Watertown-Fort Drum, NY
Metro Area Profile
115,040 residents. Jobs, income, development, climate and physical risk across the Watertown-Fort Drum, NY metropolitan area.
Employment conditions sit below most comparable published metro profiles: unemployment is 4.1% and the Opportunity signal places Watertown-Fort Drum in the bottom 29%.
Rent takes 22% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.8 times that income.
Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published metro profiles, placing Watertown-Fort Drum in the top 16% for physical resilience.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 4.1% is lower than 54% of the 379 measured US metros.
Unemployment has been falling for 4 consecutive months, most recently 4.1%.
Employment fell 0.9% over the past year, to 44,010 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$2,730 | $66,301 | Bottom 48% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$1,152 | $36,025 | Top 47% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 13.7% | Top 49% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 20.6 min | Bottom 17% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 26.5% | Top 46% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 44,010 | Bottom 7% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -2.5% | Bottom 15% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -0.9% | Bottom 45% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 45,885 | Bottom 7% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 64.6% | Top 22% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $59,110 | Bottom 39% | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $47,600 | Bottom 48% | 2025 OEWS |
| Metro employment | 39,330 | Bottom 7% | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.4% | Top 29% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 4.1% | Bottom 46% | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Salespersons | 1,490 | $34,280 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 1,150 | $32,580 |
| Cashiers | 1,100 | $33,040 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 1,090 | $37,440 |
| Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary | 990 | $34,190 |
| Registered Nurses | 900 | $96,070 |
Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $1,213 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 2.8 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 2.84 | Bottom 32% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 54.7% | Bottom 3% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±110 | 61,862 | Top 34% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$32 | $1,213 | Top 21% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$6,002 | $188,200 | Bottom 39% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 22.0% | Top 13% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 23.0% | Top 8% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has fallen 3% since 2020, reaching 113,140 in 2024.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 10% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 2.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US metros.
Weather & climate
4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 79°F and January a low of 10°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 37.1 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 37.1" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 10°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 79°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 4 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 49°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are strong wind, earthquake and ice storm.
Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, inland flooding, cold wave, hurricane, landslide, lightning, wildfire, tornado, coastal flooding, hail.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. This value is the population-weighted mean of all component counties; expected annual loss is their sum. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.
- Reported crime
- The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
- Taxes
- No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Full cost of living
- No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.
Access
2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 61 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Syracuse Hancock Intl | SYR | 61 mi | 9,013 ft |
| Griffiss Intl | RME | 62 mi | 11,820 ft |
| Frederick Douglass/Greater Rochester Intl | ROC | 101 mi | 8,001 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
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Similar places
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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.