Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Glens Falls has 1.8 jobs for every working resident: 10,313 people commute in to work
About one in five work in Glens Falls itself; outside it, Queensbury draws the most (18%, 4 miles). 11,818 jobs are based in Glens Falls for 6,566 working residents. Glens Falls grades 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 stands out about work in Glens Falls
Commutes from Glens Falls are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Glens Falls is where the jobs are
Glens Falls has 11,818 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Glens Falls and Queensbury trade workers both ways
Queensbury is the top workplace for Glens Falls residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Glens Falls come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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.
How Glens Falls earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Glens Falls is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #473 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Glens Falls’ grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($67,788, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Glens Falls could be anywhere from C to B.
From Glens Falls, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Glens Falls workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,056 commuters (the 9% 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 a workday changes Glens Falls
On a workday 5,061 residents head out to work and 1,505 work right here.
About 20,000 people are in Glens Falls on a workday afternoon, 37% more 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.
Who travels to work in Glens Falls, and from where
Where Glens Falls clocks in
18% of workers
6% 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.
65% of the jobs in Glens Falls pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Glens Falls, 2013 → 2023: 14,598 → 11,818. 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 Glens Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Glens Falls, by distance
About 15% 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.
Glens Falls is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Glens Falls is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #181 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Glens Falls 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 7,730 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). 10.7% of Glens Falls households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Glens Falls’ commuters take a bus or train.
Glens Falls next to U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000: 1,528th of 2,227 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Floral Park NY | 16,105 | $150K | 3.0% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 77 | East Rockaway NY | 10,096 | $125K | 2.6% | 3.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,526 | Aberdeen MD | 18,374 | $75K | 14.3% | 5.7% | 9% | C+ |
| 1,527 | South Sioux City NE | 14,158 | $68K | 12.2% | 5.0% | 17% | C+ |
| 1,528 | Glens Falls NY | 14,383 | $68K | 11.3% | 4.9% | 23% | C+ |
| 1,529 | Cayce SC | 13,680 | $62K | 13.7% | 5.3% | 8% | C+ |
| 1,530 | Vero Beach FL | 17,603 | $70K | 16.1% | 3.4% | 26% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | 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 Glens Falls, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
22% of Glens Falls works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Glens Falls workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glens Falls | – | C+ | A | 19 min | $67,788 |
| Queensbury | 18% | B | B | 21 min | $89,772 |
| West Glens Falls | under 3% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Moreau | 4% | B− | C | 22 min | $81,317 |
| South Glens Falls | under 3% | C− | A− | 20 min | $58,542 |
| Glens Falls North | under 3% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. West Glens Falls and Glens Falls North: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Queensbury. Darker towns draw more of Glens Falls’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 Glens Falls: questions
What is the median household income in Glens Falls?
$67,788 (±$5,084) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Glens Falls?
11.3%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Glens Falls?
19 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Glens Falls work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Queensbury (18%, 4 mi), Saratoga Springs (6%, 18 mi), Wilton (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Glens Falls walkable?
Glens Falls is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Glens Falls without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Glens Falls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Glens Falls
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.