Photo: Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0At 6.7%, unemployment in Amsterdam is higher than in 80% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 21 minutes each way, where New York has 33 and the U.S. 26. The two grades for Amsterdam are C− for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in five work in Amsterdam itself; outside it, Amsterdam draws the most (8%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Amsterdam apart on work
How Amsterdam earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Amsterdam is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #667 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Amsterdam’s grade up (ahead of 52% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.2%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Amsterdam could be anywhere from D to C.
Commuting from Amsterdam: about 21 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Amsterdam workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,386 commuters (the 11% 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.
Who commutes out of Amsterdam, and who commutes in
On a workday 5,359 residents head out to work, 1,528 work right here, and 3,897 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.79 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Amsterdam ends
Where Amsterdam clocks in
8% of workers
5% of workersLines 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.
What Amsterdam’s employers do
5,425 jobs are based in Amsterdam.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Amsterdam, 2013 → 2023: 5,636 → 5,425. 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 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Amsterdam’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Amsterdam
About 19% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Amsterdam gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Amsterdam is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #414 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Amsterdam near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,253 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). 14.5% of Amsterdam households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Amsterdam’s commuters take a bus or train.
Amsterdam and other U.S. towns of 13,000 to 24,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Floral Park NY | 16,105 | $150K | 3.0% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Garden City NY | 23,043 | $244K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 80 | Victor NY | 16,422 | $116K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,671 | Connersville IN | 13,406 | $49K | 23.4% | 3.9% | 28% | C− |
| 1,672 | Mercedes TX | 17,915 | $47K | 28.6% | 6.8% | 12% | C− |
| 1,673 | Amsterdam NY | 18,093 | $56K | 20.2% | 6.7% | 22% | C− |
| 1,674 | Oneonta NY | 15,665 | $61K | 16.6% | 6.4% | 22% | C− |
| 1,675 | Lewisburg TN | 13,517 | $48K | 19.9% | 5.5% | 30% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,822 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Amsterdam, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door to Amsterdam
The biggest share goes to Florida (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Amsterdam workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amsterdam | – | C− | B | 21 min | $56,178 |
| Florida | 5% | B− | C | 26 min | $93,008 |
| Fort Johnson | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Fort Johnson: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Amsterdam’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 2023, 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 Amsterdam: questions
What is the median household income in Amsterdam?
$56,178 (±$8,192) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Amsterdam?
20.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Amsterdam?
21 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 Amsterdam work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Amsterdam (8%, 2 mi), Florida (5%, 3 mi), Albany (5%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Amsterdam walkable?
Amsterdam is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Amsterdam without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Amsterdam, from the people who make the trip.
More of Amsterdam
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, 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.