The Post-Standard was founded in 1829 as The Onondaga Standard. The first issue was published Sept. 10, 1829, after Vivus W. Smith consolidated the Onondaga Journal with the Syracuse Advertiser under The Onondaga Standard name. Through the 1800s, it was known variously as The Weekly Standard, The Daily Standard and The Syracuse Standard.

On July 10, 1894, The Syracuse Post was first published. On Dec. 26, 1898, the owners of The Daily Standard and The Syracuse Post merged to form The Post-Standard. The first issue of the newly merged paper was published Jan. 1, 1899. The merged company was based at 136 E. Genesee St. in Syracuse.

The circulation of The Post-Standard in the first quarter of 2015 was 120,363 on Sunday, 71,101 on its home-delivered days (Tuesday and Thursday), and an average of 33,000 on its non-delivery days.

In June 2015, the New York State Associated Press Association awarded The Post-Standard its Newspaper of Distinction award. The newspaper won the award five years in a row from 2005 through 2009. In the annual contest, the newspaper won more Associated Press awards than any news operation of any size in the state, with 28 awards for writing, photography and graphics.