Lowville has higher unemployment (7.7%) than 87% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Lowville itself; outside it, Lowville draws the most (35%, 2 miles). Jobs and income earn Lowville D; getting around on foot earns it B+. 7% of workers work from home; New York has 15%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Lowville
Commutes from Lowville are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 138 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Lowville and Lowville trade workers both ways
Lowville is the top workplace for Lowville residents (35%) and also where the most people who work in Lowville come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Lowville is where the jobs are
Lowville has 1,859 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Lowville than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Lowville fell from 2,843 in 2013 to 1,859 in 2023, −35%. 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 ↓
Lowville makes and builds things
40% of the jobs based in Lowville are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Lowville residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 19%. The jobs ↓
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.
The figures behind Lowville’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lowville is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #714 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Lowville’s grade up ($68,450, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lowville could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Time on the road from Lowville: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lowville workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,469 commuters (the 7% 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.
Where Lowville’s workers come from
Where Lowville clocks in
Lines 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.
How many people are in Lowville by day
On a workday 851 residents head out to work, 243 work right here, and 1,616 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,100 people are in Lowville on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Goods jobs make up 40% of work in Lowville
1,859 jobs are based in Lowville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lowville, 2013 → 2023: 2,843 → 1,859. 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 Lowville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Lowville
About 24% 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.
In Lowville, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lowville is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #334 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 14.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,578 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). 8.0% of Lowville households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 6% of Lowville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lowville places 4,025th of 4,593 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | East Williston NY | 2,616 | $215K | 2.3% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 10 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Great Neck Estates NY | 3,139 | $238K | 5.7% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,023 | Chewelah WA | 2,712 | $54K | 16.8% | 4.6% | 16% | D |
| 4,024 | Saxon SC | 4,085 | $32K | 45.8% | 8.1% | 2% | D |
| 4,025 | Lowville NY | 3,309 | $68K | 17.5% | 7.7% | 22% | D |
| 4,026 | University Park NM | 2,782 | $30K | 30.2% | 14.0% | 6% | D |
| 4,027 | Judson SC | 2,515 | $39K | 42.9% | 18.5% | 1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,593 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Lowville, 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 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 Lowville: questions
What is the median household income in Lowville?
$68,450 (±$15,289) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lowville?
17.5%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lowville?
15 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lowville work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lowville (35%, 2 mi), Watertown (7%, 25 mi), Watertown (3%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lowville walkable?
Lowville is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lowville without a car?
6% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lowville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lowville
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.