Photo: Mwanner · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Lake Placid are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
9.0% of residents live below the poverty line, against 14.0% across New York. The two grades for Lake Placid are C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in four work in Lake Placid itself; outside it, North Elba draws the most (58%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lake Placid and work: the main findings
More than half of Lake Placid works in North Elba
619 working residents, 58%, have their main job in North Elba, 6.1 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Lake Placid itself. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Lake Placid are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 115 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Most Lake Placid residents work close to home
68% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Lake Placid gains people on a workday
About 2,700 people are in Lake Placid on a workday afternoon, 20% more than the 2,300 who live here: 1,200 come in to work and 780 head out. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Lake Placid than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Lake Placid fell from 2,013 in 2014 to 1,513 in 2024, −25%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Lake Placid’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lake Placid is better than 39% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Lake Placid’s grade up (1.1%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($41,612, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Placid could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Out of Lake Placid to work: where people go
Where Lake Placid clocks in
58% of workers
9% of workers
2% 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.
About 18 minutes to work from Lake Placid
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Placid workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,084 commuters (the 21% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Lake Placid
About 20% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The workday shuffle in and out of Lake Placid
On a workday 780 residents head out to work, 283 work right here, and 1,230 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Lake Placid on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.42 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
In Lake Placid, services account for most jobs
1,513 jobs are based in Lake Placid.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Placid, 2014 → 2024: 2,013 → 1,513. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake Placid’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lake Placid is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake Placid is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 21.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 9.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,377 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). 19.3% of Lake Placid households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Lake Placid’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,102 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000, Lake Placid comes 2,745th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| 8 | Village of the Branch NY | 1,764 | $174K | 1.5% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| 9 | Old Brookville NY | 2,098 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,743 | Arcada Township MI | 1,640 | $89K | 12.9% | 3.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,744 | Cokato MN | 2,793 | $70K | 14.4% | 3.2% | 23% | C+ |
| 2,745 | Lake Placid NY | 2,258 | $42K | 9.0% | 1.1% | 27% | C+ |
| 2,746 | Liberty PA | 2,242 | $74K | 13.3% | 8.9% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,747 | Dover TN | 1,918 | $75K | 7.0% | 2.2% | 21% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Lake Placid, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Lake Placid: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Placid?
$41,612 (±$6,360) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Placid?
9.0%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Placid?
18 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Placid work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are North Elba (58%, 6 mi), Harrietstown (9%, 12 mi), Albany (2%, 112 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lake Placid walkable?
Lake Placid is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 21% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Placid without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Placid, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Placid
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.