Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0Unemployment in Adams (0.6%) is lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
Commuters spend 23 minutes getting to work on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. For jobs and income Adams is better than 64% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in ten stay in Adams for work; outside it, Watertown is the main destination (31%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Adams: the gist
Commutes from Adams are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
31% of Adams works in Watertown
554 working residents, 31%, have their main job in Watertown, 12 miles away. That’s 3 times as many as work in Adams itself. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Adams
Unemployment holds Adams’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 21% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Adams could be anywhere from B− to A−.
About 23 minutes each way for Adams’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Adams workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,402 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Out of Adams to work: where people go
Where Adams clocks in
Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
How a workday changes Adams
On a workday 1,619 residents head out to work, 178 work right here, and 923 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,100 people are in Adams on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.61 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The 1,101 jobs based in Adams
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Adams, 2014 → 2024: 1,254 → 1,101. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Adams’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Adams works
About 21% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
For most of Adams, work means a drive
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,667 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 14.6% of Adams households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Adams’ commuters take a bus or train.
Adams next to U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,500: 1,432nd of 3,753 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | North Hills NY | 5,481 | $173K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,430 | Eastwood LA | 4,440 | $81K | 9.6% | 3.0% | 2% | B |
| 1,431 | Wadsworth IL | 3,488 | $143K | 8.5% | 13.3% | 3% | B |
| 1,432 | Adams NY | 4,826 | $79K | 7.3% | 0.6% | 10% | B |
| 1,433 | Dickinson NY | 5,027 | $78K | 8.5% | 3.6% | 7% | B |
| 1,434 | Jackson Township PA | 4,076 | $81K | 5.5% | 3.1% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,753 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Adams, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door to Adams
The biggest share goes to Ellisburg (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Adams workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams | – | B | B+ | 23 min | $78,750 |
| Rodman | under 2% | C | D | 22 min | $82,845 |
| Henderson | under 2% | C+ | D− | 30 min | $92,400 |
| Hounsfield | 3% | B | C | 25 min | $82,981 |
| Ellisburg | 6% | C | C | 24 min | $77,115 |
| Lorraine | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lorraine: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Adams’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Adams: questions
What is the median household income in Adams?
$78,750 (±$16,686) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Adams?
7.3%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Adams?
23 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Adams work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Watertown (31%, 12 mi), Watertown (11%, 9 mi), Ellisburg (6%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Adams walkable?
Adams is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Adams without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Adams, from the people who make the trip.
More of Adams
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.