population of 24,856 people<2> (see below for details).

The community of Watertown is 460 feet [140 m] above sea level.<3>.

Time Zone: Watertown lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Watertown: 315 & 680<4>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Watertown had an population of 24,856 people. This is a decrease of 8.02% since the 2010 Census (or a decrease of 6.92% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Watertown had a population of 27,023 people (or 23.18% of the total population of Jefferson County). This makes Watertown the county's most populous community.

The population of Watertown represents 0.14% of the population of New York (which has 19,378,102 people), making it the state's 95th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 27,023 people, the population of Watertown increased 1.19% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 26,705 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Watertown.

Communities Also Named Watertown ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 20 communities that are also named Watertown - they are located in Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois (3), Kansas (3), Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Tennessee (2) and Wisconsin.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Watertown.

Websites for Watertown ...

Official Website:   www.citywatertown.org/

Chamber of Commerce:   www.watertownny.com/

Communities near Watertown ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Watertown.

  • Carthage
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carthage have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carthage
    • Carthage is located in Jefferson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,256 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Carthage <6>
  • West Carthage
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Carthage have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Carthage
    • West Carthage is located in Jefferson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,901 people
  • Clayton
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
  • Adams
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Sackets Harbor
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sackets Harbor have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sackets Harbor
    • Sackets Harbor is located in Jefferson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,376 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sackets Harbor <6>
  • Black River
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Philadelphia
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Philadelphia have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Philadelphia
    • Philadelphia is located in Jefferson County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,101 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Philadelphia <6>
  • Dexter
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Copenhagen
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Copenhagen have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Copenhagen
    • Copenhagen is located in Lewis County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 767 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Copenhagen <6>
  • Theresa
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Watertown. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Watertown.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Watertown. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Watertown.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Watertown. Our list includes 88 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Watertown.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Watertown ...

Looking for more information about Watertown? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Watertown, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Watertown.

Adding Watertown to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Watertown in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Watertown was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>

X2X - From that list, the Watertown post office opened in 1804.

We also found Watertown in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (Oct. 1846).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Watertown.

The official website for Watertown: www.citywatertown.org/

The official website for Jefferson County: www.co.jefferson.ny.us/

The official website for State of New York: https://www.ny.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of New York's counties, including Jefferson, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Watertown.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Watertown - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<4>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 315 code has been Overlayed with the 680 area code. New phone numbers in the Watertown area will be assigned with one of these codes: 315 or 680. As a result, placing a call in the Watertown area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<5>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<6>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<7>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 29 Apr 2025