Binghamton is a city located in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is located in upstate New York near the Pennsylvania border, situated in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. Binghamton is the county seat of Broome County and is the principal city and cultural center of the Greater Binghamton metropolitan area (also known as the Triple Cities), home to a quarter million people. ^[1] The population of the city itself, according to the 2000 census, is 47,380. ^[2]

Binghamton has long been an important crossroads, from the days of the railroad, and was a manufacturing center of cigars, shoes, and high-tech products. IBM was founded in the region, and Edwin Link invented the flight simulator in the city, leading to a notable concentration of electronics- and defense-oriented firms. However, the city has fallen from prominence throughout the second half of the 20th century, with dramatic decreases in its manufacturing base following World War II that culminated in high-tech industry cuts at the end of the Cold War. Combined with suburbanization, Binghamton suffered a precipitous decline in fortunes, and has lost nearly half its population since peaking around 85,000 in the 1950s.

Today, Greater Binghamton is home to Binghamton University, a driving force in the community as an academic, athletic, and arts center. Despite the loss of industry, Binghamton still retains a very ethnically diverse population.