College students make up 57% of Potsdam’s residents
Family incomes here are lower than in 73% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Potsdam is better than 12% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (A). About one in three work in Potsdam itself; outside it, Potsdam draws the most (38%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Potsdam and work: the main findings
Commutes from Potsdam are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 130 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Potsdam is where the jobs are
Potsdam has 5,263 jobs, 2.7 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 11,000 people are in town, 41% more than the 8,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Potsdam and Potsdam trade workers both ways
Potsdam is the top workplace for Potsdam residents (38%) and also where the most people who work in Potsdam come from (26% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Nearly all the work in Potsdam is services
88% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 four measures behind Potsdam’s grade
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Potsdam’s grade.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (21% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 20.5%, against 29.0% for all residents. Unemployment (4.8%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($75,651), since student households pull the household median down ($34,546).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Potsdam could be anywhere from D− to C+.
The daily trip from Potsdam: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 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 3,183 commuters (the 11% 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 daily commute in and out of Potsdam
On a workday 1,331 residents head out to work, 654 work right here, and 4,609 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Potsdam on a workday afternoon, 41% more than live here.
2.7 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.
The daily trip into Potsdam
Where Potsdam clocks in
9% of workers
3% 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.
In Potsdam, services account for most jobs
5,263 jobs are based in Potsdam.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Potsdam, 2013 → 2023: 4,373 → 5,263. 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 Potsdam’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Potsdam
About 35% 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 Potsdam, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 32.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,571 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). 23.2% of Potsdam households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Potsdam’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Potsdam compares with 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,787 | Milan TN | 8,367 | $44K | 21.3% | 6.4% | 24% | D |
| 2,788 | Ogdensburg NY | 9,123 | $62K | 16.1% | 8.4% | 38% | D |
| 2,789 | Potsdam NY | 8,019 | $35K | 29.0% | 4.8% | 33% | D |
| 2,790 | Rawlins WY | 7,745 | $65K | 15.4% | 7.0% | 49% | D |
| 2,791 | Rupert ID | 6,460 | $55K | 19.4% | 5.7% | 17% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Potsdam, 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.
- Students. 57% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- 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?
$34,546 (±$9,432) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Potsdam?
29.0% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 20.5%. New York: 14.0%.
How long is the commute from Potsdam?
16 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Potsdam work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Potsdam (38%, 2 mi), Canton (9%, 13 mi), Massena (3%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Potsdam walkable?
Potsdam is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 32% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Potsdam without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 23% 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), 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.