The following people are from Syracuse, New York.

• Keith B. Alexander – four-star general in the Army and director of the National Security Agency
• Jabe B. Alford – mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
• Will Allen – professional football player
• Jeff Altman – stand-up comedian and actor
• Maltbie Davenport Babcock – clergyman and author
• Dylan Baker – actor
• John William Barker – brigadier general in the Army^[1]
• Marcus H. Barnum – lawyer, businessman, and politician
• Bill Beagle – state senator for the 5th district of the Ohio
• Kathryn Beare – professional baseball player
• John Berendt – author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
• Carlyle Blackwell – silent film actor, director, and producer
• Andray Blatche – professional basketball player
• Scott Blewett – professional baseball player
• Richard Bock – jazz record producer
• Tyvon Branch – professional football player
• Charles F. Brannock – inventor and manufacturer
• Frederick C. Brower – locksmith, inventor, and businessman
• Rick Brunson – professional basketball player and coach
• Ben Burtt – sound designer, film director and editor, screenwriter, and voice actor
• Marty Byrnes – professional basketball player
• Georgia Campbell – professional baseball player
• Jean Campbell – professional baseball player
• Eric Carle – children's author
• Jimmy Cavallo – musician
• Rory Cochrane – actor
• Michael Cole – professional wrestling commentator
• Jimmy Collins – professional basketball player and college coach
• Jackie Coogan – actor and comedian^[2]
• Bruce Coville – children's author
• Tom Cruise – Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe Award-winning actor and producer
• Rick Cua – singer, songwriter, bassist, author, and ordained minister
• Kelly Cutrone – publicist, television personality, and author
• Mabel Potter Daggett – writer, journalist, editor, and suffragist
• Robert De Niro Sr. – abstract expressionist painter and father of actor Robert De Niro
• Mark Didio – professional football player
• Blanche Dillaye – artist
• Bill Dinneen – professional baseball player and umpire
• Frank DiPino – professional baseball player
• Jo-Lonn Dunbar – professional football player
• Robert F. Engle – economist and winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics
• Joe English – musician, vocalist, and songwriter
• Jeanette Epps – aerospace engineer and NASA astronaut
• Walter Farley – author of The Black Stallion
• David B. Feinberg – writer and AIDS activist
• Thom Filicia – interior designer
• Jon Fishman – drummer and founding member of Phish
• Eliot Fisk – classical guitarist
• Frank Gabrielson – stage, film, and television writer
• John L. Gaunt – photographer and winner of the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Photography
• Richard Gere – Golden Globe Award-winning actor
• Helena Theresa Goessmann – lecturer, academic, and writer
• Bobcat Goldthwait – actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter
• David Greenman – actor
• Henry Grethel – fashion designer, merchandiser, and marketer
• Bob Gualtieri – law enforcement officer, lawyer, and politician
• Borys Gudziak – metropolitan-archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia
• Jaclyn Hales – actress^[3]
• Muhammad Hassan – professional wrestler
• Michael Herr – writer and war correspondent
• Theodore Hesburgh – president of the University of Notre Dame
• Mary Dana Hicks – art educator
• Siobhan Fallon Hogan – actress and comedian
• Bob Holz – drummer and composer
• Jimmy Howard – professional ice hockey player
• Charley Hyatt – college basketball player
• David Jennings – member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Grace Jones – model, singer, and actress
• Mark Kaplan – violinist
• John Katko – attorney and politician
• Megyn Kelly – journalist and media personality
• Mr. Kenneth – world's first celebrity hairdresser
• Tom Kenny – actor and comedian
• Doris Kenyon – actress
• Phyllis Kirk – actress
• David Klein – confectioner and developer of Jelly Belly
• Zane Lamprey – comedian, actor, writer, editor, and producer
• Dorsey Levens – professional football player
• Alex Levinsky – professional ice hockey player
• Claire Luce – actress
• Clifford Luyk – professional basketball player and coach
• Gordon MacRae – actor, singer, and television and radio host
• Joe Magnarelli – jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist
• Post Malone – rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer
• Christopher Maloney – singer-songwriter, bass guitarist, and music educator
• Louis Marshall – corporate, constitutional, and civil rights lawyer
• Frank Matteo – professional football player
• Edna May – actress and singer
• Terry McAuliffe – businessman and politician
• William McCoy – sea captain and rum-runner
• Johnny Messner – actor
• Stephen Montague – composer, pianist, and conductor
• Darin Morgan – screenwriter
• David Muir – journalist and the anchor of ABC World News Tonight
• Jonathan Murray – television producer and co-creator of The Real World
• James Nachtwey – photojournalist and war photographer
• Richard Neer – disc jockey and sports radio personality
• Sal Nistico – jazz tenor saxophonist
• Joy Osofsky – clinical and developmental psychologist
• Camille Paglia – social critic and author
• Doe Paoro – singer-songwriter
• Greg Paulus – college basketball player and coach^[4]
• Steve Perry – musician
• Marco Pignalberi – politician^[5]
• Rocco Pirro – professional football player and politician
• Jon Ratliff – professional baseball player
• Mark Reed – physicist and professor
• Jamel Richardson – professional football player
• Mike Rotunda – professional wrestler best known as Irwin R. Schyster
• Ellis Rubin – attorney
• Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage – philanthropist who established the Russell Sage Foundation
• Louis J. Salmon – football player and head coach of the University of Notre Dame
• Danny Schayes – professional basketball player
• George Schuyler – writer, journalist, and social commentator
• Scott Schwedes – professional football player
• Scorey – rapper, singer, and songwriter
• Ray Seals – professional football player
• Rod Serling – screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator
• Martin Sexton – singer-songwriter and music producer
• Craig Shirley – political consultant and author
• Edward C. Stearns – entrepreneur and industrialist^[6]
• Breanna Stewart – professional basketball player
• Ed Stokes – professional basketball player
• Joseph Stolz – rabbi
• Kevin Surace – technology innovator and entrepreneur
• Bob Swan – business executive and CEO of Intel
• Charles W. Sweeting – businessman and politician^[7]
• Bill Tanguay – professional football player
• Tommy Tanner – professional soccer player
• Tsquared – professional gamer
• Toosii – rapper and singer
• Tony Trischka – five-string banjo player
• Jimmy Van Heusen – composer who authored the jazz standard "Darn That Dream"
• Frank Whaley – actor, film director, screenwriter, and comedian
• John Wilkinson – engineer and inventor^[8]
• Christopher Woodrow – entrepreneur, financier, and movie producer
• T. M. Wright – author

