Lely has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Employers in Lely report 743 jobs for 1,449 working residents. For jobs and income Lely is better than 68% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (C). Only 3% work in Lely; the top destination outside it is Naples (14%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Lely: the gist
Commutes from Lely are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 28 across Florida. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Florida worker. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Lely
60% of Lely residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 41% of the jobs based in Lely pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Lely’s workforce skews older
36% of Lely’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.
How Lely earns its Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Lely’s grade up (2.1%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($69,846, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lely could be anywhere from C+ to A.
About 19 minutes each way for Lely’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lely workers work from home, vs 16% across Florida. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,322 commuters (the 12% who work from home are left out). Across Florida: 83% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Lely is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lely, 2013 → 2023: 658 → 743. 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 Lely’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lely quiets down on a workday
On a workday 1,412 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 706 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,100 people are in Lely on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where people from Lely work
Where Lely clocks in
14% of workers
2% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Lely
About 28% 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.
Lely is a driving town
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,510 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). 5.5% of Lely households have no vehicle (Florida 6.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lely’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,100, Lely ranks 1,311th of 4,153 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Bay Hill FL | 4,512 | $128K | 0.7% | 1.5% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Geneva FL | 3,441 | $133K | 0.6% | 0.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Windermere FL | 3,344 | $178K | 1.3% | 2.5% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,309 | Dilworth MN | 4,823 | $91K | 15.1% | 2.2% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,310 | Baroda Township MI | 2,818 | $75K | 4.4% | 3.4% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,311 | Lely FL | 3,804 | $70K | 7.8% | 2.1% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,312 | Marietta-Alderwood WA | 3,754 | $76K | 7.9% | 2.6% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,313 | Wayland MI | 4,531 | $74K | 9.9% | 3.1% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,153 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Lely, the top three, the last and three more from Florida.
Next door to Lely
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lely workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lely | – | B+ | C | 19 min | $69,846 |
| Lely Resort | under 2% | B+ | C | 24 min | $93,750 |
| Naples Manor | under 2% | C+ | C | 20 min | $64,937 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lely’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 Lely: questions
What is the median household income in Lely?
$69,846 (±$8,409) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,568 across Florida and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lely?
7.8%, against 12.6% across Florida and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lely?
19 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Florida and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lely work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Naples (14%, 5 mi), Marco Island (8%, 12 mi), Bonita Springs (2%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lely walkable?
Lely is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lely without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lely, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lely
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.