Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Lyme’s household incomes are higher than in 93% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 28% of workers, next to 16% for Connecticut as a whole. 2.9% of residents live below the poverty line, where Connecticut as a whole has 10.0%. The two grades for Lyme are A for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lyme: the figures worth knowing
How Lyme earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lyme is better than 91% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 60% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lyme could be anywhere from A− to A+.
About 31 minutes each way, longer than most of Connecticut
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lyme workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 888 commuters (the 28% 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.
In and out of Lyme on a workday
On a workday 667 residents head out to work, 57 work right here, and 172 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Lyme on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.32 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.
7% of working residents work in Groton
Where Lyme clocks in
7% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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.
70% of the jobs in Lyme pay over $3,333 a month
229 jobs are based in Lyme.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lyme, 2013 → 2023: 197 → 229. 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 Lyme’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Lyme
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.
Most of Lyme commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lyme is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across Connecticut, on an EPA index of 4.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,227 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 0.5% of Lyme households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Lyme’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Lyme is 341st of 5,207 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Andover CT | 3,173 | $135K | 1.8% | 0.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 161 | Newtown CT | 1,980 | $165K | 2.0% | 3.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 170 | Woodmont CT | 2,391 | $91K | 1.9% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 339 | Shorewood Forest IN | 3,263 | $166K | 8.6% | 1.3% | 1% | A |
| 340 | Lake Kiowa TX | 2,476 | $126K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 2% | A |
| 341 | Lyme CT | 2,424 | $135K | 2.9% | 2.9% | 8% | A |
| 342 | Bennington Township OH | 1,763 | $93K | 1.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 343 | Edinburg Township OH | 2,371 | $105K | 3.3% | 2.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | 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 Lyme, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
Next door is work for 14% of Lyme
The biggest share goes to Old Lyme (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lyme workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyme | – | A | B | 31 min | $135,000 |
| Old Lyme | 7% | A | A− | 27 min | $131,899 |
| Deep River | under 3% | B+ | A− | 24 min | $90,253 |
| Essex Village | under 3% | — | — | 38 min | — |
| Essex | 3% | A | A | 27 min | $104,395 |
| East Lyme | 4% | A− | B | 26 min | $105,044 |
| Chester | under 3% | B | A− | 28 min | $109,191 |
| Deep River Center | under 3% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| East Haddam | under 3% | A− | C− | 30 min | $107,861 |
| Salem | under 3% | A | C+ | 32 min | $123,245 |
Same-state neighbors only. Essex Village and Deep River Center: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of 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 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 Lyme: questions
What is the median household income in Lyme?
$135,000 (±$21,753) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lyme?
2.9%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lyme?
31 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 28% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lyme work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Groton (7%, 16 mi), Old Lyme (7%, 6 mi), Old Saybrook (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lyme walkable?
Lyme is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lyme without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lyme, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lyme
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.