Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 4.0Lyons’ household incomes are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Lyons is better than 18% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (B). 33.5% of residents live below the poverty line (Georgia 13.4%). 2% of workers work from home; Georgia has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lyons at work: what stands out
Commutes from Lyons are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. Time on the road ↓
Lyons is where the jobs are
Lyons has 2,304 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Lyons and Vidalia trade workers both ways
Vidalia is the top workplace for Lyons residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Lyons come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Lyons workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 16% across Georgia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Lyons workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Lyons’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Lyons’ grade explained
Unemployment holds Lyons’ grade up (2.8%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lyons could be anywhere from D to C+.
Each way, about 16 minutes from Lyons
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lyons workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,809 commuters (the 1% who work from home are left out). Across Georgia: 84% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Lyons
On a workday 1,170 residents head out to work, 236 work right here, and 2,068 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,200 people are in Lyons on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Who travels to work in Lyons, and from where
Where Lyons clocks in
27% of workers
2% 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.
28% of the jobs in Lyons make or build things
2,304 jobs are based in Lyons.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lyons, 2013 → 2023: 1,983 → 2,304. 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 Lyons’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Lyons
About 29% 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.
Most of Lyons commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 5.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,836 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 20.6% of Lyons households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lyons’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,800, Lyons ranks 3,359th of 4,039 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Grayson GA | 5,569 | $131K | 3.5% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Avondale Estates GA | 3,543 | $124K | 6.3% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 274 | Ball Ground GA | 3,470 | $118K | 1.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,357 | Canisteo NY | 3,202 | $63K | 10.7% | 6.8% | 14% | C− |
| 3,358 | Dewey-Humboldt AZ | 4,604 | $67K | 7.9% | 9.9% | 3% | C− |
| 3,359 | Lyons GA | 4,260 | $42K | 33.5% | 2.8% | 17% | C− |
| 3,360 | South Jacksonville IL | 3,195 | $50K | 9.0% | 15.8% | 3% | C− |
| 3,361 | Hiawatha KS | 3,124 | $69K | 14.7% | 6.2% | 35% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,039 | 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 Lyons, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
27% of Lyons works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Vidalia. Darker towns draw more of Lyons’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 Lyons: questions
What is the median household income in Lyons?
$42,059 (±$15,630) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lyons?
33.5%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lyons?
16 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lyons work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vidalia (27%, 5 mi), Macon-Bibb County (2%, 90 mi), Reidsville (2%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lyons walkable?
Lyons is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lyons without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lyons, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lyons
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.