Photo: Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0Johnstown has 1.8 jobs for every working resident: 5,302 people commute in to work
The two grades for Johnstown are B− for jobs and income and A for walkability. 6,023 jobs are based in Johnstown, and 3,297 of its residents work somewhere. About one in five stay in Johnstown for work; outside it, Gloversville is the main destination (10%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Johnstown apart on work
Commutes from Johnstown 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 ↓
Johnstown is where the jobs are
Johnstown has 6,023 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Johnstown: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Johnstown is better than 51% of U.S. towns, #403 of 758 in New York. Unemployment holds Johnstown’s grade up (3.1%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($63,763, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Johnstown could be anywhere from C to A−.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Johnstown
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Johnstown workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,939 commuters (the 8% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Johnstown
On a workday 2,576 residents head out to work and 721 work right here.
About 11,000 people are in Johnstown on a workday afternoon, 34% 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.
The daily trip into Johnstown
Where Johnstown clocks in
5% 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 Johnstown’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Johnstown, 2013 → 2023: 5,582 → 6,023. 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 Johnstown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Johnstown
About 17% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Johnstown
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Johnstown is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #187 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Johnstown 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 4,262 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). 10.9% of Johnstown households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Johnstown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Johnstown places 1,711th of 3,015 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 5,600 to 10,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 16 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,709 | Mulvane KS | 7,030 | $74K | 8.5% | 6.0% | 9% | B− |
| 1,710 | Hackettstown NJ | 10,185 | $93K | 9.4% | 8.2% | 10% | B− |
| 1,711 | Johnstown NY | 8,021 | $64K | 8.4% | 3.1% | 22% | B− |
| 1,712 | Sterling AK | 6,323 | $102K | 4.6% | 5.0% | — | B− |
| 1,713 | St. Joseph MN | 6,846 | $75K | 19.1% | 2.8% | 10% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,015 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Johnstown, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
The towns next door employ 13% of Johnstown
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Johnstown workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Johnstown | – | B− | A | 19 min | $63,763 |
| Gloversville | 10% | C− | A− | 25 min | $51,556 |
| Mohawk | 3% | B+ | C+ | 20 min | $81,473 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Gloversville. Darker towns draw more of Johnstown’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 Johnstown: questions
What is the median household income in Johnstown?
$63,763 (±$9,398) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Johnstown?
8.4%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Johnstown?
19 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Johnstown work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gloversville (10%, 3 mi), Amsterdam (5%, 10 mi), Albany (5%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Johnstown walkable?
Johnstown is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Johnstown without a car?
0% 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 Johnstown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Johnstown
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.