Highland Mills is a somewhat small town located in the state of New York. With a population of 11,531 people and two associated neighborhoods, Highland Mills is the 165th largest community in New York.Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Highland Mills is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Highland Mills is a town of professionals, managers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Highland Mills who work in management occupations (12.05%), business and financial occupations (10.11%), and teaching (9.77%). Also of interest is that Highland Mills has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in Highland Mills telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 7.88% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Because of many things, Highland Mills is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Highland Mills really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Highland Mills perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live. One downside of living in Highland Mills is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Highland Mills, the average commute to work is 37.95 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the town, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative. In Highland Mills, a lot of people use the bus to get to work every day though Highland Mills is a relatively small town. Those that ride the bus are primarily traveling out of town to good jobs in other cities.The citizens of Highland Mills are among the most well-educated in the nation: 41.52% of adults in Highland Mills have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree, whereas the average US city has 21.84% holding at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Highland Mills in 2022 was $47,789, which is upper middle income relative to New York, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $191,156 for a family of four. However, Highland Mills contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Highland Mills is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Highland Mills home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Highland Mills residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Highland Mills also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 28.92% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Highland Mills include Italian, Irish, German, Polish, and English. The most common language spoken in Highland Mills is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