• L. Frank Baum – children's author best known for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Chittenango)
• Joey Belladonna – singer best known as the vocalist for Anthrax (Oswego)
• Grover Cleveland – served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States (Fayetteville)
• Tim Connolly – professional ice hockey player (Baldwinsville)
• Ronnie James Dio – singer and member of Black Sabbath and Rainbow (Cortland)
• Pete Dominick – political comedian and talk radio personality (Marcellus)
• Joel Farabee – professional ice hockey player (Cicero)
• Matilda Joslyn Gage – activist known for her contributions to women's suffrage and abolitionism (Fayetteville)
• Irving Gill – pioneer modern architect in Southern California (Tully)
• Tim Green – professional football player, radio and television personality, and author (Liverpool)
• Thomas Harley – professional ice hockey player (Jamesville)
• Mike Hart – professional football player and college coach (Nedrow)
• Gary Holland – musician best known for being the original drummer of Great White (LaFayette)
• Tim Locastro – professional baseball player (Auburn)
• Dave Mirra – professional BMX rider (Chittenango)
• Harvey A. Moyer – entrepreneur and founder of H. A. Moyer Automobile Company (Clay)^[9]
• Bert E. Salisbury – businessman and president of Onondaga Pottery Company (Geddes)^[10]
• Horatio Seymour – politician and 18th governor of New York (Pompey)^[11]
• Alex Tuch – professional ice hockey player (Baldwinsville)
• John Walsh – television personality and host/creator of America's Most Wanted (Auburn)

• Hervey Allen – author best known for Anthony Adverse, which was made into a movie of the same name, resided in an extant house on James Street
• Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews – author best known for a widely read short story about U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, The Perfect Tribute, resided at Wolf Hollow, the Andrews estate in Taunton
• Carmelo Anthony – basketball player at Syracuse University who delivered the program’s first NCAA Championship in 2003
• Danny Biasone – founding owner of the NBA's Syracuse Nationals in 1946
• Joe Biden – served as the 46th president of the United States; graduated from Syracuse University College of Law in 1968
• Lucy Wood Butler – pioneer temperance leader, who was the first president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of New York, lived in Syracuse for more than 50 years
• DeWitt Clinton – served as mayor of New York City and the sixth governor of New York; played a significant role in the construction of the Erie Canal^[12]
• Elizabeth Cotten – folk and blues musician who lived much of her later life in Syracuse and for whom a bronze statue is dedicated
• Asa Danforth – early settler who built a gristmill and sawmill that contributed to the growth of Onondaga County^[13]
• Asa Danforth Jr. – early settler, land speculator, and highway engineer^[13]
• Herbert H. Franklin – entrepreneur and automobile manufacturer for whom Franklin Square is named^[14]
• James Geddes – engineer, surveyor, and politician instrumental in the planning of the Erie Canal who was also at the forefront of the development of the salt industry at Onondaga Lake beginning in 1794^[15]
• Theodore E. Hancock – lawyer and politician who served as district attorney of Onondaga County from 1890 to 1892^[16]
• Bucky Lawless – professional boxer based in Syracuse from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s
• Simon Le Moyne – Jesuit priest who, in 1655, founded a mission known as Sainte Marie de Gannentaha, and for whom Le Moyne College is named
• Jermain Loguen – key contributor to the Underground Railroad who helped make Syracuse a leading abolitionist city
• Pierre-Esprit Radisson – explorer and coureur des bois who traveled into Onondaga territory to aid Le Moyne and operate his mission^[17]
• C. Hamilton Sanford – businessman and president of the Syracuse Trust Company and co-founder of Sanford-Herbert Motor Truck Company^[18]
• Kim Simmonds – musician and founder of the English blues rock band Savoy Brown
• Comfort Tyler – early settler, businessman, and politician for whom Comfort Tyler Park is named^[19]
• William Van Wagoner – bicycle racer and automobile designer^[20]
• David Foster Wallace – author who wrote much of his landmark novel Infinite Jest while living in an apartment on Kensington Road across from the food co-op
• Ephraim Webster – first white settler in Central New York who arrived in 1786 to an area later named Syracuse^[21]
• John Wilkinson – lawyer and politician who gave Syracuse its name and founded the Syracuse Bank^[22]
• Steve Wynn – casino and hotel tycoon who attended The Manlius School