Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY 4.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Cohoes works elsewhere
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 21.9 in Albany. Employers in Cohoes report 3,060 jobs; 7,680 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Cohoes are C for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Cohoes
Commutes from Cohoes are quick
The average trip to work takes 25 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Most Cohoes residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Why Cohoes gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cohoes is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #587 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Cohoes’ grade up (ahead of 80% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (25.9%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cohoes could be anywhere from C− to B−.
A commute of about 25 minutes in Cohoes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cohoes workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,252 commuters (the 12% 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.
Cohoes’ commute, mile by mile
About 18% 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.
Who works in Cohoes, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 7,149 residents head out to work, 531 work right here, and 2,529 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Cohoes on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
22% of working residents work in Albany
Where Cohoes clocks in
22% of workers
18% 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 Cohoes’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cohoes, 2013 → 2023: 3,067 → 3,060. 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 Cohoes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Cohoes
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cohoes is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #148 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Cohoes 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 8,201 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 96% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 44% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 76% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 14.4% of Cohoes households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Cohoes’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Cohoes is 1,557th of 1,915 U.S. towns of 13,000 to 25,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 77 | Garden City NY | 23,043 | $244K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Victor NY | 16,422 | $116K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,555 | Forest Park GA | 19,168 | $41K | 20.3% | 5.7% | 6% | C |
| 1,556 | North Platte NE | 22,524 | $58K | 15.4% | 3.9% | 64% | C |
| 1,557 | Cohoes NY | 18,518 | $61K | 25.9% | 5.8% | 7% | C |
| 1,558 | Berea KY | 16,662 | $59K | 17.9% | 4.2% | 24% | C |
| 1,559 | Pineville LA | 13,967 | $50K | 21.1% | 3.3% | 14% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,915 | 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 Cohoes, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
The towns next door employ 23% of Cohoes
The biggest share goes to Colonie (18%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cohoes workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cohoes | – | C | A | 25 min | $61,145 |
| Colonie | 18% | A− | A− | 20 min | $101,676 |
| Waterford | under 3% | B+ | B | 24 min | $87,089 |
| Green Island | under 3% | C− | A+ | 23 min | $59,406 |
| Green Island | under 3% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Troy | 5% | C− | A+ | 21 min | $58,477 |
Same-state neighbors only. Green Island: the same community as the village of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cohoes’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 Cohoes: questions
What is the median household income in Cohoes?
$61,145 (±$5,893) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cohoes?
25.9%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cohoes?
25 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cohoes work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albany (22%, 9 mi), Colonie (18%, 5 mi), Troy (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cohoes walkable?
Cohoes is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.0 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cohoes without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 44% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cohoes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cohoes
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.