Building Your Future on Clarkson's Downtown Campus

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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 and Bon Ton is just 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.

Residents enjoy summer concerts in Potsdam's waterfront gazebo and 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 Frederic Remington Art Museum, The W!LD Center, The Adirondack Museum, TAUNY - 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.

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

Year	Labor Force	Employed	Unemployed	Rate
1998	51,800	47,300	4,200	8.0
1999	52,000	47,000	4,300	8.3
2000	49,000	46,400	2,800	5.7
2001	49,100	45,600	3,000	6.1
2002	49,800	46,100	3,300	6.6
2003	49,300	45,800	3,500	7.1
2004	49,200	45,700	3,400	7.0
2005	49,200	46,200	3,000	6.1
2006	49,500	46,600	2,900	5.9
2007	49,400	46,500	2,900	5.9
2008	50,100	46,600	3,500	7.1
2009	49,700	44,700	5,000	10.0
2010	49,100	43,900	5,200	10.6

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.

Village of Potsdam Employment by Industry (2010)

Industry	# Employed	Percent
Agriculture, Forestry, Mining	22	0.61
Construction	174	4.79
Manufacturing	137	3.78
Wholesale Trade	31	0.85
Retail Trade	337	9.29
Transportation, Warehousing, Utilities	51	1.41
Information	42	1.16
Finance, Insurance, Real Estate	94	2.59
Professional, Scientific, Waste Management	107	2.95
Educational, Health, Social Services	1,764	48.61
Arts, Entertainment, Recreation, Accommodation, Food Services	552	15.21
Other Services	193	5.32
Public Administration	125	3.44
Total	3,629	100.0

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The 2010 Census also revealed that 7,815 was the employment potential (age 16+), 62.11% of workers have a travel time of less than 15 minutes, the majority (67.35%) drive to work and 25.6% bike or walk.

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Demographics

Village of Potsdam Household Income (2010)

Income		Percent
Less than $15,000		28.47
$15,000 to $24,999		13.61
$25,000 to $34,999		11.2
$35,000 to $49,999		12.95
$50,000 to $74,999		13.46
$75,000 to $99,999		8.76
$100,000 to $124,999		5.14
$125,000 to $149,999		3.05
$150,000 to $199,999		1.9
$200,000 or more		1.46
Total	$ 149,717,969	100.0

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The average household income was $47,514 and per capita income was $16,697.

Village of Potsdam Age of Population (2010)

Age	Number	Percent
Under 5 years	242	2.6
5 to 9 years	228	2.4
10 to 14 years	216	2.3
15 to 19 years	2,393	25.4
20 to 24 years	3,457	36.7
25 to 29 years	531	5.6
30 to 34 years	287	3.0
35 to 39 years	232	2.5
40 to 44 years	250	2.7
45 to 49 years	246	2.6
50 to 54 years	258	2.7
55 to 59 years	246	2.6
60 to 64 years	223	2.4
65 to 69 years	152	1.6
70 to 74 years	109	1.2
75 to 79 years	115	1.2
80 to 84 years	133	1.4
85 years and over	110	1.2
Total	9,428	100.0

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The median age was 21.4

Village of Potsdam Owner-Occupied Housing Values (2010)

Value	Percent
Less than $20,000	1.76
$20,000 to $39,999	4.0
$40,000 to $59,999	11.12
$60,000 to $79,999	12.0
$80,000 to $99,999	18.64
$100,000 to $124,999	13.15
$125,000 to $149,999	11.80
$150,000 to $174,999	6.10
$175,000 to $199,000	7.53
$200,000 to $249,999	3.73
$250,000 to $299,999	2.71
$300,000 to $399,999	3.19
$400,000 to $499,999	1.42
$500,000 to $749,999	2.71
$750,000 or more	0.14
Total	100.0

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

The median value of a home in Potsdam was $104,704 according to the 2010 Census. The median monthly rental was $693.

The 2010 Census found 3,288 total units with 95.83% occupied and 4.17% vacant. The average household size is 1.91 -- with 67.95% of household size being 1 or 2 persons.