Potsdam, New York.
Typical home $191,677 (+9.1% in a year), asking rent $1,187 . Ogdensburg-Massena, NY metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$573 (+133%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $15,945 +9%
- $175,732$191,677 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $52,977 +38%
- $138,700$191,677 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Potsdam$1,006
- New York$2,755
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 11 years.
Typical home values in Potsdam, NY rose 9.1% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York
Potsdam is a village of 8,312 people in St. Lawrence County. 34% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 66% are rented. Unemployment in St. Lawrence County was 5.2% in August 2026, and the county had 0.1% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then restaurants and hotels.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Potsdam is a village in St. Lawrence County in the north of New York State, and it is a young place, with a median age well below what most American towns see. A large share of adults hold a four-year degree, which fits a town built around a college. Far fewer homes are lived in by their owners than across the county, so renting is the usual way to live here, and a poverty rate that runs high goes along with that. Winters are colder than in most of the country, with January the coldest month and the nights well below freezing, while July is pleasantly warm, and the year brings a good deal of rain and melted snow.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, and others in restaurants, hotels and entertainment, in professional and business services, or in shops. Among the largest workplaces in Potsdam are Canton-Potsdam Hospital, SUNY College at Potsdam and the Potsdam Central School District. Commutes are short, and some people work from home. Across St. Lawrence County, unemployment is about where it stood a year ago, and the number of jobs has barely moved.
Things to do. The Art Museum at SUNY Potsdam is in or beside town, and the Norwood Reservoir is close by as well, a place for time on the water. A short drive away, Nettle Creek and Line Creek offer quiet stretches of river. Farther afield, Higley Flow State Park is a longer drive for a day among protected woods and water.
Report a mistake
- 2,483households
- 52%of adults have a degree
- 29%below the poverty line
- 16 mintypical commute
- 11%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. St. Lawrence County had 34,712 jobs in 2025, 0.1% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 26° and lows near 6°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 58°. About 42 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Colton North weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Potsdam
- Canton-potsdam HospitalGeneral hospital1,143FTE
- SUNY College at PotsdamUniversity or college673
- Potsdam Central School DistrictSchool district210FTE
- UPSCouriers and express delivery services122
- Lowe's Companies, INCHomecenter119
- Health Services of Northern New YorkHome health care agencies111
- GolubGrocery stores83
- Niagara Mohawk PowerElectric power distribution83
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 11 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,040 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023), colleges from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Ice stormsrelatively high in parts of PotsdamRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesrelatively high in parts of PotsdamRelatively moderate
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingrelatively high in parts of PotsdamRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Potsdam’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on St. Lawrence County and the Ogdensburg-Massena, NY metro.
Potsdam home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Potsdam$191,677
- New York$524,942
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Potsdam listings — the market is heating up.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Potsdam21.85%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Potsdam63
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Potsdam13
Zip codes with a Potsdam address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Potsdam — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.