Plattsburgh, New York

Area Profile

19,830 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Plattsburgh, in Clinton County.

55out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 30% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3237th of 3,904 published cities40
Schools1543rd of 2,668 published cities46
Growth1580th of 2,973 published cities49
Housing affordabilityTop 37% of 4,223 published cities88
Climate3936th of 4,223 published cities56
Physical resilience2245th of 4,182 published cities55
Access2312th of 4,226 published cities90
Economic stability3438th of 4,226 published cities41
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 4.2% and the Opportunity signal places Plattsburgh in the bottom 17%.

In the public schools here, 27% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 8.5 students for every teacher.

A major airport is 3 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
19,830
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$57,630
Bottom 35% nationally
Density
3,693/sq mi
5.4 sq mi of land
Median age
31.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Clinton County
New York
Metro area
Plattsburgh, NY
Nearest major airport
PBG
3 mi · Plattsburgh Intl
Median home value
$195,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.2% is lower than 55% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.0% over the past year, to 32,326 employed residents.

40% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 82% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,842$57,630Bottom 35%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,215$35,584Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate22.7%Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute17.7 minBottom 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher40.4%Top 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment32,326Bottom 40%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-6.0%Bottom 2%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.0%Bottom 18%June 2026
Labor force33,727Bottom 40%June 2026
Labor force participation61.1%Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)0.4%Top 32%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.2%Bottom 45%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202458k53k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $57,630 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Clinton County, NY, which contains this city.

27% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 58% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 8.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
8.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
26.9%
Bottom 21% in New York
Reading proficiency
58.2%
Bottom 46% in New York
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
PLATTSBURGH SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLPLATTSBURGH CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT5669.9
CUMBERLAND HEAD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBEEKMANTOWN CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT51511.453%70%
STAFFORD MIDDLE SCHOOLPLATTSBURGH CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT3927.715%55%
ARTHUR P MOMOT ELEMENTARY SCHOOLPLATTSBURGH CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT3889.510%51%
THOMAS E GLASGOW ELEMENTARY SCHOOLPLATTSBURGH CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT24810.8
CLINTON-ESSEX-WARREN-WASHINGTON BOCESCLINTON-ESSEX-WARREN-WASHINGTON BOCES2373.6
OAK STREET SCHOOLPLATTSBURGH CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT21810.415%50%

63.9% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against New York’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,030 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.4 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
21.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,030
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$195,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income3.40Top 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate37.9%Bottom 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3259,960Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$61$1,030Top 45%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$11,365$195,900Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.4%Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.1%Bottom 39%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 →
Development Momentum
49/ 100
Ranks 1580 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

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 been broadly flat since 2020, at 19,758 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

91% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 4.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
81
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
4.1
Top 35% nationally
Year over year
+21%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
91.4%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202420k20k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420257263
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was close to 2022 (+5%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 81°F and January a low of 10°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 30.9 inches.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station PLATTSBURGH INTL AP, 2.9 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.1"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation30.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low10°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high81°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing51°F1991-2020 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

55 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and cold wave.

Ice stormModerate
EarthquakeHigh
Inland floodingElevated
LightningModerate
Heat waveModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, landslide, hurricane, strong wind, avalanche, tornado, wildfire, hail.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Clinton County records 1.6 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 8.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 11.2 per 100,000 residents in Clinton County.

Homicide
1.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
8.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
11.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
12.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Clinton County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Plattsburgh rather than Plattsburgh itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

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

1 major airport lies within 100 miles, the nearest 3 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Plattsburgh IntlPBG3 mi11,759 ft
Albany IntlALB135 mi8,500 ft
Griffiss IntlRME140 mi11,820 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.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
55
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

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.

ZIP codes in Plattsburgh

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1290131,447$60,94257
129031,824$77,73358