POTSDAM - For each of the 25 communities features in David Stebbins’s book, “Relocate! 25 Great Bug Out Communities: Safe Places To Live If Bad Things Happen- Wonderful Places To Call Home If They Don’t, the author wrote a community profile including such information as the community’s population, climate and other resources.

Potsdam’s profile lists the population as 9,873 with a median age of 21.6 and median home value of $129,000.

To describe the climate he wrote, “Very cold, snowy winters. Mild, humid summers. Average high temperature in July is 79. Average low temperature in January is 4. Average annual rainfall is 38 inches. Average snowfall 79 inches.”

The profile also includes website information for such organizations as Potsdam Central School, SUNY Potsdam, Clarkson, Canton-Potsdam Hospital, Potsdam Public Library, Potsdam Chamber of Commerce, St. Lawrence County and The Daily Courier-Observer.

Providing an “interesting fact” about each community he wrote, “Potsdam is in St. Lawrence County, the largest county in the state of New York.”

He also identified the pros and cons of living in Potsdam, listing hunting and fishing opportunities in the area, a “very good public school system,” two universities and a low rate of crime as the benefits of living in Potsdam.

As for the negative, he wrote, “Extremely cold winters. High number of residents living in poverty, probably due to the 7,000 college students living in area. High Lyme Disease potential here.”

In the book, he writes that there is no such thing as a perfect community, but he hopes that readers of the book will find one of his suggestions “pretty close.”

“There’s no perfect Bug Out Community,” he wrote. “But chances are, at least one of the places listed here will come pretty close... for you.”

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