Photo: Mwanner at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Saranac Lake earn less than those in 71% of U.S. towns
Saranac Lake grades C− for jobs and income and A for walkability. The poverty rate is 17.7%, against 14.0% across New York. About one in four work in Saranac Lake; the top destination outside it is Harrietstown (30%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Saranac Lake stands out on work
Much of Saranac Lake works one town over
59% of working residents work in a town that borders Saranac Lake: Harrietstown (30%), North Elba (27%) and St. Armand (2%). Next door ↓
Commutes from Saranac Lake 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 ↓
Saranac Lake trades workers with the towns around it
Saranac Lake has about as many jobs (1,859) as working residents (2,084), but they are mostly different people: 1,573 residents leave for work each day while 1,348 people come in. Only 27% of the jobs in Saranac Lake are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
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.
What’s behind Saranac Lake’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Saranac Lake is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #616 of 758 in New York. Unemployment holds Saranac Lake’s grade up (3.0%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 11% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Saranac Lake could be anywhere from D to B−.
Time on the road from Saranac Lake: 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 Saranac Lake workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,316 commuters (the 9% 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.
A workday in Saranac Lake: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,573 residents head out to work, 511 work right here, and 1,348 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.
Where the trip to work from Saranac Lake ends
Where Saranac Lake clocks in
30% of workers
27% 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.
What Saranac Lake’s employers do
1,859 jobs are based in Saranac Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Saranac Lake, 2014 → 2024: 1,949 → 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Saranac Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Saranac Lake’s commute, mile by mile
About 21% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Saranac Lake
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Saranac Lake is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #217 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 7.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,541 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). 14.7% of Saranac Lake households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Saranac Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,500, Saranac Lake ranks 2,929th of 3,753 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | North Hills NY | 5,481 | $173K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,927 | Littleton NH | 6,003 | $57K | 14.3% | 3.5% | 40% | C |
| 2,928 | Fruitridge Pocket CA | 6,095 | $63K | 30.7% | 12.3% | 1% | C |
| 2,929 | Saranac Lake NY | 4,793 | $62K | 17.7% | 3.0% | 25% | C− |
| 2,930 | Nitro WV | 6,270 | $54K | 20.2% | 5.4% | 5% | C− |
| 2,931 | Noble Township OH | 5,919 | $67K | 10.6% | 11.3% | 11% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,753 | 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 Saranac Lake, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Bordering towns draw 59% of Saranac Lake’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Saranac Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saranac Lake | – | C− | A | 16 min | $61,967 |
| St. Armand | 2% | C+ | C | 21 min | $81,221 |
| North Elba | 27% | B− | A | 15 min | $72,843 |
| Harrietstown | 30% | C | A− | 15 min | $66,460 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Harrietstown. Darker towns draw more of Saranac Lake’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 Saranac Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Saranac Lake?
$61,967 (±$7,343) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Saranac Lake?
17.7%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Saranac Lake?
16 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Saranac Lake work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harrietstown (30%, 8 mi), North Elba (27%, 9 mi), Malone (4%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Saranac Lake walkable?
Saranac Lake is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Saranac Lake without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Saranac Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Saranac Lake
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.