Photo: Alex756 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in East Lyme earn more than those in 80% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in East Lyme itself; outside it, Groton draws the most (16%, 10 miles). 5.5% of residents are in poverty, where Connecticut as a whole has 10.0%. For jobs and income East Lyme is better than 82% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Inside East Lyme’s Jobs & income grade
Household income is its strongest input ($105,044, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, East Lyme could be anywhere from B+ to A.
East Lyme quiets down on a workday
On a workday 6,187 residents head out to work, 1,071 work right here, and 3,677 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in East Lyme on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.65 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where people from East Lyme work
Where East Lyme clocks in
16% of workers
8% of workers
7% 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 kinds of work in East Lyme
4,748 jobs are based in East Lyme.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in East Lyme, 2014 → 2024: 4,523 → 4,748. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs East Lyme’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes to work from East Lyme
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of East Lyme workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,746 commuters (the 22% who work from home are left out). Across Connecticut: 82% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The commute from East Lyme, by distance
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of East Lyme commutes by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across Connecticut.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,674 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 45% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 31% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 54% 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). 2.2% of East Lyme households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of East Lyme’s commuters take a bus or train.
East Lyme is 628th of 2,023 U.S. towns of 13,000 to 26,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | North Haven CT | 24,799 | $133K | 4.1% | 2.0% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Berlin CT | 20,698 | $114K | 3.4% | 2.0% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Ellington CT | 16,594 | $130K | 2.4% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 626 | Valinda CA | 20,962 | $100K | 8.1% | 4.1% | 2% | A− |
| 627 | Glen Carbon IL | 13,898 | $97K | 4.9% | 4.4% | 6% | A− |
| 628 | East Lyme CT | 19,223 | $105K | 5.5% | 3.2% | 15% | A− |
| 629 | Brandon Township MI | 15,541 | $94K | 6.6% | 3.0% | 5% | A− |
| 630 | Ewa Beach HI | 14,376 | $124K | 4.9% | 4.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,023 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 East Lyme, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
The towns next door employ 10% of East Lyme
The biggest share goes to Waterford (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of East Lyme’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 2024, 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 East Lyme: questions
What is the median household income in East Lyme?
$105,044 (±$12,623) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in East Lyme?
5.5%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from East Lyme?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in East Lyme work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Groton (16%, 10 mi), New London (8%, 7 mi), Waterford (7%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is East Lyme walkable?
East Lyme is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around East Lyme without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 31% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from East Lyme, from the people who make the trip.
More of East Lyme
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.