The Town of Norwich is located near the center of the county. The City of Norwich is in the northern part of the town.
The Town of Norwich was formed in 1793 from the Towns of Union (now in Broome County) and Bainbridge. Afterwards, Norwich, as a "mother town" of the county, lost substantial territory in the formation of new towns. In 1806, Norwich gave up territory to form the Towns of Pharsalia, Plymouth and Preston. More of Norwich was lost in 1807 to form part of New Berlin and part of the Town of Columbus. In 1808 and 1820, Norwich exchanged territory with the Town of Preston.
The community of Norwich set itself off from the town in 1816 by incorporating as a village and later becoming the City of Norwich.
The Chenango River flows southward through the town.
New York State Route 12, a north-south highway, intersects New York State Route 23, an east-west highway, in the City of Norwich.
There were 1,521 households out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.5% were married couples living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.0% were non-families. 20.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.88.
In the town the population was spread out with 25.5% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 27.7% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $35,357, and the median income for a family was $42,763. Males had a median income of $32,988 versus $22,817 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,474. About 8.0% of families and 13.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.6% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those age 65 or over.