Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier

Southern Tier

The Southern Tier is a geographical term that refers to the counties of New York State west of the Catskill Mountains along the northern border of Pennsylvania. It is a loosely defined term that generally includes the counties that border Pennsylvania west of Delaware County inclusive...

 of New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is near the Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna

Susquehanna River

The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...

 and Chenango

Chenango River

The Chenango River is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in central New York in the United States. It drains a dissected plateau area in upstate New York at the northern end of the Susquehanna watershed....

 Rivers. Binghamton is the county seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Broome County

Broome County, New York

Broome County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 200,600. It was named in honor of John Broome, who was lieutenant governor in 1806 when Broome County was established. Its county seat is Binghamton, which is also its major city. The current...

 and is the principal city and cultural center of the Greater Binghamton

Greater Binghamton

The Binghamton Metropolitan Statistical Area, also called Greater Binghamton, is a region of southern upstate New York in the Northeastern United States, anchored by the city of Binghamton...

 metropolitan area (also known as the Triple Cities), home to a quarter million people. The population of the city itself, according to the 2010 census, is 47,376.

From the days of the railroad

Rail transport in the United States

Presently, most rail transport in the United States is based on freight train shipments. The U.S. rail industry has experienced repeated convulsions due to changing U.S. economic needs and the rise of automobile, bus, and air transport....

, Binghamton was a transportation crossroads and a manufacturing center, and has been known at different times for the production of cigars, shoes, and high-tech products.