Photo: Steve Meirowsky (Wikipedia) (Flickr) · CC BY-SA 3.0Lehigh has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Lehigh has 20 jobs, and 58 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Lehigh; the top destination outside it is Hillsboro (41%, 6 miles). 3% of workers have no commute at all, next to 12% for Kansas as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lehigh on a workday afternoon
On a workday 58 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 20 people come in from elsewhere.
About 120 people are in Lehigh on a workday afternoon, 24% 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.
Out of Lehigh to work: where people go
Where Lehigh clocks in
41% of workers
5% of workers
5% 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.
Making and building: 75% of jobs based in Lehigh
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lehigh, 2013 → 2023: 12 → 20. 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 Lehigh’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 25 minutes each way, longer than most of Kansas
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lehigh workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 108 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across Kansas: 85% 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.
How far Lehigh’s workers travel
About 19% 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.
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 Lehigh: questions
What is the median household income in Lehigh?
$78,542 (±$17,692) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,275 across Kansas and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lehigh?
8.2%, against 11.3% across Kansas and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lehigh?
25 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Kansas and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lehigh work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hillsboro (41%, 6 mi), Newton (5%, 23 mi), Wichita (5%, 47 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Lehigh without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lehigh, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lehigh
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.