Potsdam is a small town where college students really create the town feel and character. So many small towns have lost population over the last 20-30 years that having the local college presence in the Potsdam area, with all of the energy of the students filling area dorms and apartments each fall, really helps Potsdam maintain a good economy.
For a small village, there is also a high proportion of single, often educated, people living in Potsdam. This is not typical for smaller communities in America, and adds a feeling of vibrancy to Potsdam.
One of the benefits of Potsdam is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 15.93 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.
Being a small village, Potsdam does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The citizens of Potsdam are among the most well-educated in the nation: 48.71% of adults in Potsdam have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree, whereas the average US city has 21.84% holding at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Potsdam in 2022 was $21,053, which is low income relative to New York and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $84,212 for a family of four. However, Potsdam contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Potsdam is a somewhat ethnically-diverse village. The people who call Potsdam home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Potsdam residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Potsdam include Irish, German, English, Italian, and French Canadian.
The most common language spoken in Potsdam is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.
