Jonathan Wallace House · Photo: Mwanner · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Potsdam have lower incomes than those in 84% of U.S. towns
About one in three work in Potsdam; the top destination outside it is Canton (12%, 11 miles). The poverty rate is 20.4%, against 14.0% across New York. For jobs and income Potsdam is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Potsdam and work: the main findings
How Potsdam earns its Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Potsdam’s grade up (4.5%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Potsdam could be anywhere from D to C.
Getting to work from Potsdam takes about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Potsdam workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,745 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.
Who commutes out of Potsdam, and who commutes in
On a workday 2,820 residents head out to work, 1,623 work right here, and 4,912 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Potsdam on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.47 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.
Where Potsdam goes to work
Where Potsdam clocks in
12% 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 the 6,535 jobs in Potsdam are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Potsdam, 2014 → 2024: 5,869 → 6,535. 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 Potsdam’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Potsdam
About 28% 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.
In Potsdam, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 18.3% 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 6,275 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). 14.0% of Potsdam households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Potsdam’s commuters take a bus or train.
Potsdam and other U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000
| # | 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% | 10% | 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% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,064 | Brainerd MN | 14,428 | $56K | 15.0% | 9.0% | 29% | D |
| 2,065 | Meadville PA | 12,230 | $43K | 22.3% | 5.7% | 32% | D |
| 2,066 | Potsdam NY | 14,367 | $53K | 20.4% | 4.5% | 37% | D |
| 2,067 | Prineville OR | 11,994 | $73K | 16.2% | 9.4% | 29% | D |
| 2,068 | Parlier CA | 14,622 | $52K | 27.1% | 10.0% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Potsdam, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Bordering towns draw 13% of Potsdam’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Potsdam workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potsdam | – | D | A− | 18 min | $53,302 |
| Madrid | under 2% | D | C | 24 min | $64,083 |
| Norfolk | 1% | C | C | 25 min | $67,500 |
| Stockholm | under 2% | C+ | D− | 23 min | $77,097 |
| Canton | 12% | C− | A− | 16 min | $70,401 |
| Pierrepont | under 2% | B− | D− | 24 min | $92,500 |
| Parishville | under 2% | C− | D− | 23 min | $77,095 |
| Hannawa Falls | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Hannawa Falls: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Canton. Darker towns draw more of Potsdam’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 Potsdam: questions
What is the median household income in Potsdam?
$53,302 (±$11,004) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Potsdam?
20.4%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Potsdam?
18 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 Potsdam work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Canton (12%, 11 mi), Massena (5%, 22 mi), Ogdensburg (3%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Potsdam walkable?
Potsdam is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 18% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Potsdam without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Potsdam, from the people who make the trip.
More of Potsdam
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.