Photo: Superman7515 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Lincoln earn more than those in 82% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 0% of workers; Delaware has 15%. Lincoln grades A for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 2% stay in Lincoln for work; outside it, Milford is the main destination (18%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Lincoln
Lincoln and Milford trade workers both ways
Milford is the top workplace for Lincoln residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Lincoln come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Lincoln workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 15% across Delaware. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 343 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Lincoln’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Lincoln is better than 87% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Lincoln’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.9%) is left out: Lincoln’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, Lincoln could be anywhere from B to A.
The places Lincoln commutes to
Where Lincoln clocks in
18% of workers
6% 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.
Getting to work from Lincoln takes about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lincoln workers work from home, vs 15% across Delaware. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 821 commuters (the 0% who work from home are left out). Across Delaware: 84% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
A workday in Lincoln: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 337 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 222 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.
0.66 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.
Inside Lincoln’s 228 jobs
228 jobs are based in Lincoln.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lincoln, 2013 → 2023: 44 → 228. 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 Lincoln’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Lincoln works
About 18% 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.
Driving is how Lincoln gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.9% across Delaware.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 821 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 25% 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 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 59% 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). 11.6% of Lincoln households have no vehicle (Delaware 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lincoln’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lincoln places 427th of 5,656 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | St. Georges DE | 1,530 | $132K | 0.4% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 425 | Newton WI | 2,117 | $85K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 6% | A |
| 426 | Winchester WI | 1,811 | $93K | 3.2% | 3.0% | 2% | A |
| 427 | Lincoln DE | 1,873 | $108K | 0.0% | 1.9% | 2% | A |
| 428 | Paulina LA | 1,785 | $89K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 429 | Loganville PA | 1,442 | $95K | 4.2% | 2.4% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 445 | Bellefonte DE | 1,313 | $91K | 5.5% | 4.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,176 | Rehoboth Beach DE | 1,309 | $138K | 8.7% | 6.7% | 22% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Lincoln, the top three, the last and three more from Delaware.
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 Lincoln: questions
What is the median household income in Lincoln?
$107,690 (±$50,165) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $84,954 across Delaware and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lincoln?
0.0%, against 10.4% across Delaware and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lincoln?
29 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Delaware and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lincoln work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Milford (18%, 3 mi), Georgetown (6%, 12 mi), Lewes (6%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lincoln walkable?
Lincoln is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lincoln without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lincoln, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lincoln
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.