Lewiston Historic District · Photo: Adrian Reed Smith (VivaLaPandaz) · CC BY-SA 3.0Lewiston has lower household incomes than 96% of U.S. towns
10% of workers work from home (California 17%). 17.6% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. Lewiston grades D− for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Lewiston
Lewiston and Weaverville trade workers both ways
Weaverville is the top workplace for Lewiston residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Lewiston come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
42% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 295 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Lewiston’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Lewiston is better than 2% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Lewiston’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.7%) is left out: Lewiston’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Lewiston could be anywhere from D− to C+.
31% of working residents work in Weaverville
Where Lewiston clocks in
31% of workers
5% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The commute from Lewiston, by distance
About 42% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In and out of Lewiston on a workday
On a workday 277 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 95 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
0.38 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
In Lewiston, services account for most jobs
113 jobs are based in Lewiston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lewiston, 2013 → 2023: 86 → 113. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lewiston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 32 minutes to work from Lewiston
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lewiston workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 591 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Getting around Lewiston: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lewiston is more walkable than 15% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Lewiston near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 654 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 44% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.3% of Lewiston households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lewiston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lewiston and other U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Baywood Park CA | 1,580 | $217K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Irwindale CA | 1,439 | $114K | 4.3% | 6.5% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,296 | McCormick SC | 2,010 | $41K | 26.6% | 1.7% | 5% | D− |
| 5,297 | Lost Hills CA | 1,926 | $46K | 24.2% | 5.8% | 8% | D− |
| 5,298 | Lewiston CA | 2,020 | $40K | 17.6% | 4.7% | 6% | D− |
| 5,299 | Westmorland CA | 2,015 | $29K | 48.6% | 14.2% | 9% | D− |
| 5,300 | Cedaredge CO | 2,448 | $48K | 20.6% | 9.3% | 12% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Lewiston, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Around Lewiston: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Douglas City (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lewiston workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lewiston | – | D− | C− | 32 min | $39,968 |
| Douglas City | 1% | D− | D− | 25 min | $31,827 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lewiston’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Lewiston: questions
What is the median household income in Lewiston?
$39,968 (±$36,934) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lewiston?
17.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lewiston?
32 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lewiston work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Weaverville (31%, 6 mi), Redding (5%, 25 mi), Sacramento (2%, 164 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lewiston walkable?
Lewiston is more walkable than 15% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lewiston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lewiston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lewiston
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.