Watertown-Fort Drum, NY Metro Area

The Watertown-Fort Drum, NY metro area is one county in New York: Jefferson County. About 111,540 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 4.4% fewer than in April 2020.

Jefferson County, centralWatertownFort Drum
Jefferson County in New York
Population, July 2025
111,540 4.4% fewer than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
County
Jefferson County
Land area
1,268 sq mi (3,284 km²)
Time zone
Eastern TimeUTC-05:00 in January; UTC-04:00 in July
State
New York
CBSA code
48060

The county in the Watertown-Fort Drum, NY metro area

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025
Jefferson CountyCentral111,540

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. This area has no outlying counties: no neighboring county sends enough commuters to join it. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal cities, largest first

  1. Watertown24,375 people
  2. Fort Drum16,065 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Syracuse, NY Metro Area65 mi south
  2. Auburn, NY Micro Area79 mi southwest
  3. Massena-Ogdensburg, NY Micro Area83 mi northeast

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