Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0At 7.6%, unemployment in Little Falls is higher than in 86% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Little Falls are D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in five work in Little Falls itself; outside it, Utica draws the most (10%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Little Falls apart on work
Little Falls trades workers with the towns around it
Little Falls has about as many jobs (1,748) as working residents (1,970), but they are mostly different people: 1,587 residents leave for work each day while 1,365 people come in. Only 22% of the jobs in Little Falls are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Little Falls are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Little Falls
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Little Falls is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #737 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Little Falls’ grade up (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (24.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Little Falls could be anywhere from D− to C+.
In and out of Little Falls on a workday
On a workday 1,587 residents head out to work, 383 work right here, and 1,365 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.89 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.
Little Falls’ commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Little Falls workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,559 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.
The places Little Falls commutes to
Where Little Falls clocks in
10% of workers
10% of workers
4% 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.
Jobs in Little Falls: what the 1,748 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Little Falls, 2014 → 2024: 1,719 → 1,748. 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 Little Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Little Falls
About 26% 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.
For most of Little Falls, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Little Falls is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns, #344 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Little 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 1,774 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). 10.6% of Little Falls households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Little Falls’ commuters take a bus or train.
Little Falls next to U.S. towns of 3,100 to 6,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | North Hills NY | 5,481 | $173K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,699 | Blakely GA | 5,156 | $50K | 26.8% | 4.2% | 24% | D |
| 3,700 | Franklinton LA | 3,576 | $34K | 20.7% | 5.8% | 22% | D |
| 3,701 | Little Falls NY | 4,481 | $54K | 24.3% | 7.6% | 19% | D |
| 3,702 | Pittsburg TX | 4,676 | $44K | 24.7% | 6.6% | 19% | D |
| 3,703 | Mount Olive NC | 4,521 | $49K | 17.7% | 9.8% | 15% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,000 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Little Falls, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Little Falls and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Little Falls workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Falls | – | D | B+ | 22 min | $53,544 |
| Manheim | under 2% | B− | B | 25 min | $69,527 |
| Danube | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Danube: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Little 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 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 Little Falls: questions
What is the median household income in Little Falls?
$53,544 (±$5,604) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Little Falls?
24.3%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Little Falls?
22 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 Little Falls work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Utica (10%, 19 mi), Herkimer (10%, 8 mi), German Flatts (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Little Falls walkable?
Little Falls is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Little 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 Little Falls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Little Falls
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.