About five percent of Briarcliff Manor's land is occupied by businesses. The village has three retail business areas, a general (non-retail) business area and scattered office buildings and laboratories. The village's principal retail district is along Pleasantville and North State Roads.^[41]

The central business district primarily has retailers such as restaurants, cafes, small food markets and specialty shops. The North State Road business district has a supermarket, a bank, a gas station and a mixture of retail stores, and the other retail areas have national and local stores. The village has small offices and larger offices for the regional (or national) market, including Sony Electronics, Wüsthof and Philips Research North America; the latter is headquartered in Briarcliff Manor.^[41][45]

The village economy depends on education, health care and social services. Of the population aged 16 and older, 63 percent are in the labor force; 33 percent of those employed work outside Westchester County. About 13 percent of workers live and work in the village, and the average commute is 37.1 minutes.^[41] Briarcliff Manor has a number of wealthy residents, and was rated 19th on CNNMoney's 25 Top-Earning Towns in the U.S.^[46] An assessment by financial news corporation 24/7 Wall St., using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey from 2006 to 2010, rated the village's school district the fifth-wealthiest in the United States and the third-wealthiest in New York.^[47]

In 2004, the top five employers in Briarcliff Manor were the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District, Philips Research, Trump National Golf Club, the Clear View School and engineering firm Charles H. Sells. Other large employers are USI Holdings (a publicly traded insurer headquartered in the village), Atria Briarcliff Manor, Pace University and the village (which employs 81 people).^[41]