Florence Griswold House and Museum · Photo: Pi.1415926535 · CC BY-SA 3.0Old Lyme has higher household incomes than 92% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Old Lyme A; getting around on foot earns it A−. Below the poverty line: 2.9% of residents, next to 10.0% for Connecticut as a whole. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 31.8 in Stamford.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Old Lyme, in a few figures
Old Lyme trades workers with the towns around it
Old Lyme has about as many jobs (2,385) as working residents (2,739), but they are mostly different people: 2,428 residents leave for work each day while 2,074 people come in. Only 13% of the jobs in Old Lyme are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Home offices are common in Old Lyme
24% of Old Lyme workers work from home, against 16% across Connecticut. Time on the road ↓
Old Lyme’s workforce skews older
36% of Old Lyme’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
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.
The figures behind Old Lyme’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 61% 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, Old Lyme could be anywhere from A− to A+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Old Lyme
On a workday 2,428 residents head out to work, 311 work right here, and 2,074 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.87 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The daily trip from Old Lyme: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Old Lyme workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,783 commuters (the 24% 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.
66% of the jobs in Old Lyme pay over $3,333 a month
2,385 jobs are based in Old Lyme.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Old Lyme, 2013 → 2023: 2,333 → 2,385. 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 Old Lyme’s own residents hold wherever they work.
12% of working residents work in Groton
Where Old Lyme clocks in
12% 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.
How far it is to work from Old 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Old Lyme
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Old Lyme is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #50 of 155 in Connecticut. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.0% 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 3,673 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 46% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 46% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% 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). 2.9% of Old Lyme households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Old Lyme’s commuters take a bus or train.
338th of 3,051: where Old Lyme ranks among U.S. towns of 5,400 to 10,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 127 | East Granby CT | 5,432 | $121K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 241 | Prospect CT | 9,638 | $126K | 3.2% | 3.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 299 | Durham CT | 7,209 | $159K | 3.4% | 3.6% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 336 | Aubrey TX | 9,066 | $102K | 7.8% | 1.2% | 2% | A |
| 337 | Cedar Hills UT | 9,755 | $139K | 4.2% | 3.5% | 3% | A |
| 338 | Old Lyme CT | 7,702 | $132K | 2.9% | 2.7% | 11% | A |
| 339 | Essex CT | 6,819 | $104K | 3.2% | 2.1% | 14% | A |
| 340 | Colts Neck Township NJ | 9,989 | $200K | 3.4% | 4.6% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,051 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Old Lyme, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
Old Lyme and its neighbors: 11% work next door
The biggest share goes to Old Saybrook (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Old Lyme workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Lyme | – | A | A− | 27 min | $131,899 |
| East Lyme | 4% | A− | B | 26 min | $105,044 |
| Lyme | under 3% | A | B | 31 min | $135,000 |
| Old Saybrook | 7% | A | B+ | 29 min | $114,333 |
| Old Saybrook Center | under 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Old Saybrook Center: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Old 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 Old Lyme: questions
What is the median household income in Old Lyme?
$131,899 (±$11,250) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Old Lyme?
2.9%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Old Lyme?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Old Lyme work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Groton (12%, 14 mi), Old Saybrook (7%, 4 mi), New London (6%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Old Lyme walkable?
Old Lyme is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Old Lyme without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 46% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Old Lyme, from the people who make the trip.
More of Old 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.