Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Lee are higher than in 61% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 7.2% of residents, against 10.0% across Massachusetts. Lee grades B for jobs and income and A for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 47.9 in Boston.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Lee in brief
Commutes from Lee are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
Lee trades workers with the towns around it
Lee has about as many jobs (2,756) as working residents (2,432), but they are mostly different people: 1,788 residents leave for work each day while 2,112 people come in. Only 23% of the jobs in Lee are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Lee and Pittsfield trade workers both ways
Pittsfield is the top workplace for Lee residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Lee come from (22% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 Lee earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lee is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #232 of 283 in Massachusetts. The poverty rate holds Lee’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lee could be anywhere from C to A−.
Getting to work from Lee takes about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lee workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,420 commuters (the 16% who work from home are left out). Across Massachusetts: 75% drive alone, 8% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Who commutes out of Lee, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,788 residents head out to work, 644 work right here, and 2,112 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 (1.13 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.
19% of working residents work in Pittsfield
Where Lee clocks in
19% 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.
Making and building: 28% of jobs based in Lee
2,756 jobs are based in Lee.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lee, 2013 → 2023: 3,100 → 2,756. 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 Lee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Lee to work
About 17% 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.
Lee is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lee is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns, #70 of 283 in Massachusetts. Both inputs place Lee near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,895 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 74% 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 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 69% 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). 8.4% of Lee households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Lee’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,690th of 3,476: where Lee ranks among U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,700
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Lincoln MA | 6,925 | $175K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Hopedale MA | 6,066 | $116K | 2.9% | 1.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | West Newbury MA | 4,709 | $180K | 1.6% | 2.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,688 | Estacada OR | 5,814 | $94K | 23.8% | 1.5% | 10% | B |
| 1,689 | Ludlow Township IL | 4,076 | $55K | 7.0% | 2.0% | 9% | B |
| 1,690 | Lee MA | 5,673 | $84K | 7.2% | 3.8% | 26% | B |
| 1,691 | Stonelick Township OH | 6,067 | $71K | 15.4% | 2.7% | 4% | B |
| 1,692 | Walthourville GA | 4,003 | $74K | 10.4% | 1.7% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,476 | 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 Lee, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Work next door: 12% of Lee’s workers
The biggest share goes to Lenox (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lee workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee | – | B | A | 18 min | $83,750 |
| Lenox | 7% | B− | B+ | 23 min | $106,080 |
| Lenox Dale | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
| Washington | under 1% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Stockbridge | 5% | B− | A | 20 min | $146,250 |
| Tyringham | under 1% | — | — | 36 min | — |
| Becket | under 1% | C+ | C+ | 36 min | $80,417 |
Same-state neighbors only. Lenox Dale: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Washington and Tyringham: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lee’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 Lee: questions
What is the median household income in Lee?
$83,750 (±$13,346) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lee?
7.2%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lee?
18 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lee work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pittsfield (19%, 10 mi), Lenox (7%, 5 mi), Great Barrington (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lee walkable?
Lee is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lee without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lee
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.