Data / Rankings / Civilian labor force / Cities in New York

Cities in New York by civilian labor force

New York, NY had the highest civilian labor force of 39 cities in 2020, at 4.08 million. Kiryas Joel, NY had the lowest, at 7,578. The median was 15,464. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest4,080,766New York, NY
Lowest7,578Kiryas Joel, NY
Median15,46439 cities

All cities, 2020

New York, NY: 4,080,766 personsNew York, NY4,080,766Buffalo, NY: 125,728 personsBuffalo, NY125,728Yonkers, NY: 105,921 personsYonkers, NY105,921Rochester, NY: 101,204 personsRochester, NY101,204Syracuse, NY: 64,676 personsSyracuse, NY64,676Albany, NY: 51,055 personsAlbany, NY51,055New Rochelle, NY: 40,604 personsNew Rochelle, NY40,604Mount Vernon, NY: 38,465 personsMount Vernon, NY38,465Schenectady, NY: 31,985 personsSchenectady, NY31,985White Plains, NY: 30,417 personsWhite Plains, NY30,417Hempstead, NY: 28,214 personsHempstead, NY28,214Utica, NY: 26,718 personsUtica, NY26,718Troy, NY: 24,521 personsTroy, NY24,521Freeport, NY: 23,452 personsFreeport, NY23,452Niagara Falls, NY: 21,986 personsNiagara Falls, NY21,986Valley Stream, NY: 21,596 personsValley Stream, NY21,596Binghamton, NY: 20,695 personsBinghamton, NY20,695Long Beach, NY: 19,770 personsLong Beach, NY19,770Port Chester, NY: 16,786 personsPort Chester, NY16,786Poughkeepsie, NY: 15,464 personsPoughkeepsie, NY15,464North Tonawanda, NY: 15,385 personsNorth Tonawanda, NY15,385Saratoga Springs, NY: 15,179 personsSaratoga Springs, NY15,179Ithaca, NY: 14,381 personsIthaca, NY14,381Lindenhurst, NY: 14,007 personsLindenhurst, NY14,007Spring Valley, NY: 13,964 personsSpring Valley, NY13,964Middletown, NY: 13,942 personsMiddletown, NY13,942Glen Cove, NY: 13,721 personsGlen Cove, NY13,721Ossining, NY: 13,658 personsOssining, NY13,658Peekskill, NY: 13,658 personsPeekskill, NY13,658Harrison, NY: 13,440 personsHarrison, NY13,440Newburgh, NY: 13,234 personsNewburgh, NY13,234Rome, NY: 13,088 personsRome, NY13,088Jamestown, NY: 12,210 personsJamestown, NY12,210Rockville Centre, NY: 12,195 personsRockville Centre, NY12,195Auburn, NY: 11,916 personsAuburn, NY11,916Watertown, NY: 10,876 personsWatertown, NY10,876Lockport, NY: 10,671 personsLockport, NY10,671Elmira, NY: 10,487 personsElmira, NY10,487Kiryas Joel, NY: 7,578 personsKiryas Joel, NY7,578New York, NY: 4,080,766 personsNew York, NY4,080,766Buffalo, NY: 125,728 personsBuffalo, NY125,728Yonkers, NY: 105,921 personsYonkers, NY105,921Rochester, NY: 101,204 personsRochester, NY101,204Syracuse, NY: 64,676 personsSyracuse, NY64,676Albany, NY: 51,055 personsAlbany, NY51,055New Rochelle, NY: 40,604 personsNew Rochelle, NY40,604Mount Vernon, NY: 38,465 personsMount Vernon, NY38,465Schenectady, NY: 31,985 personsSchenectady, NY31,985White Plains, NY: 30,417 personsWhite Plains, NY30,417Hempstead, NY: 28,214 personsHempstead, NY28,214Utica, NY: 26,718 personsUtica, NY26,718Troy, NY: 24,521 personsTroy, NY24,521Freeport, NY: 23,452 personsFreeport, NY23,452Niagara Falls, NY: 21,986 personsNiagara Falls, NY21,986Valley Stream, NY: 21,596 personsValley Stream, NY21,596Binghamton, NY: 20,695 personsBinghamton, NY20,695Long Beach, NY: 19,770 personsLong Beach, NY19,770Port Chester, NY: 16,786 personsPort Chester, NY16,786Poughkeepsie, NY: 15,464 personsPoughkeepsie, NY15,464North Tonawanda, NY: 15,385 personsNorth Tonawanda, NY15,385Saratoga Springs, NY: 15,179 personsSaratoga Springs, NY15,179Ithaca, NY: 14,381 personsIthaca, NY14,381Lindenhurst, NY: 14,007 personsLindenhurst, NY14,007Spring Valley, NY: 13,964 personsSpring Valley, NY13,964Middletown, NY: 13,942 personsMiddletown, NY13,942Glen Cove, NY: 13,721 personsGlen Cove, NY13,721Ossining, NY: 13,658 personsOssining, NY13,658Peekskill, NY: 13,658 personsPeekskill, NY13,658Harrison, NY: 13,440 personsHarrison, NY13,440Newburgh, NY: 13,234 personsNewburgh, NY13,234Rome, NY: 13,088 personsRome, NY13,088Jamestown, NY: 12,210 personsJamestown, NY12,210Rockville Centre, NY: 12,195 personsRockville Centre, NY12,195Auburn, NY: 11,916 personsAuburn, NY11,916Watertown, NY: 10,876 personsWatertown, NY10,876Lockport, NY: 10,671 personsLockport, NY10,671Elmira, NY: 10,487 personsElmira, NY10,487Kiryas Joel, NY: 7,578 personsKiryas Joel, NY7,578
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2020
persons		Change on 2019
1New York, NY4,080,766-4.6%
2Buffalo, NY125,728+0.4%
3Yonkers, NY105,921+0.1%
4Rochester, NY101,204+0.9%
5Syracuse, NY64,676+0.4%
6Albany, NY51,055-0.3%
7New Rochelle, NY40,604+1.4%
8Mount Vernon, NY38,465-0.8%
9Schenectady, NY31,985+3.6%
10White Plains, NY30,417-1.5%
11Hempstead, NY28,214-0.2%
12Utica, NY26,718+0.1%
13Troy, NY24,521-0.2%
14Freeport, NY23,4520%
15Niagara Falls, NY21,986+0.7%
16Valley Stream, NY21,596-1.2%
17Binghamton, NY20,695-1.6%
18Long Beach, NY19,770-2.7%
19Port Chester, NY16,786-3.6%
20Poughkeepsie, NY15,464-0.4%
21North Tonawanda, NY15,385-1.6%
22Saratoga Springs, NY15,179+0.1%
23Ithaca, NY14,381-4.4%
24Lindenhurst, NY14,007-0.8%
25Spring Valley, NY13,964-1.7%
26Middletown, NY13,942-0.5%
27Glen Cove, NY13,721-2.4%
28Ossining, NY13,658-3.3%
28Peekskill, NY13,658-2.6%
30Harrison, NY13,440-3.7%
31Newburgh, NY13,234-0.9%
32Rome, NY13,088-0.5%
33Jamestown, NY12,210-2%
34Rockville Centre, NY12,195-3.2%
35Auburn, NY11,916-0.6%
36Watertown, NY10,876-0.6%
37Lockport, NY10,671-1.4%
38Elmira, NY10,487+1.9%
39Kiryas Joel, NY7,578+2.9%

