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 2024, at 4.35 million. Elmira, NY had the lowest, at 10,038. The median was 16,250. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest4,349,940New York, NY
Lowest10,038Elmira, NY
Median16,25039 cities

All cities, 2024

New York, NY: 4,349,940 personsNew York, NY4,349,940Buffalo, NY: 122,894 personsBuffalo, NY122,894Yonkers, NY: 110,735 personsYonkers, NY110,735Rochester, NY: 97,205 personsRochester, NY97,205Syracuse, NY: 63,184 personsSyracuse, NY63,184Albany, NY: 51,554 personsAlbany, NY51,554New Rochelle, NY: 46,138 personsNew Rochelle, NY46,138Mount Vernon, NY: 39,404 personsMount Vernon, NY39,404White Plains, NY: 34,196 personsWhite Plains, NY34,196Schenectady, NY: 31,580 personsSchenectady, NY31,580Hempstead, NY: 28,590 personsHempstead, NY28,590Utica, NY: 25,302 personsUtica, NY25,302Troy, NY: 24,009 personsTroy, NY24,009Freeport, NY: 23,420 personsFreeport, NY23,420Valley Stream, NY: 21,788 personsValley Stream, NY21,788Niagara Falls, NY: 20,804 personsNiagara Falls, NY20,804Long Beach, NY: 20,367 personsLong Beach, NY20,367Binghamton, NY: 20,086 personsBinghamton, NY20,086Port Chester, NY: 17,724 personsPort Chester, NY17,724Harrison, NY: 16,250 personsHarrison, NY16,250Poughkeepsie, NY: 15,890 personsPoughkeepsie, NY15,890Spring Valley, NY: 15,190 personsSpring Valley, NY15,190Ithaca, NY: 15,187 personsIthaca, NY15,187Saratoga Springs, NY: 15,152 personsSaratoga Springs, NY15,152North Tonawanda, NY: 15,055 personsNorth Tonawanda, NY15,055Peekskill, NY: 14,871 personsPeekskill, NY14,871Ossining, NY: 14,449 personsOssining, NY14,449Lindenhurst, NY: 14,242 personsLindenhurst, NY14,242Glen Cove, NY: 14,026 personsGlen Cove, NY14,026Middletown, NY: 13,903 personsMiddletown, NY13,903Newburgh, NY: 12,968 personsNewburgh, NY12,968Rome, NY: 12,771 personsRome, NY12,771Rockville Centre, NY: 12,554 personsRockville Centre, NY12,554Jamestown, NY: 11,603 personsJamestown, NY11,603Auburn, NY: 11,430 personsAuburn, NY11,430Watertown, NY: 10,733 personsWatertown, NY10,733Lockport, NY: 10,319 personsLockport, NY10,319Kiryas Joel, NY: 10,287 personsKiryas Joel, NY10,287Elmira, NY: 10,038 personsElmira, NY10,038New York, NY: 4,349,940 personsNew York, NY4,349,940Buffalo, NY: 122,894 personsBuffalo, NY122,894Yonkers, NY: 110,735 personsYonkers, NY110,735Rochester, NY: 97,205 personsRochester, NY97,205Syracuse, NY: 63,184 personsSyracuse, NY63,184Albany, NY: 51,554 personsAlbany, NY51,554New Rochelle, NY: 46,138 personsNew Rochelle, NY46,138Mount Vernon, NY: 39,404 personsMount Vernon, NY39,404White Plains, NY: 34,196 personsWhite Plains, NY34,196Schenectady, NY: 31,580 personsSchenectady, NY31,580Hempstead, NY: 28,590 personsHempstead, NY28,590Utica, NY: 25,302 personsUtica, NY25,302Troy, NY: 24,009 personsTroy, NY24,009Freeport, NY: 23,420 personsFreeport, NY23,420Valley Stream, NY: 21,788 personsValley Stream, NY21,788Niagara Falls, NY: 20,804 personsNiagara Falls, NY20,804Long Beach, NY: 20,367 personsLong Beach, NY20,367Binghamton, NY: 20,086 personsBinghamton, NY20,086Port Chester, NY: 17,724 personsPort Chester, NY17,724Harrison, NY: 16,250 personsHarrison, NY16,250Poughkeepsie, NY: 15,890 personsPoughkeepsie, NY15,890Spring Valley, NY: 15,190 personsSpring Valley, NY15,190Ithaca, NY: 15,187 personsIthaca, NY15,187Saratoga Springs, NY: 15,152 personsSaratoga Springs, NY15,152North Tonawanda, NY: 15,055 personsNorth Tonawanda, NY15,055Peekskill, NY: 14,871 personsPeekskill, NY14,871Ossining, NY: 14,449 personsOssining, NY14,449Lindenhurst, NY: 14,242 personsLindenhurst, NY14,242Glen Cove, NY: 14,026 personsGlen Cove, NY14,026Middletown, NY: 13,903 personsMiddletown, NY13,903Newburgh, NY: 12,968 personsNewburgh, NY12,968Rome, NY: 12,771 personsRome, NY12,771Rockville Centre, NY: 12,554 personsRockville Centre, NY12,554Jamestown, NY: 11,603 personsJamestown, NY11,603Auburn, NY: 11,430 personsAuburn, NY11,430Watertown, NY: 10,733 personsWatertown, NY10,733Lockport, NY: 10,319 personsLockport, NY10,319Kiryas Joel, NY: 10,287 personsKiryas Joel, NY10,287Elmira, NY: 10,038 personsElmira, NY10,038
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

