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Potsdam features a vibrant and healthy downtown, with a wide selection of excellent coffee shops and restaurants, including seafood, Indian, Mexican, and Italian. You can even get fresh bagels, made twice daily, in downtown Potsdam.

There are many specialty stores in Potsdam, along with a large bookstore, two music stores, an adventure outfitter, a well-stocked hardware store, three grocery stores,clothing stores, antiques and collectibles. A shopping mall anchored by Sears, J.C. Penney, Bon Ton, and T.J. Maxx is a half-hour away in Massena.

The variety of cultural events reflects the diversity of the population. Potsdam is the home of two colleges, Clarkson University and SUNY Potsdam. Canton, only 12 miles away, also has two colleges, St. Lawrence University and SUNY Canton College of Technology. These colleges give residents the opportunity to see plays, movies, speakers, and sporting events, including Division I hockey and Division III basketball.

The renowned Crane School of Music, part of SUNY Potsdam, puts on numerous concerts during the school year, and brings world-class performers to Potsdam through its Community Performance Series. For the many movie buffs in Potsdam and Canton, there is a weekly series of independent/foreign movie screenings on 20 Monday nights during the school year.

The college libraries are open to Potsdam residents for both research and book lending. Potsdam also has its own public library.

In addition to Potsdam's quality local AM/FM radio stations (WSNN/WPDM), a first-class public radio station, North Country Public Radio, and access to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio and TV stations, are enjoyed by residents. Two public TV stations with different schedules, WPBS and Mountain Lake PBS, broadcast in the area.

In addition to summer concerts in the gazebo, the Village Green Concert Series brings local and national talent to its venues in nearby Norwood (10 minutes away). There is a Potsdam Festival held in July and a World in Potsdam Diversity Festival held each September.

Numerous museums are within a one- or two-hour drive from Potsdam, including the Remington Art Museum, The Adirondack Museum, Traditional Arts in Upstate New York, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and Upper Canada Village, a heritage park.

Various festivals, crafts fairs, farmer's markets, county fairs, classic car shows and fiddler's festivals abound during the summer months. More information on the opportunities available can be found by contacting the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce or the Potsdam Chamber of Commerce.

Potsdam is located within minutes of the Adirondack Park, the largest wilderness in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River. The 6 million acre State park offers 2,000 miles of hiking trails, hundreds of miles of canoe routes, and 42 peaks above 4,000 feet. In addition to hiking, canoeing, and mountaineering, you can camp, backpack, kayak, rock climb, ride bikes, ride horses, snowshoe, cross country ski, downhill ski, skate, and snowmobile in the park. There are also many private and public golf courses in the area.

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Education/Training

Potsdam location offers outstanding educational opportunities as the home of Clarkson University and State University of New York (SUNY) at Potsdam - as well as a nearby neighbor to SUNY Canton College of Technology and St. Lawrence University.

Clarkson University, a Ph.D.-granting institution, has 160 full-time faculty members and over 2,900 students enrolled in programs in its schools of Business, Engineering, Liberal Arts, and Science; and its Interdisciplinary Engineering and Management program. It is also home to the state’s Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP), a NYSTAR™ awarded Center for Advanced Technology.

CAMP’s researchers work to create new materials and physical processes to shape, mix and fasten materials together. CAMP projects have been conducted with over 50 companies, including Xerox, IBM, Kodak, Corning, 3M and Alcoa.

Located in the Village of Potsdam on 240 acres, SUNY Potsdam offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees to over 4,070 students in arts and sciences, music, and teacher education programs. The college has 271 faculty members and an additional staff of more than 650. An integral part of the college is the Crane School of Music - half of all the public school music teachers in New York State are Crane graduates. Each year the school’s symphony orchestra, numerous ensembles, chamber groups and choruses present over 200 concerts from classical to avant-garde music.

The William C. Merwin Rural Services Institute is also found at SUNY Potsdam - conducting research on regional economic trends and providing information to industry, government and the media.

A testament to the quality of Potsdam's public schools appeared in the September/October 2000 issue of Offspring - The Magazine of Smart Parenting as the Potsdam School District was ranked among the country's top 100 schools, and 11th for the entire Northeast. Offspring enlisted the services of SchoolMatch, a research firm that specializes in public school data, to determine the top schools for the United States, and for each region of the country. Criteria included costs of living, academic performance and academic expenditure per student.

Adult education courses and vocational training is readily available from a number of local organizations for the development of both you and your employees. Standard and customized programs are easily accessible at any of the four area colleges, from the regional BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) location in nearby Norwood, the county's One Stop Career Center, and CITEC - Manufacturing & Technology Solutions.

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Labor Market

St. Lawrence County Labor Statistics

Source: New York State Department of Labor

Employers throughout St. Lawrence County have found the local labor force to be exceptional. Their employees are productive, eager to learn, and have low absenteeism. When asked to highlight positive qualities of the local labor force, private employers in the county mentioned mechanical aptitude, good work ethic and attitude, easily trained, and low absenteeism.

According to the 2000 Census, the Town of Potsdam had a civilian labor force of 7,290, of which 6,732 were employed. This resulted in an unemployment rate of 7.4%.

Town of Potsdam Employment by Industry (2000)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The 2000 Census also revealed that 4,808 people were private wage and salary workers, 1,531 were government workers, 383 were self-employed, and 10 were unpaid family workers. The mean travel time to work was 17.2 minutes; 76% of commuters drove or carpooled, while 17.5% walked to work.

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Demographics

Town of Potsdam Household Income (2000)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The median household income was $30,782 and per capita income was $13,753.

Town of Potsdam Age of Population (2000)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The median age was 23.0.

Town of Potsdam Owner-Occupied Housing Values (2000)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The median value of a home in Potsdam was $66,400 according to the 2000 Census. The median monthly owner costs for houses with a mortgage were $813; costs for houses without a mortgage were $327. The median monthly rental was $400.

The 2000 Census found 5,073 occupied housing units and 358 vacant housing units, of which 64 were for seasonal use. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.6% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.8%. There were 2,770 owner-occupied housing units and 2,303 renter-occupied housing units in the Town of Potsdam. The average household size of an owner-occupied unit was 2.66, while the renter-occupied average size was 1.97.