Other periods

About this ranking

Employed plus unemployed residents, annual average.

More on how it is measured
  • People aged 16 and over by place of residence, from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Active-duty military personnel and people living in institutions are excluded.

United States cities only for now. Counts people where they live, not jobs: for wage and salary jobs by state use oews_employment. BLS estimates cities by splitting county estimates with Census Bureau employment and population data and unemployment insurance claims, so city figures are less precise than state ones. BLS publishes cities of 25,000 or more, and smaller cities in New England.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average (Cities in New York by civilian labor force, 2020) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in New York by civilian labor force, 2020. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/new-york-cities?period=2020. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Cities in New York by civilian labor force, 2020. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/new-york-cities?period=2020.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average, Cities in New York by civilian labor force, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/new-york-cities?period=2020 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_new_york_2020,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in New York by civilian labor force, 2020}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/new-york-cities?period=2020. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average: Cities in New York by civilian labor force, 2020
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/new-york-cities?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/new-york-cities?period=2020.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU20-24. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Rank Cities in New York by civilian labor force using official data, and cite the source.
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Questions

Which city has the highest civilian labor force?

New York, NY, with 4.08 million in 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Kiryas Joel, NY, with 7,578 in 2020.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: labor force (measure 06), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Civilian labor force: other rankings

Cities in New York: more rankings