Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
The best of Lyme’s subject grades are an A for health, schools, and incomes; the weakest is a C− for cost of living. 31% of residents are 65 or older in Lyme, where Connecticut’s towns sit at 20% and U.S. towns at 18%. Only 5 of the 156 Connecticut towns we compare have a higher median age than Lyme. 48% of the land in Lyme is conserved, against 14% in Connecticut’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. Lyme has 2 places on the National Register. Nehantic State Forest, at 2,138 acres with 26.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Lyme has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Lyme beats most towns.
Census counts: 4,069 in 1820, a low of 546 in 1930, 2,352 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1917 and 5 maps from 1893 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Connecticut), ordered by how far Lyme is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Lyme. Close and well known come first.
in town State parkGillette Castle State Park
14 mi Stadium & arenaMohegan Sun Arena
33 mi Stadium & arenaYale Bowl
31 mi Stadium & arenaPeoplesBank Arena
35 mi Theme parkLake Compounce
29 mi Stadium & arenaPratt & Whitney StadiumGillette Castle State Park: Original uploader was Kevinpepin at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Mohegan Sun Arena: Bbjeter, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Yale Bowl: Kenneth Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 · PeoplesBank Arena: PeoplesBank Arena, CC BY 2.5 · Lake Compounce: Wildcat1 at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Pratt & Whitney Stadium: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lyme, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Sep 30, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Lyme.
The typical Lyme home is worth about $802,000, up 7.2% in a year, 79% above the Connecticut typical home. 91% of Lyme households own their home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Regional School District 18. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lyme Consolidated SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 226 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CT on state tests and graduation
90 miles of trail in 47 parks and preserves. The trail density in Lyme is 2.6 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Nehantic State Forest | 26.7 mi | 2,138 |
| 2. Hartman Park | 9.4 mi | 316 |
| 3. Jewett Preserve | 5.1 mi | 427 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Lyme beats the Connecticut average on 18 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 4. 13% of adults report frequent mental distress in Lyme. Only 4 of the 155 Connecticut towns we compare have a higher share of adults who had a checkup this year than Lyme.
| Lyme | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 31% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 85% | 81% | 79% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7% | 9.7% | 14% |
| What stands out | Lyme | CT |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 5.9% | 14.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 5.4% | 12.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 12.5% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Lyme for work: only 8% work in town. Lyme’s median household income is $135,000. Jobs based in Lyme grew to 229 in 2023, 32 more than in 2013.
| Lyme | Connecticut towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $135,000 | $109,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 27 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 2.9% | 5.8% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 7.9% | 11% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Lyme has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 21° and about 28 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 67% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 21 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lyme.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
4 within 15 miles of the center of Lyme
About 2 of every 100 Lyme residents are enrolled in college, against 7 across Connecticut.
47.6% of the town is conserved land, across 47 parks and preserves.
2 places in Lyme on the National Register of Historic Places.
26 notable people were born in Lyme.
Town in New London County
Lyme is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, situated on the eastern side of the Connecticut River. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. The population was 2,352 at the 2020 census. Lyme is the eponym of Lyme disease.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Lyme.
| Town | CT rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyme | — | — | C− | — | A | A |
| Old Lyme | #12 | A | D | — | A | A |
| Deep River | #33 | A− | C | — | A− | A |
| Essex Village | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Essex | #27 | A− | D | — | A− | A |
| East Lyme | #32 | A− | D | A | B+ | A |
| Chester | #86 | B | D | — | B+ | A− |
| Deep River Center | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Lyme has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Lyme, Old Lyme, Deep River, Essex and Chester report no FBI crime data of their own. Essex Village and Deep River Center aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Lyme with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Yes. That is 8.4 years of the area's median household income ($95,118 across the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
26 notable people were born here, including Morrison Waite and Alfred Ely.
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