Columbia County, NY
Demographic and economic profile of Columbia County, NY, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.
AI Overview
Columbia County is a small, rural county of 61,245 residents with a notably older workforce—median age of 49.8—and relatively low labor force participation at 58.8%, though 38.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Median household income stands at $81,528 against median worker earnings of $46,466, with housing costs remaining moderate at a $309,800 median home value and $1,199 monthly median rent and a high homeownership rate of 76.3%. Population growth has been essentially flat at +0.5% over five years, and an unemployment rate of 5.3% sits above typical rural benchmarks, pointing to a workforce that skews toward part-time or seasonal activity consistent with the region's arts, agriculture, and tourism orientation.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page
Population Growth (5-year)
+0.5% since 2018
Columbia County added population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.
Demographics
Race & Ethnicity
- White Alone50,909 (83.3%)
- Two Races Including Some Other Race2,837 (4.6%)
- Black or African American Alone2,208 (3.6%)
- Some Other Race Alone1,853 (3.0%)
- Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races1,844 (3.0%)
- Asian Alone1,323 (2.2%)
Top Languages Spoken at Home
- 1.Spanish2,095
- 2.Other Indo-European1,102
- 3.German or other West Germanic674
- 4.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic306
- 5.French (incl. Cajun, Haitian)292
Economy
Cost of Living Index
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Not yet cached
Top Industries
- 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance7,667
- 2.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services3,719
- 3.Retail Trade (Group)2,999
- 4.Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation, & Accommodation & Food Services2,164
- 5.Finance & Insurance, & Real Estate & Rental & Leasing2,102
Top Occupations
- 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations13,599
- 2.Sales & Office Occupations4,858
- 3.Service Occupations4,584
- 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations2,964
- 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations2,727
Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)
- 1.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining (LQ 1.72×)803
- 2.Public Administration (LQ 1.58×)2,188
- 3.Educational Services & Health Care (LQ 1.10×)7,531
- 4.Retail Trade (LQ 1.05×)3,363
- 5.Professional, Scientific, & Management (LQ 1.03×)3,741
Housing
Education
Workforce
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More on FDI Connect
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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.