RankCities2024
persons		Change on 2023
1New York, NY4,349,940+2.1%
2Buffalo, NY122,894-0.9%
3Yonkers, NY110,735+0.3%
4Rochester, NY97,205-0.9%
5Syracuse, NY63,184-0.2%
6Albany, NY51,554-0.9%
7New Rochelle, NY46,138+0.8%
8Mount Vernon, NY39,404-0.3%
9White Plains, NY34,196+0.6%
10Schenectady, NY31,580+0.2%
11Hempstead, NY28,590+1.1%
12Utica, NY25,302-0.6%
13Troy, NY24,009-0.2%
14Freeport, NY23,420-0.4%
15Valley Stream, NY21,788-0.5%
16Niagara Falls, NY20,804-1.1%
17Long Beach, NY20,367-0.4%
18Binghamton, NY20,086-0.3%
19Port Chester, NY17,724-0.2%
20Harrison, NY16,250+0.1%
21Poughkeepsie, NY15,890+0.9%
22Spring Valley, NY15,190+0.5%
23Ithaca, NY15,187+0.3%
24Saratoga Springs, NY15,152-0.1%
25North Tonawanda, NY15,055-1%
26Peekskill, NY14,871-0%
27Ossining, NY14,449+0.1%
28Lindenhurst, NY14,242-0.5%
29Glen Cove, NY14,026-0.3%
30Middletown, NY13,903-0.7%
31Newburgh, NY12,968-0.5%
32Rome, NY12,771+0.4%
33Rockville Centre, NY12,554-0.5%
34Jamestown, NY11,603-0.9%
35Auburn, NY11,430-0.8%
36Watertown, NY10,733-1.5%
37Lockport, NY10,319-1.2%
38Kiryas Joel, NY10,287+4.3%
39Elmira, NY10,038-0.9%

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, 2024) [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, 2024. 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=2024. 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, 2024. 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=2024.

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, 2024 [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=2024 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_new_york_2024,
  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, 2024}},
  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=2024. 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, 2024
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=2024
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/civilian-labor-force/new-york-cities?period=2024.
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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Questions

Which city has the highest civilian labor force?

New York, NY, with 4.35 million in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest civilian labor force?

Elmira, NY, with 10,038 in 2024.

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