Photo: Webb_Herkimer_NY.png: Schzmo *derivative work: Liesel · Public domainColumbia has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
Hardly any work in Columbia itself; outside it, Utica draws the most (9%, 15 miles). There are 52 jobs in Columbia; 643 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Columbia are B− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Columbia apart on work
Columbia’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Columbia is better than 54% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Columbia’s grade up ($90,795, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (4.8%) is left out: Columbia’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Columbia could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
In and out of Columbia on a workday
On a workday 639 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 48 people come in from elsewhere.
About 990 people are in Columbia on a workday afternoon, 37% 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.
Where Columbia goes to work
Where Columbia clocks in
9% of workers
8% 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.
The kinds of work in Columbia
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Columbia, 2013 → 2023: 11 → 52. 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 Columbia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 34 minutes each way, about the NY average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Columbia workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 708 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.
How far it is to work from Columbia
About 23% 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.
Most of Columbia commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Columbia is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 2.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 801 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). 5.3% of Columbia households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Columbia’s commuters take a bus or train.
Columbia places 1,910th of 5,794 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 5 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,908 | Navarre OH | 1,805 | $60K | 8.5% | 5.0% | 4% | B− |
| 1,909 | Jackson Township IN | 1,777 | $86K | 8.1% | 7.8% | 5% | B− |
| 1,910 | Columbia NY | 1,584 | $91K | 7.5% | 4.8% | 1% | B− |
| 1,911 | Harford Township PA | 1,249 | $90K | 7.9% | 4.3% | 7% | B− |
| 1,912 | Roanoke IN | 1,811 | $71K | 10.9% | 3.9% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Columbia, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
14% of Columbia works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Winfield (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Columbia workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia | – | B− | C | 34 min | $90,795 |
| German Flatts | 4% | B− | B | 21 min | $67,791 |
| Litchfield | 3% | B+ | D− | 24 min | $87,750 |
| Warren | under 3% | C− | C | 28 min | $72,750 |
| Winfield | 7% | C | C+ | 36 min | $66,917 |
| Richfield | under 3% | C− | B− | 31 min | $59,833 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Columbia’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 Columbia: questions
What is the median household income in Columbia?
$90,795 (±$12,658) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Columbia?
7.5%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Columbia?
34 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 Columbia work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Utica (9%, 15 mi), New Hartford (8%, 15 mi), Winfield (7%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Columbia walkable?
Columbia is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 2.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Columbia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Columbia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Columbia
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.